After 10 days between games, it would not have been a surprise to see the Dallas Stars come out and lose what should have been a winnable game. Keep in mind that the Buffalo Sabres, their opponent coming out of their CBA-mandated break followed by the All-Star break with a few other days off thanks to the schedule makers, played a game last night. They had the jump on the Stars in the sense that they had played in game conditions out of the break while Dallas had not.
Luckily, three hard days of practice with pace seemed to pay dividends early for the Stars.