It had been awhile since the Buffalo Sabres had fun in HSBC Arena. Sure, there have been a few

victories at the foot of Washington Street, but most were low-scoring affairs with the only

real smiles coming during the postgame celebration.

The enjoyment finally returned Wednesday. Pucks were bouncing in the net at a rapid-fire

rate. The players who are supposed to score actually did. Skaters were dashing from end to end

to create chances.

In the middle of all of it was Tyler Myers. The Sabres' rookie sensation scored just 55

seconds into the game and added three assists to help propel his team to a 5-3 victory over

the Dallas Stars. The win was the Sabres' third straight, a streak they will try to continue

Friday when the Minnesota Wild comes to town.

"It's always fun when you have a four-point night," Myers said. "The main thing is

consistency. You don't want to stop after one game. You want to make sure you keep it going.

We've strung together three pretty good games here, and we don't want to stop there. We want

to make it four."



Myers, who had just two points in his previous 13 games, set a career high with his

four-point outing. He was in the Dallas zone nearly as often as any Buffalo forward, creating

and joining rushes at an eye-popping pace.

"He was just having fun playing," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "Mike Grier just yelled

down, "Tyler, in and out, in and out,' and I think he was getting in and out before some

players were getting in. It was a night where it just seemed like he had really good skating

legs and did a lot of good things when he got ahold of the puck."



Most of the good things involved scoring, something Buffalo hadn't been able to do. The

Sabres hadn't scored more than three times since a 5-4 loss in Pittsburgh on Feb. 1, and they

hadn't reached that total at home since a 5-3 victory over Tampa Bay on Jan. 6.

"It was definitely nice, especially to come out the way we did," Myers said. "To come out

and score that many was a good feeling. We just need to make sure we keep it going."



The Sabres haven't been scoring much any time, and they've especially slumped early. They

failed to find the net during the first period of their previous five games.

That trend ended in a hurry.

Myers opened the scoring 55 seconds into the game, capitalizing on a shift in which the

Sabres owned the Dallas zone. Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht had chances near the net before the

puck went to Myers at the blue line. His shot struck Dallas forward Krystofer Barch and

defenseman Trevor Daley before bouncing over goaltender Marty Turco.

It was just the start of a six-goal period in which pucks repeatedly bounced and flew past

the goalies.

"It's been awhile since we scored a few," Hecht said. "We got off to a good start. They

always battled back, but in the end we kept the shots down. They didn't get a lot of chances

in the third, and we kept playing our style."



The Sabres took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Mark Mancari, but the Stars answered with a pair.

Goalie Ryan Miller's glove caught nothing but air with 2:04 to go as he whiffed on Jamie

Benn's shot from the left circle, putting Dallas in front, 3-2.

Myers and Jason Pominville combined to get the goal back, with Pominville tipping the

rookie's shot with 56.5 seconds left.

"That was an important goal for us, an important message we sent to [Miller] that we're

going to get it back right away," Ruff said. "He's been so strong for us all year, it was

great to score some goals for him."



Thomas Vanek's 20th goal put the Sabres in front midway through the second period, and this

time Buffalo refused to let Dallas rally. The Sabres kept the Stars away from Miller for the

final 8:46 of the second and finished with a 43-20 edge in shots.

Roy's empty-netter with 17.4 seconds to go extinguished the Stars.

"If we play well in our own end and don't spend a lot of time in our own end, it allows us

more time up ice," Ruff said. "If we just stay with that, the offense will come."