 has earned a point in its first six games for the first time since the team went 6-0-2 through its first eight games of the 2008-09 season. The Sabres' 4-0 start at home is their best since 2006-07. Dallas (1-5-1) continued its early struggles in opening a four-game road trip with a third straight loss. Ben Bishop stopped 18 shots for the Stars. Bishop entered the game with a 12-0-1 record and consecutive shutouts against the Sabres. Olofsson set his record on a one-timer off Rasmus Dahlin's pass from the right circle to open the scoring 6:27 into the second period. A delay of game penalty on the Stars' bench put the Sabres on the power play. Nicknamed ''Goal-ofsson'' by Sabres fans, the 24-year-old Swede has five goals in Buffalo's first six games. His streak dates to the end of last season when he scored twice in six games. Since making his NHL debut on March 28, no NHL player has more power-play goals than Olofsson. Olofsson set up the Sabres' second goal late in the second period. He sent a backhand pass from the boards to Reinhart for a one-timer from the high slot. Skinner made it 3-0 with his fourth goal of the season 4:20 into the third period. After receiving a pass from Vladimir Sobotka in front of the crease, Skinner faked a shot before sweeping a backhander by Bishop. Less than two minutes later, Johansson unloaded a slap shot from just inside the blue line for Buffalo's fourth goal. NOTES: Three players shared the previous record for scoring their first six career goals on the power play: Winnipeg's Craig Norwich in 1979-90, Hartford's Sylvain Turgeon in 1983-84, and Jeff Norton of the Islanders in 1987-88. . Reinhart and Johansson both have three goals this season. . The Stars had won five straight and eight of nine against the Sabres. . The Sabres scored more than one goal against the Stars for the first time in five meetings. . Dallas shuffled its top lines by swapping centers Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin. . Buffalo scratched F Curtis Lazar after calling him up from the minors on Sunday. UP NEXTStars: Visit Columbus on Wednesday. Sabres: Open three-game West Coast road trip at Anaheim on Wednesday.---More NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Time: 3:00 PM EDT Venue: KeyBank Center, Buffalo, N. Y., 14203 / With just one victory and three points after six games, things don't get any easier for the Dallas Stars, who embark on a four-game eastern road trip that begins with a Monday afternoon matinee against the surprising Buffalo Sabres. Dallas, which lost 2-1 in double overtime in Game 7 of the second round of the Western Conference playoffs to eventual Stanley Cup champion St. Louis last spring, was expected to make a strong run for a Central Division title this season. But they hit the road in fifth place and in danger of digging an even bigger hole on a trip that also includes games at Columbus, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The Stars begin the trip after back-to-back home losses, 3-2 in a shootout to Calgary and 4-1 to the Washington Capitals on Saturday night." This is a big road trip for us," forward Tyler Seguin said. "I know it's going into game seven (of the season) -- don't want to say it's a playoff game -- but everyone in here including myself needs to have a playoff mentality going into this road trip. ... We're too good of a team to be playing this bad so far to start the year." "Our urgency has got to go up because we can't continue this obviously," added forward Joe Pavelski. "We've been in position to win enough games and have a better record, but we haven't gotten it done so it hasn't been good enough. Bottom line." Much of the focus for the Stars' struggles has been on a power play that has converted just one of 20 chances (five percent), which ranks a woeful 27th in the NHL. Dallas went 0-for-6 with the extra man in Saturday's loss to the Capitals, but head coach Jim Montgomery said that was just one of the team's issues in the loss." We weren't a threat," Montgomery said. "Didn't win faceoffs. Didn't win any battles. Didn't win any loose-puck battles. The puck was never inside the dots. If you never threaten inside the dots, you're not going to have success. It all starts with the compete. We just didn't compete hard enough, power play (or) five-on-five." Next up for the Stars is a game against the Atlantic Division-leading Sabres who are off to their best start (4-0-1, nine points) to open a season since 2009-10. Buffalo is 3-0-0 at home with wins over New Jersey (7-2), Montreal (5-4 in OT) and Florida, a 3-2 shootout win on Friday night. Jack Eichel and Casey Mittelstadt both scored in the shootout and Linus Ullmark, who had 41 saves in the contest, stopped both shots he faced to earn the Sabres two points despite blowing a 2-0 lead in the third period. Florida's Mike Hoffman sent the contest into overtime with a goal with just 10.9 seconds to go." Overall, really pleased with the calmness on the bench as we headed into overtime," said Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger. "The belief that we could still win, the lack of disappointment in that late goal is what really sticks with me at the moment." "We know that when we stick to our game plan, we win," Ullmark told NHL.com. "We play a very good hockey game. Are we going to win every game? Probably not, but we have a very good opportunity to do it as long as we stick to the process and stick with our game plan." --Field Level Media
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