Buffalo Sabres vs. Montreal CanadiensDec 17, 2024

FinalTuesday, Dec 17, 2024· Centre Bell

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	1	0	1		BUF	3	10	8	21
MTL	2	4	0	6		MTL	11	10	6	27

: BUF 63MTL 51
: BUF 2.58MTL 3.75
PP goals: BUF 0MTL 3
Hits: BUF 26MTL 7
Blocks: BUF 13MTL 23
PIM: BUF 12MTL 10
: BUF 52%MTL 48%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Montreal Canadiens rout Buffalo Sabres 6–1

Montreal Canadiens beat Buffalo Sabres 6–1 at home. Patrik Laine (MTL) led the scoring with 3G 0A. MTL's first power-play unit (Laine, Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson and Slafkovský) scored 3 power-play goals on 7 attempts in 3:38 together.

Points
Patrik Laine had a hat trick (3 points) on 5 shots in 13:12.Laine
PP1
MTL's first power-play unit (Laine, Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson and Slafkovský) scored 3 power-play goals on 7 attempts in 3:38 together.Laine Suzuki Caufield Hutson Slafkovský
Points
Juraj Slafkovský had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 14:35.Slafkovský
Points
Cole Caufield had 2 assists (2 points) on 2 shots in 14:13.Caufield
Points
Lane Hutson had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 18:30.Hutson
Points
Nick Suzuki had 2 assists (2 points) in 14:32.Suzuki
Luck
MTL scored 6 goals on 3.75 expected goals (51 attempts), finishing well above its chances.
Usage
Nick Suzuki (MTL) played 14:32, −5:36 down on his 20:08 season average over 81 games.Suzuki

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 51 · BUF 63

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 37% of the game, MTL 32%.

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
	49	52
	2.03	3.51
	1.97	3.18
	12	11
	2	2
	19	20
	+0.004	−0.004
	37%	32%

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

L1Cozens – Quinn – Peterka
9:5821% CF
L2Aube-Kubel – Malenstyn – Krebs
7:5536% CF
L3Tuch – Thompson – Kulich
4:4186% CF
L4Zucker – McLeod – Benson
4:1882% CF
D1Samuelsson – Power
15:0426% CF
D2Jokiharju – Byram
14:5250% CF
D3Clifton – Gilbert
8:3152% CF

PP1Thompson – Byram – Quinn – Peterka – Benson
3:55100% CF
PP2Thompson – Quinn – Peterka – Power – Kulich
1:27100% CF
PK1FTuch – McLeod
1:45
PK2FMalenstyn – Krebs
1:05
PK1DGilbert – Power
1:53
PK2DClifton – Byram
1:44

Current BUF line combinations →

Montreal Canadiens

L1Suzuki – Caufield – Slafkovský
8:5674% CF
L2Gallagher – Anderson – Dvorak
8:3447% CF
L3Armia – Evans – Heineman
8:2163% CF
L4Laine – Dach – Newhook
8:0144% CF
D1Savard – Xhekaj
11:1971% CF
D2Matheson – Hutson
11:0154% CF
D3Guhle – Barron
10:3659% CF

PP1Laine – Suzuki – Caufield – Hutson – Slafkovský
3:3888% CF
PP2Gallagher – Matheson – Dach – Newhook – Heineman
3:2125% CF
PK1FAnderson – Dvorak
2:43
PK2FArmia – Evans
1:38
PK1DGuhle – Xhekaj
2:24
PK2DSavard – Matheson
2:06

Current MTL line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

1st period

0:19
MTLJoel Armia (Jake Evans, Emil Heineman)snap0.46 xG
BUF: Aube-Kubel, Malenstyn, Samuelsson, Krebs, PowerMTL: Savard, Armia, Evans, Heineman, Xhekaj
BUF 0 – 1 MTL
6:26
MTLPatrik LainePP (Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovský)snap0.13 xG
BUF: Clifton, Tuch, McLeod, SamuelssonMTL: Laine, Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson, Slafkovský
BUF 0 – 2 MTL

2nd period

3:43
BUFDylan Cozens (JJ Peterka, Owen Power)snap0.11 xG
BUF: Gilbert, Malenstyn, Cozens, Peterka, PowerMTL: Savard, Laine, Dach, Newhook, Xhekaj
BUF 1 – 2 MTL
5:54
MTLJuraj Slafkovský (Cole Caufield, David Savard)snap0.34 xG
BUF: Zucker, Jokiharju, McLeod, Byram, QuinnMTL: Savard, Suzuki, Caufield, Xhekaj, Slafkovský
BUF 1 – 3 MTL
9:45
MTLPatrik LainePP (Nick Suzuki, Lane Hutson)slap0.18 xG
BUF: McLeod, Samuelsson, PowerMTL: Laine, Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson, Slafkovský
BUF 1 – 4 MTL
10:55
MTLPatrik LainePP (Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson)snap0.11 xG
BUF: Clifton, McLeod, SamuelssonMTL: Laine, Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson, Slafkovský
BUF 1 – 5 MTL
19:15
MTLJosh Anderson (Christian Dvorak, Brendan Gallagher)snap0.17 xG
BUF: Samuelsson, Cozens, Peterka, Power, BensonMTL: Gallagher, Anderson, Dvorak, Guhle, Barron
BUF 1 – 6 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
JJ Peterka R	L1	0	1	1	0	0	0.23	0	0	0	17:55	—	—	29	15
Jack Quinn R	L1	0	0	0	-1	1	0.02	0	2	0	17:19	—	—	22	3
Dylan Cozens C	L1	1	0	1	0	3	0.16	4	1	2	16:48	—	—	37	19
Peyton Krebs C	L2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.04	2	0	0	13:59	—	—	43	35
Beck Malenstyn L	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.21	4	1	0	12:00	—	—	56	49
Nicolas Aube-Kubel R	L2	0	0	0	-1	1	0.18	3	1	0	11:12	—	—	59	48
Tage Thompson C	L3	0	0	0	0	0	0.04	1	0	0	17:08	—	—	59	74
Alex Tuch R	L3	0	0	0	0	2	0.23	1	1	2	14:34	—	—	53	64
Jiri Kulich C	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.21	0	0	0	13:54	—	—	58	49
Zach Benson L	L4	0	0	0	-1	3	0.36	0	1	2	17:14	—	—	67	61
Ryan McLeod C	L4	0	0	0	-1	1	0.15	0	1	0	12:53	—	—	50	30
Jason Zucker L	L4	0	0	0	-1	2	0.19	3	0	0	12:35	—	—	45	33
Owen Power D	D1	0	1	1	-1	1	0.19	1	0	0	23:39	—	—	35	30
Mattias Samuelsson D	D1	0	0	0	-2	3	0.23	1	2	2	20:39	—	—	37	30
Bowen Byram D	D2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.08	1	1	2	24:11	—	—	52	32
Henri Jokiharju D	D2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.02	1	0	0	18:19	—	—	57	44
Connor Clifton D	D3	0	0	0	0	2	0.03	3	1	0	14:18	—	—	54	40
Dennis Gilbert D	D3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.01	1	1	2	11:55	—	—	56	43

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(start)	L	21	15	6	.714	3.27	40:00
James Reimer	—	6	6	0	.1000	0.47	20:00

Montreal Canadiens

MTL skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Juraj Slafkovský L	L1	1	1	2	+1	2	0.34	0	0	0	14:35	—	—	70	80
Nick Suzuki C	L1	0	2	2	+1	0	0.01	0	2	0	14:32	—	—	65	75
Cole Caufield R	L1	0	2	2	+1	2	0.46	0	0	0	14:13	—	—	67	78
Christian Dvorak C	L2	0	1	1	+1	2	0.15	0	3	0	17:57	—	—	39	48
Josh Anderson R	L2	1	0	1	+1	1	0.35	0	0	0	16:17	—	—	40	42
Brendan Gallagher R	L2	0	1	1	+1	0	0.03	0	0	0	15:13	—	—	36	34
Jake Evans C	L3	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	0	0	0	15:54	—	—	50	73
Emil Heineman L	L3	0	1	1	+1	1	0.00	2	0	0	14:28	—	—	50	79
Joel Armia R	L3	1	0	1	+1	1	0.46	0	0	4	11:50	—	—	63	89
Alex Newhook C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.49	1	1	2	15:47	—	—	46	60
Kirby Dach C	L4	0	0	0	-1	3	0.17	0	2	0	14:02	—	—	48	56
Patrik Laine L	L4	3	0	3	-1	5	0.63	0	0	0	13:12	—	—	47	62
Arber Xhekaj D	D1	0	0	0	+1	2	0.03	0	1	0	20:18	—	—	46	75
David Savard D	D1	0	1	1	+1	1	0.02	1	1	2	16:10	—	—	71	87
Mike Matheson D	D2	0	0	0	0	5	0.47	1	4	0	24:40	—	—	52	55
Lane Hutson D	D2	0	2	2	0	1	0.12	0	2	2	18:30	—	—	41	40
Kaiden Guhle D	D3	0	0	0	+1	0	0.00	1	7	0	20:15	—	—	47	52
Justin Barron D	D3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.01	1	0	0	13:27	—	—	61	69

MTL goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Samuel Montembeault(start)	W	21	20	1	.952	2.58	60:00

Goal anatomy

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

Josh Anderson (MTL) 2nd 19:15 · assists Christian Dvorak, Brendan Gallagher · Rebound · 47.6 mph shot.

Josh Anderson · 2nd 19:15 · MTL

Play: rebound
Passes: 0
Shot: 47.6 mph
Distance: 8 ft
Type: rebound

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

Joel Armia · 1st 0:19 · MTL

Play: rebound
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 0
Shot: 58.0 mph
Distance: 15 ft
Entry to goal: 4.4 s
Type: rebound

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

Patrik Laine · 1st 6:26 · MTL PP

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 64.7 mph
Distance: 28 ft
Type: one-timer

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

Dylan Cozens · 2nd 3:43 · BUF

Play: rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 2
Shot: 69.4 mph
Distance: 39 ft
Entry to goal: 2.6 s

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

Juraj Slafkovský · 2nd 5:54 · MTL

Play: rebound
Passes: 0
Shot: 11.3 mph
Distance: 6 ft
Type: rebound

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

Patrik Laine · 2nd 9:45 · MTL PP

Play: cycle
Passes: 5 (royal road)
Shot: 74.0 mph
Distance: 33 ft

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

Patrik Laine · 2nd 10:55 · MTL PP

Play: cycle
Passes: 3
Shot: 81.9 mph
Distance: 34 ft
Type: one-timer

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.