Buffalo Sabres vs. New Jersey DevilsMar 16, 2021

FinalTuesday, Mar 16, 2021· Prudential Center

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	2	0	2		BUF	12	12	11	35
NJD	1	1	1	3		NJD	5	15	7	27

: BUF 49NJD 48
: BUF 3.66NJD 2.90
PP goals: BUF 0NJD 1
Hits: BUF 25NJD 19
Blocks: BUF 8NJD 6
PIM: BUF 8NJD 6
: BUF 61%NJD 39%

Fantasy takeaways

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

New Jersey Devils edge Buffalo Sabres 3–2

New Jersey Devils beat Buffalo Sabres 3–2 at home. Brandon Montour (BUF) led the scoring with 0G 2A. New look for BUF: Staal–Rieder–Reinhart skated 8:13 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (35.3% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

Points
Brandon Montour had 2 assists (2 points) in 19:35.Montour
New line
New look for BUF: Staal–Rieder–Reinhart skated 8:13 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (35.3% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Staal Rieder Reinhart
Goalie
Mackenzie Blackwood (NJD) faced 35 shots and stopped 33 (.943), +4 against a season average of 30.9; the win.Blackwood
New line
New look for BUF: Okposo–Eakin–Olofsson skated 7:50 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (53.3% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Okposo Eakin Olofsson
New line
New look for NJD: Bratt–Bastian–Hughes skated 5:13 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (75% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Bratt Bastian Hughes
Usage
Andreas Johnsson (NJD) played 7:31, −6:33 down on his 14:04 season average over 49 games.Johnsson
Luck
BUF scored 2 goals on 3.66 expected goals (49 attempts), well short of its chances.
Usage
Travis Zajac (NJD) played 20:26, +4:06 up on his 16:20 season average over 45 games.Zajac

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)NJD attacks right (top on phones) →

NJD
BUF
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 97 of 97 attempts · NJD 48 · BUF 49

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

NJD
BUF
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

NJD 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 38% of the game, NJD 31%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

NJD

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	NJD
	44	49
	3.16	2.75
	3.07	2.65
	7	14
	2	6
	17	12
	+0.125	−0.125
	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.

Buffalo Sabres

L1Staal – Rieder – Reinhart
8:1335% CF
L2Skinner – Lazar – Mittelstadt
7:5375% CF
L3Okposo – Eakin – Olofsson
7:5053% CF
L4Sheahan – Hall – Thompson
2:5740% CF
D1Miller – Dahlin
12:3232% CF
D2Montour – Jokiharju
11:2657% CF
D3Davidson – Ristolainen
10:5957% CF

PP1Ristolainen – Reinhart – Olofsson – Mittelstadt – Dahlin
2:09
PP2Staal – Okposo – Skinner – Miller – Thompson
1:17100% CF
PK1FSheahan – Lazar
2:58
PK2FOkposo – Rieder
0:47
PK1DMiller – Ristolainen
1:20
PK2DDavidson – Montour
0:40

Current BUF line combinations →

New Jersey Devils

L1Palmieri – Wood – Zacha
10:2942% CF
L2Zajac – Kuokkanen – Sharangovich
9:0962% CF
L3Bratt – Bastian – Hughes
5:1375% CF
L4Gusev – Johnsson – Maltsev
1:5850% CF
D1Severson – Smith
14:1143% CF
D2Subban – Kulikov
13:3365% CF
D3Vatanen – Murray
12:0452% CF

PP1Palmieri – Severson – Gusev – Zacha – Kuokkanen
2:22100% CF
PP2Subban – Wood – Bratt – Sharangovich – Hughes
2:09100% CF
PK1FZajac – Sharangovich
1:17
PK2FZacha – Bastian
0:58
PK1DKulikov – Severson
1:21
PK2DSubban – Murray
1:07

Current NJD line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

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
Sam Reinhart C	L1	0	0	0	0	2	0.23	1	0	0	20:13	—	—	44	46
Eric Staal C	L1	0	0	0	0	6	0.68	1	0	0	16:05	—	—	44	64
Tobias Rieder L	L1	1	0	1	+1	4	0.40	0	0	0	12:01	—	—	44	63
Casey Mittelstadt C	L2	0	1	1	0	1	0.20	0	0	0	16:03	—	—	56	93
Jeff Skinner L	L2	1	0	1	0	2	0.16	0	0	2	14:56	—	—	62	94
Curtis Lazar C	L2	0	0	0	+1	2	0.40	2	0	0	12:54	—	—	73	98
Victor Olofsson L	L3	0	0	0	0	4	0.47	1	0	0	18:02	—	—	46	49
Kyle Okposo R	L3	0	1	1	0	3	0.49	1	0	0	15:41	—	—	52	57
Cody Eakin C	L3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.08	2	1	2	11:50	—	—	52	52
Riley Sheahan C	L4	0	0	0	-2	1	0.04	1	0	0	15:28	—	—	29	23
Taylor Hall L	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.06	1	0	0	12:07	—	—	39	18
Tage Thompson C	L4	0	0	0	-1	1	0.19	0	0	0	10:38	—	—	44	38
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	0	0	0	1	0.02	2	0	0	22:19	—	—	32	42
Colin Miller D	D1	0	0	0	0	2	0.14	2	0	2	19:51	—	—	35	42
Brandon Montour D	D2	0	2	2	+1	0	0.00	1	1	0	19:35	—	—	57	61
Henri Jokiharju D	D2	0	0	0	+1	0	0.00	2	1	0	16:06	—	—	47	72
Rasmus Ristolainen D	D3	0	0	0	-1	3	0.07	4	3	0	24:07	—	—	60	51
Brandon Davidson D	D3	0	0	0	-1	1	0.03	4	2	2	16:48	—	—	48	46

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Jonas Johansson(start)	L	27	24	3	.889	2.90	58:01

New Jersey Devils

NJD skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Kyle Palmieri C	L1	0	0	0	-1	3	0.42	0	0	0	18:53	—	—	41	38
Pavel Zacha C	L1	0	0	0	-1	0	0.23	0	0	0	18:21	—	—	41	38
Miles Wood L	L1	1	0	1	-1	5	0.62	0	2	0	16:27	—	—	46	39
Travis Zajac C	L2	0	1	1	+1	2	0.18	3	0	0	20:26	—	—	44	62
Yegor Sharangovich C	L2	1	0	1	+1	2	0.18	0	0	0	18:38	—	—	56	71
Janne Kuokkanen C	L2	0	1	1	+2	3	0.48	0	0	0	16:26	—	—	61	68
Jack Hughes C	L3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.15	0	0	0	17:40	—	—	67	48
Jesper Bratt L	L3	0	1	1	0	1	0.23	1	0	0	13:47	—	—	68	51
Nathan Bastian R	L3	0	0	0	+1	2	0.06	7	1	2	12:59	—	—	63	54
Nikita Gusev L	L4	0	0	0	-1	2	0.14	0	0	0	8:51	—	—	43	3
Mikhail Maltsev L	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.01	0	0	0	8:29	—	—	43	8
Andreas Johnsson L	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	1	0	0	7:31	—	—	50	32
Damon Severson D	D1	0	1	1	0	1	0.06	3	0	0	24:01	—	—	42	46
Ty Smith D	D1	0	0	0	0	1	0.00	1	1	0	17:14	—	—	45	43
P.K. Subban D	D2	0	1	1	0	0	0.02	1	0	0	22:28	—	—	63	54
Dmitry Kulikov D	D2	0	0	0	0	2	0.03	2	0	2	17:35	—	—	63	54
Ryan Murray D	D3	0	1	1	0	0	0.00	0	2	0	18:13	—	—	52	42
Sami Vatanen D	D3	1	0	1	0	2	0.07	0	0	2	14:31	—	—	50	32

NJD goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Mackenzie Blackwood(start)	W	35	33	2	.943	3.66	60:00

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.

Buffalo Sabres vs. New Jersey DevilsMar 16, 2021

Fantasy takeaways

New Jersey Devils edge Buffalo Sabres 3–2

Shot map

Shot map

Game flow

Cumulative shot attempts

Shift chart

Shifts

Sequence card

Lines used

Buffalo Sabres

New Jersey Devils

Scoring summary

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Box score

Buffalo Sabres

New Jersey Devils