Nashville Predators vs. Buffalo SabresMar 7, 2026

FinalSaturday, Mar 7, 2026· KeyBank Center

away

home

Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
NSH	0	1	1	2		NSH	6	12	7	25
BUF	0	2	1	3		BUF	2	13	9	24

: NSH 60BUF 55
: NSH 2.93BUF 3.11
PP goals: NSH 0BUF 0
Hits: NSH 15BUF 20
Blocks: NSH 11BUF 17
PIM: NSH 6BUF 8
: NSH 61%BUF 39%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Buffalo Sabres edge Nashville Predators 3–2

Buffalo Sabres beat Nashville Predators 3–2 at home. Jason Zucker (BUF) led the scoring with 1G 0A. New look for NSH: Haula–L'Heureux–Kemell skated 9:44 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (35% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

New line
New look for NSH: Haula–L'Heureux–Kemell skated 9:44 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (35% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Haula L'Heureux Kemell
New line
New look for BUF: Carrick–Malenstyn–Benson skated 5:13 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (63.6% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Carrick Malenstyn Benson
New line
New look for NSH: Jost–Wiesblatt–Svechkov skated 7:36 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (25% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Jost Wiesblatt Svechkov
Usage
Zach Benson (BUF) played 9:32, −6:27 down on his 15:59 season average over 64 games.Benson
Usage
Matthew Wood (NSH) played 15:57, +3:41 up on his 12:16 season average over 70 games.Wood
Usage
Joakim Kemell (NSH) played 15:00, +4:54 up on his 10:06 season average over 15 games.Kemell
Usage
Michael Kesselring (BUF) played 10:28, −3:01 down on his 13:29 season average over 33 games.Kesselring

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

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

BUF
NSH
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 115 of 115 attempts · BUF 55 · NSH 60

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

BUF
NSH
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

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

: descriptive only, the team with more pressure scored the next goal about half the time. In control: NSH 38% of the game, BUF 31%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

BUF

NSH

goals / penalties

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
Goal
Penalty

Head-to-head matchups

BUF skaters (rows) against NSH 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	NSH	BUF
	52	61
	1.97	3.31
	1.86	3.14
	13	8
	6	5
	25	22
	+0.060	−0.060
	38%	31%

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.

Nashville Predators

L1Haula – L'Heureux – Kemell
9:4435% CF
L2Stamkos – O'Reilly – Marchessault
8:0536% CF
L3Forsberg – Evangelista – Wood
7:4259% CF
L4Jost – Wiesblatt – Svechkov
7:3625% CF
D1Josi – Skjei
11:3241% CF
D2Hague – Barron
8:5550% CF
D3Perbix – Ufko
7:2046% CF

PP1Stamkos – Josi – O'Reilly – Marchessault – Forsberg
2:52100% CF
PP2Haula – Evangelista – Ufko – Kemell – Wood
0:5867% CF
PK1FO'Reilly – L'Heureux
0:53
PK2FHaula – Wiesblatt
0:46
PK1DSkjei – Perbix
1:41
PK2DJosi – Hague
1:32

Current NSH line combinations →

Buffalo Sabres

L1Norris – Doan – Ostlund
12:2562% CF
L2Zucker – McLeod – Quinn
10:3559% CF
L3Tuch – Thompson – Krebs
10:2059% CF
L4Carrick – Malenstyn – Benson
5:1364% CF
D1Samuelsson – Dahlin
11:0957% CF
D2Byram – Metsa
5:3250% CF
D3Kesselring – Power
4:1833% CF

PP1Tuch – McLeod – Byram – Quinn – Power
1:3750% CF
PP2Zucker – Thompson – Norris – Dahlin – Doan
1:20
PK1FTuch – McLeod
1:11
PK2FMalenstyn – Benson
0:45
PK1DDahlin – Power
1:22
PK2DSamuelsson – Byram
1:14

Current BUF line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

2nd period

1:17
NSHZachary L'Heureux (Jonathan Marchessault, Ryan O'Reilly)wrist0.17 xG
NSH: O'Reilly, Marchessault, Hague, Perbix, L'HeureuxBUF: Zucker, McLeod, Byram, Quinn, Power
NSH 1 – 0 BUF
12:39
BUFTage Thompson (Alex Tuch)slap0.22 xG
NSH: Josi, Skjei, Jost, Wiesblatt, SvechkovBUF: Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin, Krebs, Byram
NSH 1 – 1 BUF
14:17
BUFJason Zucker (Jack Quinn, Rasmus Dahlin)wrist0.74 xG
NSH: Forsberg, Perbix, Evangelista, Ufko, WoodBUF: Zucker, McLeod, Dahlin, Kesselring, Quinn
NSH 1 – 2 BUF

3rd period

0:16
BUFJosh Doan (Josh Norris, Noah Ostlund)snap0.18 xG
NSH: Stamkos, Josi, O'Reilly, Marchessault, SkjeiBUF: Norris, Samuelsson, Dahlin, Doan, Ostlund
NSH 1 – 3 BUF
16:08
NSHMatthew Wood (Roman Josi, Steven Stamkos)tip-in0.14 xG
NSH: Stamkos, Josi, O'Reilly, Marchessault, Forsberg, WoodBUF: Tuch, McLeod, Samuelsson, Byram
NSH 2 – 3 BUF

Box score

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

Nashville Predators

NSH skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Erik Haula L	L1	0	0	0	0	3	0.31	2	0	0	16:12	—	—	39	78
Joakim Kemell R	L1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	2	1	0	15:00	—	—	35	70
Zachary L'Heureux L	L1	1	0	1	+1	2	0.50	2	1	0	13:26	—	—	38	82
Ryan O'Reilly C	L2	0	1	1	0	2	0.44	0	0	0	21:20	—	—	52	32
Steven Stamkos C	L2	0	1	1	-1	1	0.14	1	1	2	17:53	—	—	50	38
Jonathan Marchessault R	L2	0	1	1	0	0	0.01	2	0	0	17:03	—	—	52	39
Filip Forsberg L	L3	0	0	0	-1	4	0.42	0	0	0	18:48	—	—	59	30
Matthew Wood R	L3	1	0	1	-1	3	0.50	0	2	0	15:57	—	—	56	34
Luke Evangelista R	L3	0	0	0	-1	3	0.33	0	0	0	15:48	—	—	57	32
Tyson Jost C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	0	4	10:47	—	—	21	0
Fedor Svechkov C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	1	0	9:49	—	—	27	0
Ozzy Wiesblatt C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	0	0	9:21	—	—	25	0
Roman Josi D	D1	0	1	1	-2	2	0.10	0	0	0	25:56	—	—	46	15
Brady Skjei D	D1	0	0	0	-2	0	0.00	0	0	0	21:35	—	—	44	52
Nicolas Hague D	D2	0	0	0	+1	3	0.09	1	2	0	20:59	—	—	50	69
Justin Barron D	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	12:49	—	—	44	39
Nick Perbix D	D3	0	0	0	0	2	0.08	1	3	0	18:41	—	—	41	40
Ryan Ufko D	D3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	0	0	13:44	—	—	53	7

NSH goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Juuse Saros(start)	L	24	21	3	.875	2.94	58:52

Buffalo Sabres

BUF skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Josh Norris C	L1	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	0	1	0	16:37	—	—	64	71
Josh Doan R	L1	1	0	1	+1	3	0.26	2	0	0	16:11	—	—	63	69
Noah Ostlund C	L1	0	1	1	+1	0	0.01	0	0	0	14:46	—	—	62	69
Ryan McLeod C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	2	17:32	—	—	56	73
Jason Zucker L	L2	1	0	1	0	5	0.83	0	1	0	14:42	—	—	53	73
Jack Quinn R	L2	0	1	1	0	2	0.46	2	1	2	14:10	—	—	59	73
Alex Tuch R	L3	0	1	1	+1	0	0.09	2	1	0	21:19	—	—	50	56
Tage Thompson C	L3	1	0	1	+1	4	0.64	2	1	0	18:53	—	—	53	57
Peyton Krebs C	L3	0	0	0	+1	0	0.11	2	0	2	14:27	—	—	47	48
Zach Benson L	L4	0	0	0	0	2	0.26	1	0	0	9:32	—	—	57	81
Beck Malenstyn L	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	4	2	0	9:12	—	—	42	47
Sam Carrick C	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.02	2	1	0	8:55	—	—	39	44
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	1	1	+3	1	0.02	0	0	0	24:36	—	—	57	70
Mattias Samuelsson D	D1	0	0	0	+1	1	0.19	1	1	2	24:36	—	—	53	70
Bowen Byram D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.11	1	1	0	23:11	—	—	65	70
Zach Metsa D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.00	0	1	0	11:38	—	—	55	26
Owen Power D	D3	0	0	0	-1	2	0.09	0	3	0	23:02	—	—	54	47
Michael Kesselring D	D3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.04	1	3	0	10:28	—	—	35	62

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Alex Lyon(start)	W	25	23	2	.920	2.93	60:00

Goal anatomy

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

Zachary L'Heureux (NSH) 2nd 1:17 · assists Jonathan Marchessault, Ryan O'Reilly · Rebound · carried in · 2-on-1 at the blue line · 64.0 mph shot · 5.5 s from entry to goal.

Zachary L'Heureux · 2nd 1:17 · NSH

Play: rebound
Entry: carry
Odd man: 2-on-1
Passes: 0
Shot: 64.0 mph
Distance: 27 ft
Entry to goal: 5.5 s
Type: rebound

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

Tage Thompson · 2nd 12:39 · BUF

Play: cycle
Passes: 2 (royal road)
Shot: 44.5 mph
Distance: 31 ft

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

Jason Zucker · 2nd 14:17 · BUF

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 2 (royal road)
Shot: 15.5 mph
Distance: 24 ft

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

Josh Doan · 3rd 0:16 · BUF

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 40.7 mph
Distance: 15 ft
Type: one-timer

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

Matthew Wood · 3rd 16:08 · NSH

Play: deflection
Passes: 5
Shot: 68.0 mph
Distance: 8 ft
Type: deflection

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.