"The Buffalo Sabres eased Thomas Vanek back into the lineup Friday night by starting him on the fourth line with Cody McCormick and Matt Ellis. But Vanek didn't ease himself in. He was instant impact, with his 20th goal of the season and two near-misses on game-winners in the Sabres' 3-2 shootout win over the Dallas Stars.

"It was good to be back," said Vanek, who had missed three games with an upper-body injury suffered Jan. 31 in Montreal. "I thought I played well and generated chances."

Sure did. Vanek had four shots on goal, second on the team, and scored with a power-play deflection at 5:07 of the third period. It's his seventh straight 20-goal season and ended Buffalo's 0-for-14 run with the man advantage.

"That gave us a lot of confidence to get us back within one with a lot of time left," he said. "It took until the last minute [until Derek Roy's tying goal] but we never stopped believing."

"He can be instant help on the power play," said coach Lindy Ruff. "And it just seems when he does come back, he gets himself on the scoresheet. He'll get better from playing."

Vanek moved to a line with Tyler Ennis and Drew Stafford for the second half of the game and his goal was the 224th of his career, tying Miroslav Satan for seventh in club history."