Philadelphia Flyers vs. Buffalo SabresDec 18, 2025

FinalThursday, Dec 18, 2025· KeyBank Center

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
PHI	1	1	1	3		PHI	12	10	5	27
BUF	1	2	2	5		BUF	4	12	12	28

: PHI 57BUF 54
: PHI 2.95BUF 3.56
PP goals: PHI 0BUF 1
Hits: PHI 29BUF 24
Blocks: PHI 10BUF 15
PIM: PHI 10BUF 6
: PHI 54%BUF 46%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Buffalo Sabres beat Philadelphia Flyers 5–3

Buffalo Sabres beat Philadelphia Flyers 5–3 at home. Zach Benson (BUF) led the scoring with 0G 2A. BUF's first power-play unit (Thompson, Norris, Dahlin, Doan and Benson) scored 1 power-play goal on 5 attempts in 6:28 together.

Points
Bobby Brink had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 14:38.Brink
Points
Mattias Samuelsson had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 19:43.Samuelsson
Points
Zach Benson had 2 assists (2 points) on 4 shots in 17:11.Benson
PP1
BUF's first power-play unit (Thompson, Norris, Dahlin, Doan and Benson) scored 1 power-play goal on 5 attempts in 6:28 together.Thompson Norris Dahlin Doan Benson
Usage
Josh Norris (BUF) played 19:38, +3:53 up on his 15:45 season average over 43 games.Norris
Usage
Tyson Kozak (BUF) played 4:46, −6:39 down on his 11:25 season average over 45 games.Kozak
Usage
Jack Quinn (BUF) played 12:36, −3:06 down on his 15:42 season average over 81 games.Quinn
Usage
Mattias Samuelsson (BUF) played 19:43, −3:09 down on his 22:52 season average over 77 games.Samuelsson

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

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

BUF
PHI
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 111 of 111 attempts · BUF 54 · PHI 57

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

BUF
PHI
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

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

: descriptive only, the team with more pressure scored the next goal about half the time. In control: PHI 38% of the game, BUF 29%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

BUF

PHI

goals / penalties

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
Goal
Penalty

Head-to-head matchups

BUF skaters (rows) against PHI skaters (columns) at 5v5. Square size is time together; colour is xGF% from the BUF side.

Matchup matrix

BUF xGF% 4060square size = TOI together · blank = under 1:00

Sequence card

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

Sequence card
Stat	PHI	BUF
	53	46
	2.97	2.21
	2.81	2.09
	12	10
	1	7
	25	17
	+0.023	−0.023
	38%	29%

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.

Philadelphia Flyers

L1Dvorak – Konecny – Zegras
10:2363% CF
L2Couturier – Grundstrom – Tippett
9:2147% CF
L3Cates – Brink – Michkov
7:1867% CF
L4Deslauriers – Hathaway – Abols
5:3318% CF
D1Andrae – Drysdale
14:3661% CF
D2Sanheim – York
13:1559% CF
D3Seeler – Ristolainen
12:4859% CF

PP1Tippett – Cates – Zegras – Brink – Drysdale
2:2780% CF
PP2Sanheim – Dvorak – Konecny – York – Michkov
1:51100% CF
PK1FCouturier – Cates
1:44
PK2FDvorak – Grundstrom
1:26
PK1DSanheim – York
3:38
PK2DSeeler – Ristolainen
1:55

Current PHI line combinations →

Buffalo Sabres

L1Tuch – Norris – Ostlund
9:5450% CF
L2Thompson – Krebs – Doan
9:0179% CF
L3McLeod – Quinn – Benson
7:2729% CF
L4Greenway – Malenstyn – Kozak
3:4233% CF
D1Samuelsson – Dahlin
11:4580% CF
D2Timmins – Byram
9:0158% CF
D3Kesselring – Power
8:4329% CF

PP1Thompson – Norris – Dahlin – Doan – Benson
6:2883% CF
PP2Tuch – McLeod – Byram – Quinn – Power
1:44100% CF
PK1FGreenway – Malenstyn
1:37
PK2FTuch – McLeod
1:16
PK1DTimmins – Samuelsson
2:04
PK2DByram – Power
1:50

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.

Philadelphia Flyers

PHI skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Trevor Zegras C	L1	0	1	1	-1	1	0.17	0	0	2	20:32	—	—	64	64
Travis Konecny R	L1	1	0	1	-1	4	0.29	2	0	2	19:06	—	—	59	68
Christian Dvorak C	L1	0	0	0	-2	4	0.86	0	0	0	18:37	—	—	55	62
Owen Tippett R	L2	0	0	0	-1	2	0.26	3	0	0	17:21	—	—	60	57
Sean Couturier C	L2	0	0	0	-2	2	0.16	1	0	0	16:07	—	—	47	54
Carl Grundstrom R	L2	0	0	0	-1	1	0.25	6	0	0	15:28	—	—	38	43
Noah Cates L	L3	1	0	1	+1	2	0.14	1	0	0	15:37	—	—	70	48
Matvei Michkov R	L3	0	0	0	+1	2	0.33	0	0	2	15:27	—	—	80	82
Bobby Brink R	L3	0	2	2	+2	1	0.17	1	1	2	14:38	—	—	65	62
Garnet Hathaway R	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	3	0	0	8:39	—	—	25	15
Rodrigo Abols C	L4	0	0	0	0	2	0.05	2	0	0	8:20	—	—	27	25
Nicolas Deslauriers L	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	4	0	0	6:43	—	—	25	15
Jamie Drysdale D	D1	0	1	1	+1	2	0.10	0	1	0	19:46	—	—	61	72
Emil Andrae D	D1	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	2	0	0	17:15	—	—	52	53
Travis Sanheim D	D2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	1	0	23:12	—	—	53	64
Cam York D	D2	1	0	1	-1	2	0.15	0	0	0	20:31	—	—	48	57
Nick Seeler D	D3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	2	4	0	19:07	—	—	53	55
Rasmus Ristolainen D	D3	0	0	0	-1	2	0.03	2	3	2	16:59	—	—	55	49

PHI goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Samuel Ersson(start)	L	27	23	4	.852	2.61	58:17

Buffalo Sabres

BUF skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Alex Tuch R	L1	0	1	1	+1	1	0.23	3	5	2	21:29	—	—	44	41
Josh Norris C	L1	1	0	1	+1	2	0.18	1	0	0	19:38	—	—	52	49
Noah Ostlund C	L1	1	0	1	+1	2	0.08	0	0	0	13:40	—	—	50	41
Tage Thompson C	L2	1	0	1	-1	2	0.28	1	1	0	20:19	—	—	68	75
Josh Doan R	L2	0	0	0	0	3	0.43	1	0	0	19:36	—	—	71	74
Peyton Krebs C	L2	0	0	0	-1	2	0.36	5	0	0	13:35	—	—	63	69
Ryan McLeod C	L3	1	0	1	+2	1	0.95	0	0	0	18:35	—	—	35	25
Zach Benson L	L3	0	2	2	+1	4	0.26	0	0	0	17:11	—	—	38	29
Jack Quinn R	L3	1	0	1	+1	2	0.20	0	1	0	12:36	—	—	35	23
Jordan Greenway L	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	0	0	9:43	—	—	25	20
Beck Malenstyn L	L4	0	0	0	-1	2	0.10	6	1	0	8:56	—	—	30	24
Tyson Kozak C	L4	0	0	0	-1	1	0.15	1	0	0	4:46	—	—	43	46
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	1	1	+1	1	0.06	1	0	2	23:20	—	—	62	74
Mattias Samuelsson D	D1	0	2	2	+1	1	0.10	1	1	2	19:43	—	—	50	55
Bowen Byram D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.06	1	1	0	20:41	—	—	50	30
Conor Timmins D	D2	0	0	0	0	2	0.02	2	1	0	16:00	—	—	38	27
Owen Power D	D3	0	1	1	+1	1	0.08	0	1	0	20:13	—	—	33	27
Michael Kesselring D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.03	1	3	0	14:07	—	—	37	19

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Alex Lyon(start)	W	27	24	3	.889	2.95	59:52

Goal anatomy

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

Jack Quinn (BUF) 1st 7:40 · assists Mattias Samuelsson, Zach Benson · Deflection · carried in · 21.9 mph shot · 5.1 s from entry to goal.

Jack Quinn · 1st 7:40 · BUF

Play: deflection
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 3
Shot: 21.9 mph
Distance: 5 ft
Entry to goal: 5.1 s

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

Noah Cates · 1st 8:38 · PHI

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 53.0 mph
Distance: 30 ft

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

Travis Konecny · 3rd 14:28 · PHI

Play: cycle
Passes: 3 (royal road)
Shot: 47.7 mph
Distance: 33 ft

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

Cam York · 2nd 11:01 · PHI

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 2 (royal road)
Shot: 38.3 mph
Distance: 17 ft

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

Tage Thompson · 2nd 16:54 · BUF

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 40.4 mph
Distance: 17 ft

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

Noah Ostlund · 2nd 19:30 · BUF

Play: turnover-forecheck
Entry: carry
Odd man: 4-on-2
Passes: 2 (royal road)
Shot: 57.6 mph
Distance: 48 ft
Entry to goal: 8.6 s

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

Josh Norris · 3rd 10:20 · BUF PP

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 46.6 mph
Distance: 14 ft

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

Ryan McLeod · 3rd 19:52 · BUF EN

Play: rush
Entry: loose
Odd man: No
Passes: 1
Shot: 41.0 mph
Distance: 12 ft
Entry to goal: 2.5 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.

Philadelphia Flyers vs. Buffalo SabresDec 18, 2025

Fantasy takeaways

Buffalo Sabres beat Philadelphia Flyers 5–3

Shot map

Shot map

Game flow

Cumulative shot attempts

Shift chart

Shifts

Head-to-head matchups

Matchup matrix

Sequence card

Lines used

Philadelphia Flyers

Buffalo Sabres

Scoring summary

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Box score

Philadelphia Flyers

Buffalo Sabres

Goal anatomy

Jack Quinn · 1st 7:40 · BUF

Noah Cates · 1st 8:38 · PHI

Travis Konecny · 3rd 14:28 · PHI

Cam York · 2nd 11:01 · PHI

Tage Thompson · 2nd 16:54 · BUF

Noah Ostlund · 2nd 19:30 · BUF

Josh Norris · 3rd 10:20 · BUF PP

Ryan McLeod · 3rd 19:52 · BUF EN