Buffalo Sabres vs. Montreal CanadiensJan 4, 2024

FinalThursday, Jan 4, 2024· Centre Bell

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	2	4	6		BUF	13	14	11	38
MTL	0	1	0	1		MTL	15	6	12	33

: BUF 69MTL 63
: BUF 3.90MTL 3.54
PP goals: BUF 2MTL 0
Hits: BUF 31MTL 26
Blocks: BUF 17MTL 14
PIM: BUF 8MTL 12
: BUF 46%MTL 54%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Buffalo Sabres rout Montreal Canadiens 6–1

Buffalo Sabres beat Montreal Canadiens 6–1 at MTL. Jeff Skinner (BUF) led the scoring with 1G 3A. BUF's first power-play unit (Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Mittelstadt and Dahlin) scored 2 power-play goals on 7 attempts in 2:55 together.

Points
Jeff Skinner had a goal and 3 assists (4 points) on 4 shots in 15:57.Skinner
Points
Tage Thompson had two goals and an assist (3 points) on 4 shots in 17:28.Thompson
Points
Casey Mittelstadt had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 17:46.Mittelstadt
Points
Jack Quinn had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 3 shots in 13:26.Quinn
Points
Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 4 shots in 21:17.Dahlin
Points
Alex Tuch had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 16:23.Tuch
PP1
BUF's first power-play unit (Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Mittelstadt and Dahlin) scored 2 power-play goals on 7 attempts in 2:55 together.Skinner Tuch Thompson Mittelstadt Dahlin
Luck
MTL scored 1 goal on 3.54 expected goals (63 attempts), well short of its chances.

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

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

MTL
BUF
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 132 of 132 attempts · MTL 63 · BUF 69

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

MTL
BUF
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

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

: descriptive only, the team with more pressure scored the next goal about half the time. In control: BUF 36% of the game, MTL 27%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

MTL

BUF

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	BUF	MTL
	70	60
	3.30	2.97
	3.21	2.87
	16	17
	4	2
	18	14
	−0.031	+0.031
	36%	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.

Buffalo Sabres

L1Greenway – Mittelstadt – Benson
11:4853% CF
L2Skinner – Tuch – Thompson
9:5171% CF
L3Girgensons – Olofsson – Krebs
8:0273% CF
L4Cozens – Quinn – Peterka
6:4045% CF
D1Clifton – Samuelsson
14:1669% CF
D2Jokiharju – Dahlin
13:1861% CF
D3Johnson – Power
11:3644% CF

PP1Skinner – Tuch – Thompson – Mittelstadt – Dahlin
2:5588% CF
PP2Cozens – Quinn – Peterka – Power – Benson
2:09
PK1FGreenway – Thompson
1:30
PK2FGirgensons – Cozens
0:28
PK1DJohnson – Samuelsson
4:02
PK2DClifton – Dahlin
1:31

Current BUF line combinations →

Montreal Canadiens

L1Suzuki – Caufield – Slafkovský
12:0644% CF
L2Armia – Stephens – Pezzetta
7:2548% CF
L3Gallagher – Evans – Ylonen
6:0950% CF
D1Guhle – Barron
9:3593% CF
D2Harris – Struble
9:3163% CF
D3Savard – Matheson
9:2327% CF

PP1Matheson – Monahan – Suzuki – Caufield – Slafkovský
3:3283% CF
PP2Gallagher – Anderson – Suzuki – Ylonen – Barron
2:28100% CF
PK1FArmia – Evans
1:49
PK2FStephens – Suzuki
0:36
PK1DSavard – Matheson
2:53
PK2DHarris – Guhle
0:49

Current MTL line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

2nd period

5:33
BUFCasey MittelstadtPP (Jeff Skinner, Rasmus Dahlin)wrist0.10 xG
BUF: Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Mittelstadt, DahlinMTL: Armia, Matheson, Evans, Kovacevic
BUF 1 – 0 MTL
6:59
BUFJeff SkinnerPP (Alex Tuch, Tage Thompson)wrist0.08 xG
BUF: Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Mittelstadt, DahlinMTL: Savard, Matheson, Monahan, Evans
BUF 2 – 0 MTL
13:19
MTLJoel ArmiaSHwrist0.07 xG
BUF: Skinner, Thompson, Dahlin, Peterka, BensonMTL: Savard, Armia, Matheson, Stephens
BUF 2 – 1 MTL

3rd period

6:45
BUFJack Quinn (JJ Peterka, Connor Clifton)wrist0.11 xG
BUF: Clifton, Samuelsson, Cozens, Quinn, PeterkaMTL: Savard, Armia, Matheson, Stephens, Pezzetta
BUF 3 – 1 MTL
8:35
BUFTage Thompson (Jeff Skinner, Alex Tuch)tip-in0.09 xG
BUF: Skinner, Clifton, Tuch, Thompson, PowerMTL: Gallagher, Evans, Harris, Ylonen, Struble
BUF 4 – 1 MTL
14:31
BUFRasmus DahlinEN (Mattias Samuelsson, Casey Mittelstadt)wrist0.37 xG
BUF: Greenway, Mittelstadt, Samuelsson, Dahlin, BensonMTL: Gallagher, Monahan, Suzuki, Caufield, Barron, Slafkovský
BUF 5 – 1 MTL
18:32
BUFTage Thompson (Jeff Skinner, Jack Quinn)wrist0.13 xG
BUF: Skinner, Thompson, Jokiharju, Quinn, PowerMTL: Savard, Anderson, Evans, Ylonen, Guhle
BUF 6 – 1 MTL

Box score

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

Buffalo Sabres

BUF skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Jordan Greenway L	L1	0	0	0	+1	1	0.09	3	1	0	18:39	—	—	46	69
Casey Mittelstadt C	L1	1	1	2	+1	2	0.27	1	1	0	17:46	—	—	33	48
Zach Benson L	L1	0	0	0	0	2	0.24	1	1	2	17:09	—	—	46	64
Tage Thompson C	L2	2	1	3	+1	4	0.40	1	1	0	17:28	—	—	75	88
Alex Tuch R	L2	0	2	2	+1	1	0.24	1	0	0	16:23	—	—	79	88
Jeff Skinner L	L2	1	3	4	+1	4	0.24	0	0	0	15:57	—	—	72	72
Victor Olofsson L	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.24	0	0	0	12:16	—	—	54	53
Zemgus Girgensons C	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.03	3	0	0	11:58	—	—	62	52
Peyton Krebs C	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.10	2	0	0	11:52	—	—	75	59
Dylan Cozens C	L4	0	0	0	+1	2	0.37	2	2	6	14:40	—	—	44	39
Jack Quinn R	L4	1	1	2	+2	3	0.39	0	1	0	13:26	—	—	42	43
JJ Peterka R	L4	0	1	1	0	3	0.40	0	0	0	11:28	—	—	33	41
Mattias Samuelsson D	D1	0	1	1	+2	5	0.10	5	0	0	21:32	—	—	54	44
Connor Clifton D	D1	0	1	1	+2	1	0.04	4	3	0	19:32	—	—	62	46
Rasmus Dahlin D	D2	1	1	2	0	4	0.50	2	2	0	21:17	—	—	56	50
Henri Jokiharju D	D2	0	0	0	+1	2	0.23	1	3	0	17:07	—	—	60	62
Erik Johnson D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	5	1	0	17:54	—	—	35	43
Owen Power D	D3	0	0	0	+2	1	0.02	0	1	0	17:38	—	—	48	79

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Devon Levi(start)	W	33	32	1	.970	3.54	60:00

Montreal Canadiens

MTL skaters
Skater	Line	G	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Nick Suzuki C	L1	0	0	-1	2	0.17	0	0	0	23:18	—	—	45	38
Cole Caufield R	L1	0	0	-1	2	0.25	1	0	0	20:28	—	—	46	41
Juraj Slafkovský L	L1	0	0	-1	2	0.17	2	1	0	19:46	—	—	44	35
Joel Armia R	L2	1	1	0	3	0.26	1	0	2	15:12	—	—	56	50
Mitchell Stephens C	L2	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	0	2	11:04	—	—	52	40
Michael Pezzetta L	L2	0	0	-1	2	0.19	7	0	2	10:04	—	—	50	36
Jake Evans C	L3	0	0	-2	1	0.39	2	1	0	16:30	—	—	35	53
Brendan Gallagher R	L3	0	0	-2	2	0.24	1	0	0	15:32	—	—	39	55
Jesse Ylonen R	L3	0	0	-2	5	0.58	2	0	0	13:28	—	—	41	53
Kaiden Guhle D	D1	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	1	0	18:54	—	—	51	53
Justin Barron D	D1	0	0	-1	3	0.10	1	0	0	16:47	—	—	81	78
Jayden Struble D	D2	0	0	-1	1	0.06	3	0	0	17:45	—	—	62	63
Jordan Harris D	D2	0	0	-1	1	0.11	0	1	0	15:34	—	—	49	48
Mike Matheson D	D3	0	0	0	3	0.09	0	0	2	19:57	—	—	39	45
David Savard D	D3	0	0	-1	0	0.00	2	5	4	16:45	—	—	24	23
Sean Monahan C	—	0	0	-1	3	0.35	1	0	0	19:00	—	—	62	61
Josh Anderson R	—	0	0	-1	3	0.58	0	1	0	17:05	—	—	47	50
Johnathan Kovacevic D	—	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	4	0	8:07	—	—	11	3

MTL goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Jake Allen(start)	L	37	32	5	.865	3.53	59:26

Goal anatomy

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

Rasmus Dahlin (BUF EN) 3rd 14:31 · assists Mattias Samuelsson, Casey Mittelstadt · Cycle · 0.5 mph shot.

Rasmus Dahlin · 3rd 14:31 · BUF EN

Play: cycle
Passes: 0
Shot: 0.5 mph
Distance: 29 ft

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

Casey Mittelstadt · 2nd 5:33 · BUF PP

Play: rebound
Passes: 2 (royal road)
Shot: 37.6 mph
Distance: 10 ft
Type: one-timer, rebound

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

Jeff Skinner · 2nd 6:59 · BUF PP

Play: rebound
Passes: 3 (royal road)
Shot: 35.1 mph
Distance: 14 ft
Type: rebound

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

Joel Armia · 2nd 13:19 · MTL SH

Play: turnover-forecheck
Entry: loose
Odd man: No
Passes: 0
Shot: 51.2 mph
Distance: 28 ft
Entry to goal: 7.4 s

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

Jack Quinn · 3rd 6:45 · BUF

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: loose
Odd man: 3-on-2
Passes: 2
Shot: 32.7 mph
Distance: 34 ft
Entry to goal: 2.9 s

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

Tage Thompson · 3rd 8:35 · BUF

Play: deflection
Passes: 3 (royal road)
Shot: 12.4 mph
Distance: 5 ft

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

Tage Thompson · 3rd 18:32 · BUF

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 2-on-1
Passes: 0
Shot: 65.9 mph
Distance: 20 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.