Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Buffalo SabresMar 11, 2021

FinalThursday, Mar 11, 2021· KeyBank Center

away

Pittsburgh PenguinsPIT

5

@

home

Buffalo SabresBUF

2

Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
PIT	1	2	2	5		PIT	9	13	5	27
BUF	1	1	0	2		BUF	6	9	8	23

: PIT 46BUF 43
: PIT 2.36BUF 1.84
PP goals: PIT 1BUF 0
Hits: PIT 9BUF 17
Blocks: PIT 8BUF 9
PIM: PIT 9BUF 19
: PIT 40%BUF 60%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Pittsburgh Penguins beat Buffalo Sabres 5–2

Pittsburgh Penguins beat Buffalo Sabres 5–2 at BUF. Evgeni Malkin (PIT) led the scoring with 1G 1A. PIT's first power-play unit (Malkin, Crosby, Letang, Rust and Guentzel) scored 1 power-play goal on 3 attempts in 2:11 together.

Points
Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 18:58.Malkin
PP1
PIT's first power-play unit (Malkin, Crosby, Letang, Rust and Guentzel) scored 1 power-play goal on 3 attempts in 2:11 together.Malkin Crosby Letang Rust Guentzel
Luck
PIT scored 5 goals on 2.36 expected goals (46 attempts), finishing well above its chances.
New line
New look for BUF: Okposo–Eakin–Thompson skated 6:33 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (37.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Okposo Eakin Thompson
Usage
Cody Ceci (PIT) played 23:01, +4:35 up on his 18:26 season average over 52 games.Ceci
Usage
Brian Dumoulin (PIT) played 18:50, −3:37 down on his 22:27 season average over 40 games.Dumoulin
Usage
Curtis Lazar (BUF) played 16:24, +3:08 up on his 13:16 season average over 49 games.Lazar
Usage
Dylan Cozens (BUF) played 11:17, −3:09 down on his 14:26 season average over 40 games.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

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

BUF
PIT
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 89 of 89 attempts · BUF 43 · PIT 46

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

BUF
PIT
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

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

: descriptive only, the team with more pressure scored the next goal about half the time. In control: PIT 32% of the game, BUF 30%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

BUF

PIT

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	PIT	BUF
	49	38
	1.44	1.43
	1.43	1.39
	6	5
	5	4
	11	10
	−0.056	+0.056
	32%	30%

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.

Pittsburgh Penguins

L1Crosby – Rust – Guentzel
13:5650% CF
L2Malkin – Kapanen – Rodrigues
13:1559% CF
L3Blueger – Tanev – Aston-Reese
8:4136% CF
L4Sceviour – Jankowski – Angello
7:06100% CF
D1Matheson – Ceci
16:2071% CF
D2Letang – Dumoulin
14:3150% CF
D3Ruhwedel – Pettersson
10:1177% CF

PP1Malkin – Crosby – Letang – Rust – Guentzel
2:11100% CF
PP2Malkin – Letang – Kapanen – Angello – Rodrigues
0:34
PK1FBlueger – Tanev
2:06
PK2FJankowski – Aston-Reese
1:24
PK1DDumoulin – Ceci
2:31
PK2DLetang – Ruhwedel
1:19

Current PIT line combinations →

Buffalo Sabres

L1Staal – Sheahan – Olofsson
11:0353% CF
L2Hall – Reinhart – Cozens
10:0050% CF
L3Skinner – Lazar – Mittelstadt
7:2345% CF
L4Okposo – Eakin – Thompson
6:3338% CF
D1Irwin – Ristolainen
15:5721% CF
D2Montour – Bryson
15:4452% CF
D3Miller – Dahlin
9:2067% CF

PP1Hall – Ristolainen – Reinhart – Olofsson – Dahlin
2:36
PP2Staal – Skinner – Miller – Thompson – Cozens
1:11100% CF
PK1FSheahan – Lazar
1:37
PK2FOkposo – Eakin
1:14
PK1DIrwin – Ristolainen
1:04
PK2DMontour – Bryson
0:44

Current BUF line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

1st period

6:27
PITEvgeni Malkin (Kasperi Kapanen)wrist0.11 xG
PIT: Malkin, Letang, Dumoulin, Kapanen, RodriguesBUF: Skinner, Lazar, Montour, Mittelstadt, Bryson
PIT 1 – 0 BUF
6:54
BUFTage Thompson (Kyle Okposo, Cody Eakin)wrap-around0.02 xG
PIT: Crosby, Letang, Dumoulin, Rust, GuentzelBUF: Okposo, Eakin, Montour, Thompson, Bryson
PIT 1 – 1 BUF

2nd period

3:24
PITBrandon Tanev (Teddy Blueger)backhand0.15 xG
PIT: Matheson, Ceci, Blueger, Tanev, Aston-ReeseBUF: Irwin, Hall, Ristolainen, Reinhart, Cozens
PIT 2 – 1 BUF
8:46
BUFVictor Olofsson (Riley Sheahan, Eric Staal)slap0.12 xG
PIT: Crosby, Letang, Dumoulin, Rust, GuentzelBUF: Staal, Sheahan, Montour, Olofsson, Bryson
PIT 2 – 2 BUF
11:36
PITJake GuentzelPP (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin)wrist0.12 xG
PIT: Malkin, Crosby, Letang, Rust, GuentzelBUF: Okposo, Eakin, Irwin, Ristolainen
PIT 3 – 2 BUF

3rd period

2:43
PITAnthony Angello (Colton Sceviour)wrist0.09 xG
PIT: Sceviour, Jankowski, Ruhwedel, Pettersson, AngelloBUF: Hall, Ristolainen, Reinhart, Mittelstadt, Dahlin
PIT 4 – 2 BUF
18:45
PITBryan RustEN (Tristan Jarry)wrist0.48 xG
PIT: Malkin, Letang, Dumoulin, Rust, RodriguesBUF: Staal, Hall, Ristolainen, Reinhart, Olofsson, Dahlin
PIT 5 – 2 BUF

Box score

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

Pittsburgh Penguins

PIT skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Bryan Rust R	L1	1	0	1	-1	2	0.61	0	0	0	18:08	—	—	52	40
Jake Guentzel C	L1	1	0	1	-2	1	0.12	0	0	0	17:44	—	—	50	36
Sidney Crosby C	L1	0	1	1	-2	3	0.09	0	1	0	17:28	—	—	52	39
Evgeni Malkin C	L2	1	1	2	+2	2	0.20	0	0	0	18:58	—	—	57	51
Kasperi Kapanen R	L2	0	1	1	+1	2	0.09	0	0	0	17:40	—	—	52	46
Evan Rodrigues C	L2	0	0	0	+2	2	0.04	0	0	0	16:38	—	—	55	43
Teddy Blueger C	L3	0	1	1	+1	1	0.01	0	1	0	15:56	—	—	44	42
Brandon Tanev L	L3	1	0	1	+1	2	0.18	0	0	0	13:51	—	—	47	46
Zachary Aston-Reese L	L3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.08	1	1	5	12:39	—	—	46	47
Mark Jankowski L	L4	0	0	0	+1	2	0.04	0	0	0	11:12	—	—	90	100
Anthony Angello C	L4	1	0	1	+1	2	0.20	2	0	0	9:52	—	—	100	100
Colton Sceviour C	L4	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	0	0	0	8:36	—	—	100	100
Cody Ceci D	D1	0	0	0	+1	1	0.04	0	0	0	23:01	—	—	63	55
Mike Matheson D	D1	0	0	0	+1	1	0.02	1	1	2	20:44	—	—	59	60
Kris Letang D	D2	0	0	0	0	4	0.15	0	0	0	24:26	—	—	46	33
Brian Dumoulin D	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0.03	3	2	0	18:50	—	—	52	43
Marcus Pettersson D	D3	0	0	0	+1	0	0.00	0	1	2	16:42	—	—	58	50
Chad Ruhwedel D	D3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.01	2	1	0	13:35	—	—	69	81

PIT goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Tristan Jarry(start)	W	23	21	2	.913	1.84	60:00

Buffalo Sabres

BUF skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Victor Olofsson L	L1	1	0	1	0	2	0.42	0	0	0	17:52	—	—	44	50
Eric Staal C	L1	0	1	1	0	1	0.03	0	0	0	15:42	—	—	56	59
Riley Sheahan C	L1	0	1	1	+1	1	0.01	1	0	0	15:18	—	—	50	60
Sam Reinhart C	L2	0	0	0	-3	0	0.00	0	0	0	19:33	—	—	41	44
Taylor Hall L	L2	0	0	0	-3	2	0.07	0	0	10	18:20	—	—	43	45
Dylan Cozens C	L2	0	0	0	-1	2	0.24	0	0	0	11:17	—	—	47	49
Curtis Lazar C	L3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	3	1	0	16:24	—	—	39	54
Jeff Skinner L	L3	0	0	0	-1	2	0.33	0	0	0	15:33	—	—	40	61
Casey Mittelstadt C	L3	0	0	0	-2	2	0.09	0	0	0	14:40	—	—	47	62
Kyle Okposo R	L4	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	1	0	0	12:24	—	—	46	30
Tage Thompson C	L4	1	0	1	+1	2	0.20	0	0	0	11:57	—	—	27	23
Cody Eakin C	L4	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	1	0	0	11:07	—	—	50	42
Rasmus Ristolainen D	D1	0	0	0	-3	2	0.17	5	2	0	23:01	—	—	17	28
Matt Irwin D	D1	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	5	2	2	19:05	—	—	22	29
Brandon Montour D	D2	0	0	0	+1	4	0.11	1	1	0	21:12	—	—	49	51
Jacob Bryson D	D2	0	0	0	+1	3	0.14	0	1	2	20:40	—	—	55	57
Rasmus Dahlin D	D3	0	0	0	-2	0	0.00	0	2	0	18:36	—	—	50	57
Colin Miller D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.03	0	0	5	15:43	—	—	72	87

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Jonas Johansson(start)	L	26	22	4	.846	1.44	58:32

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.