Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo SabresMar 1, 2025

FinalSaturday, Mar 1, 2025· KeyBank Center

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
MTL	0	3	1	4		MTL	9	10	10	29
BUF	0	2	0	2		BUF	9	9	7	25

: MTL 57BUF 68
: MTL 3.33BUF 2.28
PP goals: MTL 1BUF 0
Hits: MTL 27BUF 28
Blocks: MTL 28BUF 17
PIM: MTL 10BUF 24
: MTL 58%BUF 42%

Fantasy takeaways

Generated from the play-by-play, shifts and season context. No opinions, just what changed.

Montreal Canadiens beat Buffalo Sabres 4–2

Montreal Canadiens beat Buffalo Sabres 4–2 at BUF. Christian Dvorak (MTL) led the scoring with 0G 2A. MTL's first power-play unit (Laine, Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson and Slafkovský) scored 1 power-play goal on 2 attempts in 2:44 together.

Points
Christian Dvorak had 2 assists (2 points) on 4 shots in 16:27.Dvorak
Points
Lane Hutson had 2 assists (2 points) on 2 shots in 21:58.Hutson
PP1
MTL's first power-play unit (Laine, Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson and Slafkovský) scored 1 power-play goal on 2 attempts in 2:44 together.Laine Suzuki Caufield Hutson Slafkovský
New line
New look for BUF: Tuch–Greenway–Cozens skated 9:18 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (75% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Tuch Greenway Cozens
Usage
Zach Benson (BUF) played 10:32, −4:21 down on his 14:53 season average over 74 games.Benson
Usage
Connor Clifton (BUF) played 12:18, −3:48 down on his 16:06 season average over 72 games.Clifton
Usage
Dennis Gilbert (BUF) played 7:20, −3:15 down on his 10:35 season average over 28 games.Gilbert
Cats
Dylan Cozens (BUF) threw 7 hits, a night for hits leagues.Cozens

Shot map

Both teams on one rink, filtered by strength and period.

Shot map

Every attempt, sized by expected goals. Goals are rings, shots on goal dots, misses hollow, blocks crosses.

Strength

Period

Team

← MTL attacks left (bottom on phones)BUF attacks right (top on phones) →

BUF
MTL
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 125 of 125 attempts · BUF 68 · MTL 57

Game flow

Cumulative expected goals and shot attempts, with power plays shaded and goals marked.

Cumulative shot attempts

BUF
MTL
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

BUF pressure
MTL pressure
Goal
Control (|PI| > 0.25)

: descriptive only, the team with more pressure scored the next goal about half the time. In control: MTL 42% of the game, BUF 36%.

Shift chart

Every shift, grouped by line and pair; bars are coloured by strength state. Click a player to highlight.

Shifts

BUF

MTL

goals / penalties

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
Goal
Penalty

Sequence card

5-on-5 possession-chain numbers from the sequence engine (Draw Equity and control cover all situations).

Sequence card
Stat	MTL	BUF
	55	67
	2.27	1.86
	2.07	1.84
	13	6
	2	4
	35	26
	+0.032	−0.032
	42%	36%

Definitions: sequence xG, transition attempts, Draw Equity, control and the Pressure Index.

Lines used

Detected from who actually shared the ice, with time together. Percentages are the unit's share of shot attempts.

Montreal Canadiens

L1Gallagher – Anderson – Dvorak
10:2046% CF
L2Suzuki – Caufield – Slafkovský
10:1635% CF
L3Armia – Evans – Heineman
8:1442% CF
L4Laine – Newhook – Beck
7:5953% CF
D1Matheson – Carrier
14:0938% CF
D2Struble – Hutson
12:3258% CF
D3Savard – Xhekaj
10:0832% CF

PP1Laine – Suzuki – Caufield – Hutson – Slafkovský
2:44100% CF
PP2Gallagher – Armia – Matheson – Newhook – Heineman
0:48100% CF
PK1FAnderson – Dvorak
1:13
PK2FArmia – Evans
0:45
PK1DSavard – Matheson
1:43

Current MTL line combinations →

Buffalo Sabres

L1Tuch – Greenway – Cozens
9:1875% CF
L2Thompson – Peterka – Kulich
8:0846% CF
L3Malenstyn – Krebs – Quinn
2:5629% CF
D1Dahlin – Byram
13:0536% CF
D2Samuelsson – Power
8:1760% CF
D3Clifton – Bryson
4:1163% CF

PP1Tuch – Thompson – Dahlin – Quinn – Peterka
1:36100% CF
PP2Byram – Cozens – Power – Kulich – Benson
0:33100% CF
PK1FKrebs – Benson
1:15
PK2FGreenway – McLeod
1:13
PK1DClifton – Samuelsson
2:43
PK2DBryson – Byram
0:47

Current BUF line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

2nd period

1:13
MTLCole CaufieldPP (Patrik Laine, Nick Suzuki)slap0.14 xG
MTL: Laine, Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson, SlafkovskýBUF: Clifton, Greenway, McLeod, Samuelsson
MTL 1 – 0 BUF
6:04
BUFAlex Tuch (Jacob Bryson)wrist0.10 xG
MTL: Armia, Matheson, Evans, Carrier, HeinemanBUF: Clifton, Tuch, Bryson, Cozens, Peterka
MTL 1 – 1 BUF
7:33
BUFJiri Kulich (Rasmus Dahlin, JJ Peterka)slap0.14 xG
MTL: Gallagher, Anderson, Dvorak, Struble, HutsonBUF: Thompson, Dahlin, Byram, Peterka, Kulich
MTL 1 – 2 BUF
13:33
MTLJosh Anderson (Christian Dvorak, Lane Hutson)wrist0.18 xG
MTL: Gallagher, Anderson, Dvorak, Carrier, HutsonBUF: Clifton, Thompson, Bryson, McLeod, Benson
MTL 2 – 2 BUF
19:57
MTLAlex Newhook (Mike Matheson, Lane Hutson)tip-in0.04 xG
MTL: Matheson, Evans, Newhook, HutsonBUF: Tuch, Dahlin, Byram, Kulich
MTL 3 – 2 BUF

3rd period

18:22
MTLJake EvansEN (Christian Dvorak)wrist0.75 xG
MTL: Armia, Matheson, Dvorak, Evans, CarrierBUF: Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin, Byram, Peterka, Kulich
MTL 4 – 2 BUF

Box score

Skaters grouped by the line they played on; CF% is the 5v5 share of shot attempts while on the ice.

Montreal Canadiens

MTL skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Christian Dvorak C	L1	0	2	2	+1	4	0.56	1	1	0	16:27	—	—	45	60
Josh Anderson R	L1	1	0	1	0	2	0.18	2	1	0	14:41	—	—	44	68
Brendan Gallagher R	L1	0	0	0	0	4	0.15	2	1	0	13:58	—	—	50	67
Nick Suzuki C	L2	0	1	1	0	3	0.19	0	1	0	20:29	—	—	41	55
Cole Caufield R	L2	1	0	1	0	1	0.26	2	1	0	17:58	—	—	38	41
Juraj Slafkovský L	L2	0	0	0	0	2	0.16	5	1	0	15:47	—	—	36	35
Jake Evans C	L3	1	0	1	+1	1	0.75	3	2	0	16:14	—	—	42	33
Joel Armia R	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.14	1	0	0	13:18	—	—	48	43
Emil Heineman L	L3	0	0	0	-1	1	0.32	1	0	0	10:29	—	—	50	63
Alex Newhook C	L4	1	0	1	+1	2	0.13	2	1	0	13:41	—	—	54	63
Patrik Laine L	L4	0	1	1	0	2	0.20	0	1	0	11:25	—	—	56	85
Owen Beck C	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.03	1	1	0	9:43	—	—	50	52
Mike Matheson D	D1	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	1	4	0	26:34	—	—	39	39
Alexandre Carrier D	D1	0	0	0	+1	2	0.04	0	3	4	20:21	—	—	39	50
Lane Hutson D	D2	0	2	2	+1	2	0.14	0	2	0	21:58	—	—	58	80
Jayden Struble D	D2	0	0	0	-1	1	0.05	4	3	4	17:17	—	—	55	71
Arber Xhekaj D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	2	2	2	16:05	—	—	26	24
David Savard D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	3	0	15:35	—	—	40	34

MTL goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Jakub Dobes(start)	W	25	23	2	.920	2.28	60:00

Buffalo Sabres

BUF skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Alex Tuch R	L1	1	0	1	-1	2	0.15	3	1	0	20:22	—	—	77	88
Dylan Cozens C	L1	0	0	0	+1	2	0.22	7	0	2	17:44	—	—	69	38
Jordan Greenway L	L1	0	0	0	0	2	0.16	3	0	4	16:18	—	—	77	68
Tage Thompson C	L2	0	0	0	-1	2	0.23	2	2	2	20:17	—	—	46	43
JJ Peterka R	L2	0	1	1	+1	1	0.07	2	0	12	20:01	—	—	49	42
Jiri Kulich C	L2	1	0	1	-1	3	0.32	0	1	0	15:39	—	—	42	64
Jack Quinn R	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.03	1	1	0	14:51	—	—	44	5
Peyton Krebs C	L3	0	0	0	0	0	0.07	2	0	0	12:09	—	—	41	23
Beck Malenstyn L	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.03	2	2	2	8:51	—	—	47	61
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	1	1	-1	3	0.20	4	1	0	24:44	—	—	50	37
Bowen Byram D	D1	0	0	0	-1	2	0.49	0	3	2	22:07	—	—	44	38
Owen Power D	D2	0	0	0	0	2	0.04	0	2	0	19:30	—	—	65	52
Mattias Samuelsson D	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	16:55	—	—	53	54
Jacob Bryson D	D3	0	1	1	0	1	0.01	0	0	0	15:34	—	—	80	60
Connor Clifton D	D3	0	0	0	0	1	0.05	1	4	0	12:18	—	—	48	40
Ryan McLeod C	—	0	0	0	-1	1	0.21	0	0	0	16:35	—	—	59	41
Zach Benson L	—	0	0	0	-1	1	0.01	0	0	0	10:32	—	—	42	33
Dennis Gilbert D	—	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	7:20	—	—	63	62

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(start)	L	28	25	3	.893	2.58	58:41

Goal anatomy

Animated replays from NHL EDGE tracking, with the entry, passes and shot speed for each goal.

Cole Caufield (MTL PP) 2nd 1:13 · assists Patrik Laine, Nick Suzuki · Odd-man rush · carried in · 3-on-1 at the blue line · 70.0 mph shot · 2.6 s from entry to goal.

Cole Caufield · 2nd 1:13 · MTL PP

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 3-on-1
Passes: 0
Shot: 70.0 mph
Distance: 22 ft
Entry to goal: 2.6 s
Type: one-timer

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Alex Tuch · 2nd 6:04 · BUF

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 1
Shot: 43.0 mph
Distance: 19 ft
Type: one-timer

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Jiri Kulich · 2nd 7:33 · BUF

Play: rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 5 (royal road)
Shot: 60.8 mph
Distance: 24 ft
Entry to goal: 4.5 s
Type: one-timer

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Josh Anderson · 2nd 13:33 · MTL

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 3-on-2
Passes: 1
Shot: 32.0 mph
Distance: 22 ft
Entry to goal: 3.3 s
Type: one-timer

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Alex Newhook · 2nd 19:57 · MTL

Play: deflection
Passes: 4 (royal road)
Shot: 39.3 mph
Distance: 20 ft
Type: deflection

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Jake Evans · 3rd 18:22 · MTL EN

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 2-on-1
Passes: 1
Shot: 59.0 mph
Distance: 50 ft
Entry to goal: 1.2 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Methodology

Shot locations come from the NHL play-by-play, normalised so each shooter attacks the same way, then flipped so the home team attacks right. On-ice stats and lines come from the shift charts: a unit is the exact set of skaters sharing the ice, and CF% is the share of all shot attempts while they were out. Head-to-head cells are 5v5 time against each opponent. Expected goals and the Pressure Index appear as their models are released.