New Jersey Devils vs. Buffalo SabresJan 31, 2021

FinalSunday, Jan 31, 2021· KeyBank Center

away

New Jersey DevilsNJD

5

@

home

Buffalo SabresBUF

3

Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
NJD	2	1	2	5		NJD	11	14	12	37
BUF	0	2	1	3		BUF	9	15	9	33

: NJD 63BUF 59
: NJD 6.30BUF 3.51
PP goals: NJD 0BUF 2
Hits: NJD 9BUF 15
Blocks: NJD 9BUF 10
PIM: NJD 6BUF 6
: NJD 42%BUF 58%

Fantasy takeaways

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

New Jersey Devils beat Buffalo Sabres 5–3

New Jersey Devils beat Buffalo Sabres 5–3 at BUF. Miles Wood (NJD) led the scoring with 2G 1A. BUF's first power-play unit (Hall, Ristolainen, Olofsson, Eichel and Dahlin) scored 2 power-play goals on 11 attempts in 4:05 together.

Points
Miles Wood had two goals and an assist (3 points) on 7 shots in 14:10.Wood
Points
Michael McLeod had two goals (2 points) on 2 shots in 17:03.McLeod
Points
Rasmus Ristolainen had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 4 shots in 28:11.Ristolainen
Points
Jack Eichel had 2 assists (2 points) on 7 shots in 21:57.Eichel
Points
Victor Olofsson had 2 assists (2 points) on 2 shots in 20:26.Olofsson
PP1
BUF's first power-play unit (Hall, Ristolainen, Olofsson, Eichel and Dahlin) scored 2 power-play goals on 11 attempts in 4:05 together.Hall Ristolainen Olofsson Eichel Dahlin
New line
New look for BUF: Hall–Olofsson–Eichel skated 12:55 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (68.2% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Hall Olofsson Eichel
New line
New look for BUF: Staal–Skinner–Cozens skated 9:39 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (23.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Staal Skinner 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

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

BUF
NJD
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 122 of 122 attempts · BUF 59 · NJD 63

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

BUF
NJD
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

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

: descriptive only, the team with more pressure scored the next goal about half the time. In control: NJD 35% of the game, BUF 27%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

BUF

NJD

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	NJD	BUF
	65	50
	5.32	2.81
	4.82	2.66
	25	13
	5	4
	20	12
	−0.042	+0.042
	35%	27%

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.

New Jersey Devils

L1Johnsson – Bratt – Hughes
10:5271% CF
L2Wood – Bastian – McLeod
10:3061% CF
L3Zacha – Kuokkanen – Boqvist
8:2236% CF
L4Gusev – Maltsev – Sharangovich
8:2147% CF
D1Subban – Murray
12:5932% CF
D2Kulikov – Tennyson
11:0942% CF
D3Severson – Smith
8:2980% CF

PP1Severson – Gusev – Bratt – Kuokkanen – Hughes
3:35100% CF
PP2Severson – Johnsson – Wood – Zacha – Smith
1:34
PK1FZacha – Bastian
2:15
PK2FMcLeod – Sharangovich
1:42
PK1DMurray – Severson
2:27
PK2DSubban – Kulikov
1:12

Current NJD line combinations →

Buffalo Sabres

L1Hall – Olofsson – Eichel
12:5568% CF
L2Staal – Skinner – Cozens
9:3924% CF
L3Okposo – Eakin – Rieder
8:2233% CF
L4Sheahan – Lazar – Mittelstadt
7:4665% CF
D1McCabe – Ristolainen
15:2255% CF
D2Irwin – Montour
9:2641% CF
D3Miller – Dahlin
6:0230% CF

PP1Hall – Ristolainen – Olofsson – Eichel – Dahlin
4:05100% CF
PP2Staal – Hall – Miller – Eichel – Cozens
0:3767% CF
PK1FEakin – Rieder
2:17
PK2FSheahan – Lazar
2:15
PK1DMcCabe – Ristolainen
3:13
PK2DIrwin – Montour
1:05

Current BUF line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

1st period

0:20
NJDMichael McLeod (P.K. Subban, Ryan Murray)wrist0.13 xG
NJD: Subban, Murray, Wood, Bastian, McLeodBUF: Okposo, Eakin, Irwin, Rieder, Montour
NJD 1 – 0 BUF
19:43
NJDAndreas Johnsson (Jesper Bratt, Ty Smith)deflected0.03 xG
NJD: Severson, Johnsson, Bratt, Smith, HughesBUF: Sheahan, Miller, Lazar, Mittelstadt, Dahlin
NJD 2 – 0 BUF

2nd period

14:11
BUFCurtis Lazar (Rasmus Ristolainen, Jake McCabe)tip-in0.06 xG
NJD: Subban, Murray, Gusev, Johnsson, HughesBUF: Sheahan, McCabe, Ristolainen, Lazar, Mittelstadt
NJD 2 – 1 BUF
15:23
BUFRasmus DahlinPP (Victor Olofsson, Jack Eichel)slap0.07 xG
NJD: Murray, Severson, Zacha, BastianBUF: Hall, Ristolainen, Olofsson, Eichel, Dahlin
NJD 2 – 2 BUF
19:59
NJDMiles Wood (Janne Kuokkanen)wrist0.17 xG
NJD: Kulikov, Tennyson, Wood, McLeod, KuokkanenBUF: Irwin, Hall, Miller, Olofsson, Eichel
NJD 3 – 2 BUF

3rd period

3:53
BUFRasmus RistolainenPP (Victor Olofsson, Jack Eichel)wrist0.05 xG
NJD: Subban, Murray, Zacha, McLeodBUF: Hall, Ristolainen, Olofsson, Eichel, Dahlin
NJD 3 – 3 BUF
10:40
NJDMichael McLeod (Miles Wood, Nathan Bastian)wrist0.23 xG
NJD: Kulikov, Murray, Wood, Bastian, McLeodBUF: Staal, Skinner, McCabe, Ristolainen, Cozens
NJD 4 – 3 BUF
19:52
NJDMiles WoodEN (Pavel Zacha, Damon Severson)wrist0.26 xG
NJD: Kulikov, Severson, Wood, Zacha, SharangovichBUF: Hall, Ristolainen, Olofsson, Eichel, Mittelstadt, Dahlin
NJD 5 – 3 BUF

Box score

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

New Jersey Devils

NJD skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Jack Hughes C	L1	0	0	0	0	3	0.42	1	0	0	18:41	—	—	70	83
Jesper Bratt L	L1	0	1	1	+1	3	0.75	0	1	0	18:18	—	—	68	78
Andreas Johnsson L	L1	1	0	1	0	2	0.09	0	0	0	14:09	—	—	68	87
Michael McLeod C	L2	2	0	2	+3	2	0.48	1	0	0	17:03	—	—	56	74
Miles Wood L	L2	2	1	3	+4	7	0.95	0	0	0	14:10	—	—	61	79
Nathan Bastian R	L2	0	1	1	+2	3	0.75	0	0	0	13:33	—	—	63	79
Pavel Zacha C	L3	0	1	1	+1	2	0.25	1	0	0	15:58	—	—	36	27
Janne Kuokkanen C	L3	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	1	1	2	14:51	—	—	33	36
Jesper Boqvist C	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.09	0	1	0	11:24	—	—	33	26
Yegor Sharangovich C	L4	0	0	0	+1	4	1.42	0	0	0	14:18	—	—	57	57
Nikita Gusev L	L4	0	0	0	-1	2	0.08	0	0	0	13:41	—	—	58	63
Mikhail Maltsev L	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.49	2	0	0	10:20	—	—	50	54
Ryan Murray D	D1	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	1	2	0	21:50	—	—	35	30
P.K. Subban D	D1	0	1	1	0	1	0.20	0	2	0	21:25	—	—	46	39
Dmitry Kulikov D	D2	0	0	0	+3	1	0.11	1	0	2	20:37	—	—	67	71
Matt Tennyson D	D2	0	0	0	+1	1	0.01	1	0	0	14:34	—	—	39	56
Damon Severson D	D3	0	1	1	+2	3	0.15	0	1	0	22:39	—	—	77	89
Ty Smith D	D3	0	1	1	+1	1	0.06	0	1	2	16:39	—	—	74	89

NJD goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Eric Comrie(start)	W	33	30	3	.909	3.51	60:00

Buffalo Sabres

BUF skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Jack Eichel C	L1	0	2	2	-1	7	1.06	0	0	0	21:57	—	—	65	51
Taylor Hall L	L1	0	0	0	-1	3	0.54	1	0	0	21:24	—	—	68	53
Victor Olofsson L	L1	0	2	2	-1	2	0.21	0	0	0	20:26	—	—	59	49
Jeff Skinner L	L2	0	0	0	-2	1	0.14	0	0	0	13:51	—	—	18	12
Eric Staal C	L2	0	0	0	-2	2	0.10	0	0	0	13:45	—	—	27	22
Dylan Cozens C	L2	0	0	0	-2	0	0.03	0	0	0	12:24	—	—	33	29
Tobias Rieder L	L3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	1	0	14:02	—	—	33	11
Cody Eakin C	L3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	0	0	13:11	—	—	35	7
Kyle Okposo R	L3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	1	0	9:51	—	—	33	7
Curtis Lazar C	L4	1	0	1	0	2	0.33	1	0	0	12:29	—	—	48	47
Riley Sheahan C	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	12:01	—	—	55	49
Casey Mittelstadt C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.03	0	1	0	10:40	—	—	55	51
Rasmus Ristolainen D	D1	1	1	2	-1	4	0.33	4	1	0	28:11	—	—	52	33
Jake McCabe D	D1	0	1	1	0	1	0.06	4	1	0	19:53	—	—	56	39
Brandon Montour D	D2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.17	0	2	2	22:46	—	—	38	36
Matt Irwin D	D2	0	0	0	-2	5	0.12	3	2	2	13:15	—	—	43	17
Rasmus Dahlin D	D3	1	0	1	-2	4	0.30	2	0	2	21:32	—	—	28	49
Colin Miller D	D3	0	0	0	-2	2	0.08	0	1	0	14:19	—	—	41	33

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Carter Hutton(start)	L	36	32	4	.889	4.79	58:03

More

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.