Rantanen has four points as Oettinger shuts out Sabres

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and three assists, and Jake Oettinger made 26 saves for his second straight shutout as the Dallas Stars beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

Oettinger had made 13 saves in Dallas’ 5-0 win over San Jose on Monday.

Jason Robertson opened the scoring at 9:03 of the first period, finishing a 2-on-1 with Rantanen. Sam Steel made it 2-0 at 9:36 of the second, and Rantanen pushed it to 3-0 at 13:57 by backhanding a loose puck into an open net after Nils Lundkvist's shot from the point came off the end boards. Roope Hintz added the Stars' first power-play goal of the season at 15:34, after Dallas started 0-for-9 with the man advantage. Wyatt Johnston had three assists.

"We had our legs again, I think that's the key," Rantanen said. "Playing well, you need to skate well, and I think the last two games we've been playing really fast."

The Stars are 2-2-0 and have won two in a row.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 14 saves for the Sabres (2-2-0), who have given up the first goal and trailed by multiple goals in each of their past three games. Buffalo is 0-for-13 on the power play to start the season.

"Got to start better," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "Our starts have to be better. We have to start putting the puck in the back of the net early."