Buffalo Sabres vs. Washington CapitalsFeb 18, 2021

FinalThursday, Feb 18, 2021· Capital One Arena

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	0	1	1		BUF	6	11	6	23
WSH	1	1	1	3		WSH	6	11	4	21

: BUF 45WSH 50
: BUF 2.18WSH 3.34
PP goals: BUF 1WSH 1
Hits: BUF 17WSH 22
Blocks: BUF 14WSH 7
PIM: BUF 2WSH 4
: BUF 49%WSH 51%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Washington Capitals beat Buffalo Sabres 3–1

Washington Capitals beat Buffalo Sabres 3–1 at home. Conor Sheary (WSH) led the scoring with 1G 0A. WSH's first power-play unit (Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom, Carlson and Vrana) scored 1 power-play goal on 3 attempts in 1:04 together.

PP1
WSH's first power-play unit (Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom, Carlson and Vrana) scored 1 power-play goal on 3 attempts in 1:04 together.Ovechkin Oshie Backstrom Carlson Vrana
Usage
Nicklas Backstrom (WSH) played 14:28, −4:12 down on his 18:40 season average over 54 games.Backstrom
Usage
Sam Reinhart (BUF) played 23:27, +3:59 up on his 19:28 season average over 53 games.Reinhart
Usage
Taylor Hall (BUF) played 23:52, +6:07 up on his 17:45 season average over 52 games.Hall
Usage
Alex Ovechkin (WSH) played 16:25, −3:09 down on his 19:34 season average over 44 games.Ovechkin
Usage
Curtis Lazar (BUF) played 8:01, −5:25 down on his 13:26 season average over 49 games.Lazar
Usage
Eric Staal (BUF) played 19:59, +5:22 up on his 14:37 season average over 52 games.Staal
Usage
Riley Sheahan (BUF) played 8:34, −4:50 down on his 13:24 season average over 52 games.Sheahan

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)WSH attacks right (top on phones) →

WSH
BUF
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 95 of 95 attempts · WSH 50 · BUF 45

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

WSH
BUF
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

WSH 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 30% of the game, WSH 38%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

WSH

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	WSH
	48	50
	2.23	2.48
	2.12	2.36
	10	6
	4	7
	14	18
	−0.002	+0.002
	30%	38%

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

L1Staal – Hall – Reinhart
10:3546% CF
L2Okposo – Eakin – Rieder
8:2950% CF
L3Olofsson – Eichel – Thompson
8:1441% CF
L4Sheahan – Skinner – Lazar
7:1638% CF
D1Miller – Dahlin
15:1650% CF
D2McCabe – Borgen
14:0269% CF
D3Montour – Jokiharju
11:5240% CF

PP1Hall – Reinhart – Olofsson – Eichel – Dahlin
2:360% CF
PP2Staal – Okposo – Skinner – Miller – Thompson
0:53100% CF
PK1FSheahan – Lazar
0:34
PK2FEakin – Rieder
0:30
PK1DMcCabe – Montour
0:47

Current BUF line combinations →

Washington Capitals

L1Ovechkin – Oshie – Kuznetsov
13:2857% CF
L2Hagelin – Dowd – Hathaway
11:2545% CF
L3Eller – Panik – Sheary
11:0653% CF
L4Backstrom – Wilson – Vrana
9:5767% CF
D1Carlson – Dillon
18:4362% CF
D2Chara – Schultz
13:5735% CF
D3Orlov – Jensen
12:0664% CF

PP1Ovechkin – Oshie – Backstrom – Carlson – Vrana
1:0475% CF
PK1FHagelin – Eller
2:01
PK2FDowd – Wilson
1:29
PK1DChara – Jensen
2:16
PK2DCarlson – Dillon
1:28

Current WSH line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

1st period

17:23
WSHNicklas BackstromPP (T.J. Oshie, Alex Ovechkin)backhand0.39 xG
BUF: Sheahan, Lazar, Montour, JokiharjuWSH: Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom, Carlson, Vrana
BUF 0 – 1 WSH

2nd period

6:38
WSHTom WilsonSHbackhand0.28 xG
BUF: Hall, Reinhart, Olofsson, Eichel, DahlinWSH: Chara, Jensen, Dowd, Wilson
BUF 0 – 2 WSH

3rd period

7:28
WSHConor Sheary (Lars Eller, Justin Schultz)wrist0.37 xG
BUF: Staal, Montour, Olofsson, Thompson, DahlinWSH: Chara, Eller, Schultz, Panik, Sheary
BUF 0 – 3 WSH
11:27
BUFVictor OlofssonPP (Sam Reinhart, Jack Eichel)wrist0.08 xG
BUF: Okposo, Reinhart, Olofsson, Eichel, BorgenWSH: Chara, Jensen, Dowd, Wilson
BUF 1 – 3 WSH

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
Taylor Hall L	L1	0	0	0	-1	2	0.07	0	2	0	23:52	—	—	52	43
Sam Reinhart C	L1	0	1	1	-1	1	0.20	1	1	0	23:27	—	—	50	41
Eric Staal C	L1	0	0	0	-1	1	0.15	0	0	0	19:59	—	—	57	33
Kyle Okposo R	L2	0	0	0	0	3	0.14	0	0	0	14:14	—	—	50	65
Cody Eakin C	L2	0	0	0	0	2	0.13	2	0	0	13:00	—	—	50	65
Tobias Rieder L	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.02	0	0	0	9:36	—	—	50	56
Jack Eichel C	L3	0	1	1	-1	2	0.05	1	1	0	22:24	—	—	46	51
Victor Olofsson L	L3	1	0	1	-2	1	0.21	0	0	0	17:33	—	—	48	36
Tage Thompson C	L3	0	0	0	-1	2	0.18	2	0	0	14:16	—	—	52	40
Jeff Skinner L	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.39	0	2	0	11:26	—	—	45	71
Riley Sheahan C	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.04	0	0	0	8:34	—	—	39	67
Curtis Lazar C	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	2	0	8:01	—	—	39	67
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	0	0	-2	1	0.14	0	3	0	25:42	—	—	50	40
Colin Miller D	D1	0	0	0	0	1	0.05	2	2	0	20:08	—	—	47	50
Jake McCabe D	D2	0	0	0	0	2	0.17	2	0	0	17:43	—	—	75	71
Will Borgen D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.12	4	1	2	16:31	—	—	69	64
Brandon Montour D	D3	0	0	0	-1	1	0.06	1	0	0	19:08	—	—	41	31
Henri Jokiharju D	D3	0	0	0	0	1	0.06	1	0	0	15:30	—	—	35	46

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Linus Ullmark(start)	L	21	18	3	.857	2.86	57:52

Washington Capitals

WSH skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Alex Ovechkin L	L1	0	1	1	0	4	0.33	4	0	0	16:25	—	—	52	49
T.J. Oshie R	L1	0	1	1	0	0	0.08	3	0	2	15:56	—	—	57	49
Evgeny Kuznetsov C	L1	0	0	0	0	2	0.13	1	1	0	14:56	—	—	57	49
Nic Dowd C	L2	0	0	0	+1	1	0.00	2	2	0	15:54	—	—	39	19
Carl Hagelin L	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.59	1	0	0	15:32	—	—	44	29
Garnet Hathaway R	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	12:47	—	—	43	20
Lars Eller C	L3	0	1	1	+1	2	0.35	1	0	0	16:06	—	—	55	65
Richard Panik R	L3	0	0	0	+1	0	0.00	3	0	0	13:52	—	—	50	64
Conor Sheary L	L3	1	0	1	+1	2	0.54	0	0	0	12:56	—	—	50	63
Tom Wilson R	L4	1	0	1	+1	1	0.28	2	0	0	15:53	—	—	56	63
Nicklas Backstrom C	L4	1	0	1	0	1	0.42	0	0	0	14:28	—	—	56	65
Jakub Vrana L	L4	0	0	0	0	3	0.49	0	0	0	13:00	—	—	63	64
John Carlson D	D1	0	0	0	0	1	0.03	1	0	0	23:07	—	—	62	59
Brenden Dillon D	D1	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0	0	22:24	—	—	61	61
Zdeno Chara D	D2	0	0	0	+2	0	0.00	1	0	0	19:16	—	—	30	50
Justin Schultz D	D2	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	0	1	0	18:04	—	—	38	52
Nick Jensen D	D3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.02	1	2	0	18:28	—	—	50	33
Dmitry Orlov D	D3	0	0	0	0	2	0.05	2	1	2	17:37	—	—	58	51

WSH goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Vitek Vanecek(start)	W	23	22	1	.957	2.18	59:28

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.