Dallas Stars at Buffalo Sabres
· National Hockey League
Wyatt Johnston seals Stars' regular season-ending 4-3 shootout win over Sabres
Justin Hryckowian and Esa Lindell each had a goal and assist, and Mavrik Bourque also scored for the Stars. Dallas finished 50-20-12 in reaching 50 wins for the seventh time in franchise history.
Jake Oettinger stopped 21 shots and two of Buffalo’s four shootout opportunities.
Zach Benson had a goal and assist and Josh Norris and Alex Tuch — with his 200th career goal — scored for Buffalo. Colten Ellis made 25 saves, then allowed three goals on Dallas’ four shootout attempts.
Johnston scored by driving in from the left of the net and beating Ellis with a shot inside the far post.
The Sabres squandered two one-goal leads in the second period with Hryckowian tying it at 3 by firing a shot through Ellis’ legs with four minutes left in the frame.
It was a relatively uneventful outing for two non-conference teams having already locked in their playoff seedings.
Having already won the Atlantic Division title, Buffalo (50-23-9) rested numerous starters including captain Rasmus Dahlin and scoring leader Tage Thompson.
For Dallas, the Central Division’s No. 2 seed, center Sam Steel returned after missing nine games because of an undisclosed injury. Defenseman Miro Heiskanen missed his third game, with coach Glen Gulutzan hopeful he’ll be ready for the start of the playoffs.
Sabres: Host Boston in the first round of the playoffs Saturday or Sunday.
Regular Season SeriesSeries tied 1-1
Scoring Summary
 |
Goal | 1st Period 2:19 | Mavrik Bourque Goal (20) Snap Shot, assists: Esa Lindell (26), Ilya Lyubushkin (8) |
 |
Goal | 1st Period 12:48 | Josh Norris Goal (13) Wrist Shot, assists: Zach Benson (30), Owen Power (20) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 3:32 | Zach Benson Goal (13) Snap Shot, assists: Tyson Kozak (4) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 4:24 | Esa Lindell Goal (6) Wrist Shot, assists: Jamie Benn (21), Justin Hryckowian (16) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 11:09 | Alex Tuch Goal (33) Snap Shot, assists: Tanner Pearson (8), Owen Power (21) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 16:00 | Justin Hryckowian Goal (14) Wrist Shot, assists: none |
|
Goal | 5 0:00 | Josh Norris Goal Snap Shot |
|
Goal | 5 0:00 | Jason Robertson Goal Snap Shot |
|
Goal | 5 0:00 | Jack Quinn Goal Wrist Shot |
|
Goal | 5 0:00 | Matt Duchene Goal Backhand |
|
Goal | 5 0:00 | Wyatt Johnston Goal Wrist Shot |
Statistics
 DAL |
 BUF |
|
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Blocked Shots | 14 |
| 21 | Hits | 23 |
| 8 | Takeaways | 4 |
| 28 | Shots | 24 |
| 1 | Power Play Goals | 0 |
| 3 | Power Play Opportunities | 3 |
| 33.3 | Power Play Percentage | 0.0 |
| 0 | Short Handed Goals | 1 |
| 0 | Shootout Goals | 0 |
| 24 | Faceoffs Won | 28 |
| 46.2 | Faceoff Win Percent | 53.8 |
| 12 | Giveaways | 13 |
| 3 | Total Penalties | 3 |
| 6 | Penalty Minutes | 6 |
Buffalo Sabres Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Justin Danforth, RW | Injured Reserve | May 20 |
| Jiri Kulich, C | Injured Reserve | May 19 |
| Noah Ostlund, C | Out | May 3 |
Dallas Stars Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Roope Hintz, C | Out | May 4 |
| Tyler Seguin, C | Injured Reserve | May 4 |
| Arttu Hyry, RW | Out | Apr 30 |
| Nils Lundkvist, D | Out | Apr 29 |
