Buffalo Sabres vs. Montreal CanadiensFeb 21, 2024

FinalWednesday, Feb 21, 2024· Centre Bell

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	3	0	3		BUF	8	11	4	23
MTL	1	1	0	2		MTL	9	11	11	31

: BUF 48MTL 66
: BUF 2.20MTL 3.16
PP goals: BUF 1MTL 0
Hits: BUF 21MTL 16
Blocks: BUF 15MTL 19
PIM: BUF 10MTL 10
: BUF 35%MTL 65%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Buffalo Sabres edge Montreal Canadiens 3–2

Buffalo Sabres beat Montreal Canadiens 3–2 at MTL. Joshua Roy (MTL) led the scoring with 0G 2A. BUF's first power-play unit (Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin and Cozens) scored 1 power-play goal on 5 attempts in 2:48 together.

Points
Joshua Roy had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 11:27.Roy
PP1
BUF's first power-play unit (Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin and Cozens) scored 1 power-play goal on 5 attempts in 2:48 together.Skinner Tuch Thompson Dahlin Cozens
New line
New look for MTL: Gallagher–Armia–Evans skated 8:59 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (68.8% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Gallagher Armia Evans
New line
New look for MTL: Anderson–Newhook–Roy skated 8:17 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (88.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Anderson Newhook Roy
New line
New look for MTL: Pearson–Gignac–Ylonen skated 7:00 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (17.6% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Pearson Gignac Ylonen
Usage
Henri Jokiharju (BUF) played 22:47, +3:51 up on his 18:56 season average over 73 games.Jokiharju
Usage
Rasmus Dahlin (BUF) played 29:10, +3:47 up on his 25:23 season average over 80 games.Dahlin
Usage
Arber Xhekaj (MTL) played 18:52, +3:00 up on his 15:52 season average over 43 games.Xhekaj

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 114 of 114 attempts · MTL 66 · BUF 48

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 25% of the game, MTL 37%.

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
	42	67
	1.58	2.85
	1.48	2.60
	6	8
	1	4
	16	18
	−0.093	+0.093
	25%	37%

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

L1Skinner – Tuch – Thompson
10:5248% CF
L2Greenway – Mittelstadt – Cozens
9:1416% CF
L3Okposo – Girgensons – Robinson
8:5150% CF
L4Krebs – Peterka – Benson
8:0914% CF
D1Jokiharju – Dahlin
17:4225% CF
D2Clifton – Bryson
13:2763% CF
D3Johnson – Clague
10:3335% CF

PP1Skinner – Tuch – Thompson – Dahlin – Cozens
2:4883% CF
PP2Okposo – Greenway – Mittelstadt – Jokiharju – Peterka
0:57100% CF
PK1FGreenway – Cozens
2:28
PK2FTuch – Benson
1:26
PK1DJohnson – Dahlin
2:51
PK2DClifton – Bryson
0:58

Current BUF line combinations →

Montreal Canadiens

L1Suzuki – Caufield – Slafkovský
12:4076% CF
L2Gallagher – Armia – Evans
8:5969% CF
L3Anderson – Newhook – Roy
8:1789% CF
L4Pearson – Gignac – Ylonen
7:0018% CF
D1Matheson – Guhle
14:4257% CF
D2Savard – Xhekaj
13:2776% CF
D3Harris – Struble
11:0863% CF

PP1Matheson – Suzuki – Caufield – Newhook – Slafkovský
4:0571% CF
PP2Gallagher – Pearson – Anderson – Roy – Xhekaj
0:58100% CF
PK1FArmia – Evans
3:00
PK2FPearson – Suzuki
0:29
PK1DMatheson – Guhle
1:47
PK2DSavard – Harris
0:57

Current MTL line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

1st period

12:41
MTLArber Xhekaj (Joshua Roy, David Savard)slap0.04 xG
BUF: Johnson, Greenway, Clague, Mittelstadt, CozensMTL: Savard, Anderson, Newhook, Roy, Xhekaj
BUF 0 – 1 MTL

2nd period

4:20
BUFZemgus Girgensons (Henri Jokiharju, Rasmus Dahlin)tip-in0.08 xG
BUF: Okposo, Girgensons, Jokiharju, Robinson, DahlinMTL: Pearson, Gignac, Harris, Ylonen, Struble
BUF 1 – 1 MTL
6:35
MTLJayden Struble (Joshua Roy, Alex Newhook)wrist0.04 xG
BUF: Clifton, Bryson, Krebs, Peterka, BensonMTL: Anderson, Harris, Struble, Newhook, Roy
BUF 1 – 2 MTL
9:28
BUFJeff SkinnerPP (Dylan Cozens, Tage Thompson)wrist0.12 xG
BUF: Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin, CozensMTL: Armia, Matheson, Evans, Guhle
BUF 2 – 2 MTL
18:08
BUFAlex TuchSHwrist0.16 xG
BUF: Clifton, Tuch, Bryson, BensonMTL: Matheson, Suzuki, Caufield, Newhook, Slafkovský
BUF 3 – 2 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
Alex Tuch R	L1	1	0	1	+1	2	0.16	1	2	0	18:14	—	—	47	48
Tage Thompson C	L1	0	1	1	0	4	0.54	0	0	4	17:47	—	—	52	66
Jeff Skinner L	L1	1	0	1	0	3	0.31	0	0	0	17:02	—	—	52	59
Jordan Greenway L	L2	0	0	0	-1	1	0.02	2	0	2	19:04	—	—	19	23
Dylan Cozens C	L2	0	1	1	-1	2	0.16	2	0	0	18:43	—	—	25	30
Casey Mittelstadt C	L2	0	0	0	-1	1	0.15	1	0	2	12:45	—	—	23	25
Kyle Okposo R	L3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.08	2	3	0	11:29	—	—	48	32
Zemgus Girgensons C	L3	1	0	1	+1	1	0.12	0	0	0	11:24	—	—	48	33
Eric Robinson L	L3	0	0	0	+1	2	0.27	1	0	0	9:36	—	—	50	32
Zach Benson L	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	14:19	—	—	18	34
JJ Peterka R	L4	0	0	0	-1	2	0.24	0	0	0	13:44	—	—	18	23
Peyton Krebs C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	2	1	0	11:54	—	—	18	6
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	1	1	+1	1	0.05	1	2	0	29:10	—	—	29	18
Henri Jokiharju D	D1	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	1	4	2	22:47	—	—	23	16
Jacob Bryson D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.05	1	1	0	17:55	—	—	59	68
Connor Clifton D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.03	1	1	0	17:35	—	—	59	60
Erik Johnson D	D3	0	0	0	-1	1	0.01	5	1	0	17:05	—	—	38	46
Kale Clague D	D3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	0	0	11:53	—	—	33	47

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(start)	W	31	29	2	.935	3.16	60:00

Montreal Canadiens

MTL skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Nick Suzuki C	L1	0	0	0	-1	5	0.43	0	0	0	22:12	—	—	77	68
Juraj Slafkovský L	L1	0	0	0	-1	1	0.18	1	0	6	21:30	—	—	78	73
Cole Caufield R	L1	0	0	0	-1	5	0.46	0	1	0	20:50	—	—	77	73
Jake Evans C	L2	0	0	0	0	3	0.36	1	1	0	15:05	—	—	60	65
Brendan Gallagher R	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.13	1	0	0	13:39	—	—	67	54
Joel Armia R	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0	0	13:37	—	—	71	65
Alex Newhook C	L3	0	1	1	+1	0	0.14	0	1	0	18:10	—	—	78	84
Josh Anderson R	L3	0	0	0	+2	4	0.22	1	0	2	14:43	—	—	76	85
Joshua Roy R	L3	0	2	2	+2	1	0.71	0	0	0	11:27	—	—	89	96
Tanner Pearson L	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	3	0	12:58	—	—	28	14
Brandon Gignac C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	1	0	10:58	—	—	25	13
Jesse Ylonen R	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	0	0	8:16	—	—	16	2
Mike Matheson D	D1	0	0	0	-1	4	0.28	0	5	2	25:13	—	—	56	57
Kaiden Guhle D	D1	0	0	0	0	1	0.06	0	4	0	20:45	—	—	57	52
Arber Xhekaj D	D2	1	0	1	+1	4	0.09	4	1	0	18:52	—	—	66	64
David Savard D	D2	0	1	1	+1	1	0.04	2	1	0	18:13	—	—	71	74
Jordan Harris D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	15:28	—	—	54	66
Jayden Struble D	D3	1	0	1	0	1	0.04	4	1	0	14:35	—	—	62	74

MTL goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Samuel Montembeault(start)	L	23	20	3	.870	2.20	58:15

Goal anatomy

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

Arber Xhekaj (MTL) 1st 12:41 · assists Joshua Roy, David Savard · Forecheck turnover · 70.4 mph shot.

Arber Xhekaj · 1st 12:41 · MTL

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 70.4 mph
Distance: 38 ft

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

Zemgus Girgensons · 2nd 4:20 · BUF

Play: deflection
Passes: 2 (royal road)
Shot: 57.5 mph
Distance: 7 ft
Type: deflection

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

Jayden Struble · 2nd 6:35 · MTL

Play: faceoff
Passes: 1
Shot: 53.8 mph
Distance: 69 ft

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

Jeff Skinner · 2nd 9:28 · BUF PP

Play: rebound
Entry: pass
Odd man: 3-on-1
Passes: 0
Shot: 43.6 mph
Distance: 13 ft
Entry to goal: 3.4 s
Type: rebound

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

Alex Tuch · 2nd 18:08 · BUF SH

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: loose
Odd man: 1-on-0
Passes: 0
Shot: 56.5 mph
Distance: 14 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.