Stars Smack Sluggish Sabres

Now that the Dallas Stars have taken the Pacific Division-lead from San Jose, they are intent on widening their advantage over the Sharks.

Jere Lehtinen and Ted Donato scored first-period goals over a 62-second span of 1:02, and the Stars beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 Sunday.

The Stars - seeking a fifth straight division title - lead the Sharks by three points.

"The pride factor is involved now," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We've been hanging around this thing all year. Our players are recognizing that there are only five or six weeks left. We know we have to keep competing at a high level."

Mike Modano added a short-handed goal and an assist, and Mike Keane had a goal for Dallas.

Darryl Sydor matched his career high with three assists, and Ed Belfour had 19 saves for the Stars, returning home from a 1-3 road trip. Dallas had travel problems coming back from Anaheim and got home on Saturday afternoon, 11 hours late.

Stars C Joe Nieuwendyk missed his second straight game because of a groin injury, and could miss the rest of the regular season.

"It's 3-to-6 weeks from date of injury," Hitchcock said. "We'll have to use two or three different players to repace what Joe did for us."

J.P. Dumont had a second-period power-play goal for the Sabres, who earned an overtime victory at Colorado on Saturday. Buffalo was 7-2 in its previous nine games.

Buffalo, playing its third game in four days, looked like a tired team in the first period. The Sabres were outshot 7-2 and trailed 2-0.

"We took advantage of their mistakes," Modano said. "Quality chances were the difference in the game. Ours came close-in, which made things a lot easier. They were flat after a tough game against Colorado."

Lehtinen scored a power-play goal at 13:50 off Brett Hull's setup. Donato's rebound goal made it 2-0.

"This game was a product of the schedule," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "But their schedule has been demanding, too, so it shouldn't be an issue."

Keane beat Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek from the slot 59 seconds into the second period to push Dallas' advantage to 3-0.

Dumont got the puck past Belfour from the left faceoff circle at 13:50 of the second period. But Modano scored his 24th goal on a back-hander from the slot to extend Dallas' lead to 4-1.

"That goal really sealed it for us," Hitchcock said of the short-handed score. "It took everything out of them."

Hasek was given the day off against Colorado, with Martin Biron lifting the Sabres over the Avalanche. Hasek didn't respond the way Ruff wanted.

"The biggest difference was goaltending," Ruff said. "Yesterday it won the game for us. Today it didn't. Belfour made some big saves for them."

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