Buffalo Sabres – Dallas Stars Game Preview
12/31/24 – 8:00 pm EST at American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
Record
Buffalo – 14-19-4 | 32 points – 8th place in the Atlantic Division
Dallas – 21-13-1 | 43 points – 4th place in the Central Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 16.0% (26th)
Penalty Kill – 78.0% (20th)
Dallas
Power Play – 15.4% (27th)
Penalty Kill – 75.8% (25th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 32 GP, 18 G, 11 A, 29 PTS
Alex Tuch: 37 GP, 12 G, 16 A, 28 PTS
JJ Peterka: 35 GP, 10 G, 16 A, 26 PTS
Dallas
Matt Duchene: 35 GP, 14 G, 19 A, 33 PTS
Mason Marchment: 33 GP, 12 G, 15 A, 27 PTS
Jamie Benn: 35 GP, 8 G, 17 A, 25 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (11-11-3, 2.95 GAA, .898 save %)
Dallas – Jake Oettinger (17-9-1, 2.38 GAA, .909 save %)
Line Combinations and Pairings
Buffalo
Forwards
Jason Zucker – Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka - Dylan Cozens - Jack Quinn
Zach Benson - Jiri Kulich - Peyton Krebs
Beck Malenstyn - Ryan McLeod - Sam Lafferty
Ex. Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin - Bowen Byram
Mattias Samuelsson - Owen Power
Jacob Bryson - Connor Clifton
Ex., Henri Jokiharju, Dennis Gilbert
Goaltenders
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
James Reimer
Injuries
Jordan Greenway (out - middle body)
Notes
Buffalo is riding a three-game winning streak, tied for the team’s longest of the season. The Sabres have recorded 17 goals in that span, the most by the Sabres during a three-game winning streak since they recorded 18 goals in three straight wins from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2, 2022.
Rasmus Dahlin has recorded seven assists in his last three games, including at least one assist in each of the games in that span.
Jack Quinn has recorded eight points (4+4) in his last six games and he has posted two points in three consecutive games. A multi-point performance would make Quinn the first Sabres skater since Dylan Cozens from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7 (four games; 4+7) to record a multipoint streak of four or more games.
JJ Peterka has posted eight points (2+6) in his last seven games, including five points (1+4) in his last five road contests.
Jiri Kulich has tallied five points (3+2) in his last five games.
Dylan Cozens has registered six points (2+4) in his last six games.
In his last four games, Jason Zucker has recorded four points (2+2). Zucker has posted nine points (3+6) in his last nine games against Dallas, including one point in each of his last two games against the Stars (1+1).
Owen Power has recorded four assists in his last two games against Dallas, including at least one assist in each of those games.
In his last seven games against the Stars, Tage Thompson has registered nine points (3+6).
Alex Tuch has posted at least one point in back-to-back games against the Stars and he has recorded three points (2+1) in that span.
Lindy Ruff coached the Stars for four seasons (2013 to 2017) and compiled a 165-122-41 regular-season record in 328 games.
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