DALLAS _ In the Western Conference, the margin for error is small. Prior to the Stars' 1-0 win over Buffalo on Wednesday night, eight teams were packed within six points of each other, jostling for three available playoff berths.
The season offers fewer attempts to hide mistakes after the All-Star break, and Wednesday night gave the Stars an opportunity to gain two points on every team in the Western Conference. Turns out the margin of error Wednesday night was pretty small, too.
Jamie Benn scored the game's only goal in the first period, burying a feed from Taylor Fedun after a Sabres giveaway in the Buffalo zone. It was Benn's 19th goal of the season, and the assist for Fedun came against the team that traded him earlier this season.
Stars goaltender Ben Bishop made 30 saves to post his third shutout of the season. It was Dallas' second win in a row after a four-game losing streak.
Benn's goal came after a nifty play by Fedun to keep the puck in the Sabres zone and the play onside. Fedun rushed in from the neutral zone to save the puck from crossing the blue line, fed it to Benn, who swept the puck between Linus Ullmark's legs.
"Just tried to make a good move, and found a way to score a goal," Benn said.
The Stars struggled to generate quality chances on Wednesday, and had Fedun not held the puck at the blue line, Dallas would have been held scoreless all night. And as Fedun and the Stars capitalized on the inches between success and failure, Buffalo did not.
With 15:32 left in the third period, Buffalo appeared to tie the game at 1 when Marco Scandella's shot found the back of the net. But officials immediately signaled no goal because Nathan Beaulieu interfered with Bishop.
Buffalo challenged the play, and could have made the argument that Jamie Oleksiak pushed Beaulieau into Bishop, but the call on the ice was upheld.
"Just skated through the crease and took my left leg out there," Bishop said.
Montgomery added: "I thought it was a real good call, and obviously they saw it right away. I never notice goalie interference when it's live. I'm just watching the play. That's pretty impressive how they call that live."
