• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Roy, Sabres end eight-game road skid

Jan 25, 2008 - 5:17 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- Derek Roy helped the Buffalo Sabres break a dubious record.

Roy scored two goals, including the game-winner with 14:48 to play, to lift the Sabres to a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Ryan Miller made 25 saves and Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford each assisted on both of Roy's goals as Buffalo snapped a franchise record eight-game losing streak.

"I thought Ryan made a couple of huge saves and we did a good job getting the puck out of their end," Roy said.

On the winning goal, Roy placed a shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle into the left corner of the net at 5:12 of the third period.

The goal was set up when Roy made a cross-ice pass from the right side to Vanek, who redirected the pass back to Roy.

"I thought we were pretty lucky on that 2-on-1," Roy said of his decisive tally. "It turned out to be a really big goal."

Buffalo was 1-5-4 in its previous 10 games before Thursday night's win.

"I thought we played a nice, sound game, I'm impressed with everybody," Sabres defenseman Brian Campbell said.

Dallas had tied the game at 1-1 at 17:08 of the second period when Stu Barnes tapped a shot into the the net from the top of the right corner of the crease.

Mattias Norstrom assisted on the goal with a cross-ice pass from just outside the left faceoff circle. Matt Niskanen also assisted on Barnes' goal.

"There was a lack of desperation on our part, which is both confusing and embarrassing," Stars goaltender Marty Turco said.

The Stars head into the All-Star break having lost two straight games at home, with both loses occurring with Dallas either tied or leading after two periods.

The Sabres scored on their first shot of the game when Roy directed a shot into the center of the net from the top of the crease 1:51 into the game.

"We needed a spark, getting a quick goal put them back on their heels," Roy said.

Buffalo had a goal disallowed with 9:15 left in the second period when Vanek's tip-in from the top of the crease was nullified due to a high stick on Jaroslav Spacek in front of Turco.

Both teams continued to struggle on the power play. The Sabres were 0-for-4 and the Stars 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

"From my view, it was a good call, it looked high," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.

Dallas left wing Jussi Jokinen, who is fifth on the team with 11 goals. returned to the lineup after missing 13 games with a knee injury.

The Stars are still without All-Star defenseman Sergei Zubov, who missed his fourth straight game with a foot injury and is listed as day-to-day.

"The core is still here," Stars center Mike Modano said. "We ultimately want to get those guys up and running. You can tell we're running on a little bit of fumes, hopefully the rest (from the All-Star break) will do us good."