New Jersey Devils vs. Buffalo SabresFeb 2, 2025

FinalSunday, Feb 2, 2025· KeyBank Center

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
NJD	0	1	2	3		NJD	8	9	7	24
BUF	3	1	0	4		BUF	12	15	7	34

: NJD 67BUF 67
: NJD 3.38BUF 3.60
PP goals: NJD 0BUF 0
Hits: NJD 35BUF 25
Blocks: NJD 12BUF 20
PIM: NJD 21BUF 10
: NJD 39%BUF 61%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Buffalo Sabres edge New Jersey Devils 4–3

Buffalo Sabres beat New Jersey Devils 4–3 at home. Tage Thompson (BUF) led the scoring with 1G 2A. New look for BUF: Malenstyn–McLeod–Krebs skated 5:49 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (62.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

Points
Tage Thompson had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 3 shots in 13:39.Thompson
Points
Paul Cotter had two goals (2 points) on 3 shots in 14:15.Cotter
Points
Rasmus Dahlin had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 20:33.Dahlin
New line
New look for BUF: Malenstyn–McLeod–Krebs skated 5:49 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (62.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Malenstyn McLeod Krebs
Usage
Tage Thompson (BUF) played 13:39, −5:10 down on his 18:49 season average over 75 games.Thompson
Usage
Alex Tuch (BUF) played 23:45, +4:33 up on his 19:12 season average over 81 games.Tuch
Usage
Dennis Gilbert (BUF) played 6:36, −4:01 down on his 10:37 season average over 28 games.Gilbert
Usage
Jack Quinn (BUF) played 8:41, −6:16 down on his 14:57 season average over 73 games.Quinn

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 134 of 134 attempts · BUF 67 · NJD 67

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 36% of the game, BUF 24%.

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
	58	56
	2.79	2.50
	2.57	2.31
	17	12
	10	6
	19	13
	−0.063	+0.063
	36%	24%

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

L1Noesen – Meier – Mercer
9:1965% CF
L2Tatar – Dowling – Cotter
7:2254% CF
L3Palat – Bratt – Hughes
6:1438% CF
L4MacDermid – Lazar – Bastian
5:4736% CF
D1Dillon – Pesce
11:5345% CF
D2Hamilton – Siegenthaler
10:2255% CF
D3Kovacevic – Hughes
9:0855% CF

PP1Palat – Hamilton – Noesen – Bratt – Hughes
3:3660% CF
PP2Tatar – Meier – Cotter – Mercer – Hughes
2:20100% CF
PK1FLazar – Bastian
3:24
PK2FBratt – Hughes
2:57
PK1DDillon – Kovacevic
3:11
PK2DSiegenthaler – Hughes
1:06

Current NJD line combinations →

Buffalo Sabres

L1Zucker – Tuch – Cozens
10:1965% CF
L2Thompson – Peterka – Kulich
6:4945% CF
L3Malenstyn – McLeod – Krebs
5:4963% CF
D1Dahlin – Byram
6:5239% CF
D2Jokiharju – Bryson
6:3355% CF
D3Samuelsson – Power
6:0567% CF

PP1Tuch – Cozens – Power – Kulich – Benson
3:13100% CF
PP2Zucker – Dahlin – Cozens – Quinn – Peterka
2:5667% CF
PK1FTuch – McLeod
3:18
PK2FKrebs – Benson
2:08
PK1DBryson – Samuelsson
3:42
PK2DByram – Power
1:16

Current BUF line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

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
Dawson Mercer C	L1	0	0	0	0	1	0.04	0	0	0	19:01	—	—	64	75
Timo Meier R	L1	0	0	0	0	4	0.22	1	0	2	18:21	—	—	67	76
Stefan Noesen R	L1	0	0	0	-2	2	0.38	4	0	17	13:02	—	—	62	52
Paul Cotter L	L2	2	0	2	+2	3	0.78	4	0	0	14:15	—	—	52	69
Tomas Tatar L	L2	0	0	0	+2	1	0.05	1	1	0	13:02	—	—	65	75
Justin Dowling C	L2	0	1	1	+2	0	0.04	1	0	0	11:38	—	—	53	65
Jack Hughes C	L3	1	0	1	-3	3	0.84	0	1	0	20:12	—	—	45	39
Jesper Bratt L	L3	0	1	1	-3	1	0.24	3	0	0	18:19	—	—	43	37
Ondrej Palat L	L3	0	0	0	-3	1	0.24	1	0	0	14:43	—	—	41	30
Curtis Lazar C	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	5	1	0	14:08	—	—	33	33
Nathan Bastian R	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	4	0	0	13:28	—	—	28	30
Kurtis MacDermid L	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.07	3	1	0	7:59	—	—	33	55
Brenden Dillon D	D1	0	0	0	0	1	0.03	3	2	0	21:13	—	—	41	33
Brett Pesce D	D1	0	1	1	+2	0	0.07	0	1	0	19:35	—	—	46	58
Dougie Hamilton D	D2	0	1	1	-1	2	0.29	2	3	2	19:54	—	—	59	60
Jonas Siegenthaler D	D2	0	0	0	-1	1	0.01	1	0	0	16:56	—	—	49	51
Luke Hughes D	D3	0	0	0	0	3	0.08	0	0	0	18:46	—	—	56	76
Johnathan Kovacevic D	D3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	2	2	0	15:39	—	—	52	50

NJD goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Jake Allen(start)	L	27	23	4	.852	3.32	39:49
Nico Daws	—	7	7	0	.1000	0.28	19:00

Buffalo Sabres

BUF skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Alex Tuch R	L1	0	1	1	+1	4	0.38	2	2	2	23:45	—	—	60	69
Dylan Cozens C	L1	0	0	0	-1	1	0.52	4	1	0	21:08	—	—	55	70
Jason Zucker L	L1	1	0	1	0	3	0.36	1	0	2	17:10	—	—	65	86
JJ Peterka R	L2	1	0	1	0	5	0.39	0	0	0	16:09	—	—	46	43
Jiri Kulich C	L2	0	0	0	0	2	0.35	0	1	0	15:11	—	—	47	41
Tage Thompson C	L2	1	2	3	+1	3	0.55	1	1	0	13:39	—	—	40	43
Ryan McLeod C	L3	1	0	1	+1	1	0.22	1	1	0	17:31	—	—	47	11
Beck Malenstyn L	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.02	2	0	2	14:24	—	—	53	34
Peyton Krebs C	L3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	14:18	—	—	56	29
Bowen Byram D	D1	0	1	1	-1	1	0.00	2	1	2	21:31	—	—	40	28
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	2	2	0	1	0.00	2	2	2	20:33	—	—	41	43
Jacob Bryson D	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	2	0	13:38	—	—	47	28
Henri Jokiharju D	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0.03	1	0	0	12:04	—	—	75	91
Owen Power D	D3	0	1	1	+2	9	0.64	2	0	0	23:28	—	—	58	55
Mattias Samuelsson D	D3	0	0	0	+1	2	0.03	3	7	0	18:05	—	—	44	60
Zach Benson L	—	0	0	0	0	1	0.10	0	0	0	12:09	—	—	57	62
Jack Quinn R	—	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	8:41	—	—	46	77
Dennis Gilbert D	—	0	1	1	0	0	0.01	2	2	0	6:36	—	—	42	20

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(start)	W	24	21	3	.875	3.38	60:00

Goal anatomy

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

Paul Cotter (NJD) 2nd 4:38 · assists Justin Dowling, Dougie Hamilton · Odd-man rush · carried in · 4-on-3 at the blue line · 26.4 mph shot · 2.0 s from entry to goal.

Paul Cotter · 2nd 4:38 · NJD

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 4-on-3
Passes: 0
Shot: 26.4 mph
Distance: 45 ft
Entry to goal: 2.0 s

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

Tage Thompson · 1st 8:11 · BUF

Play: rebound
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 0
Shot: 34.7 mph
Distance: 14 ft
Entry to goal: 3.6 s
Type: rebound

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

JJ Peterka · 1st 15:50 · BUF

Play: rush
Entry: loose
Odd man: No
Passes: 0
Shot: 29.3 mph
Distance: 5 ft
Entry to goal: 3.3 s

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

Ryan McLeod · 1st 19:31 · BUF SH

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 1-on-0
Passes: 0
Shot: 21.6 mph
Distance: 11 ft
Entry to goal: 2.2 s

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

Jason Zucker · 2nd 17:25 · BUF

Play: deflection
Passes: 1
Shot: 25.3 mph
Distance: 3 ft

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

Paul Cotter · 3rd 0:18 · NJD

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 3-on-2
Passes: 1
Shot: 61.7 mph
Distance: 25 ft
Entry to goal: 2.3 s

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

Jack Hughes · 3rd 5:32 · NJD SH

Play: rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 1 (royal road)
Shot: 27.9 mph
Distance: 5 ft
Entry to goal: 3.0 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.

New Jersey Devils vs. Buffalo SabresFeb 2, 2025

Fantasy takeaways

Buffalo Sabres edge New Jersey Devils 4–3

Shot map

Shot map

Game flow

Cumulative shot attempts

Shift chart

Shifts

Sequence card

Lines used

New Jersey Devils

Buffalo Sabres

Scoring summary

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Box score

New Jersey Devils

Buffalo Sabres

Goal anatomy

Paul Cotter · 2nd 4:38 · NJD

Tage Thompson · 1st 8:11 · BUF

JJ Peterka · 1st 15:50 · BUF

Ryan McLeod · 1st 19:31 · BUF SH

Jason Zucker · 2nd 17:25 · BUF

Paul Cotter · 3rd 0:18 · NJD

Jack Hughes · 3rd 5:32 · NJD SH