Buffalo Sabres vs. New Jersey DevilsDec 21, 2025

FinalSunday, Dec 21, 2025· Prudential Center

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	2	1	3		BUF	9	12	4	25
NJD	1	0	0	1		NJD	12	6	9	27

: BUF 48NJD 71
: BUF 2.65NJD 2.79
PP goals: BUF 0NJD 0
Hits: BUF 20NJD 16
Blocks: BUF 23NJD 13
PIM: BUF 2NJD 0
: BUF 41%NJD 59%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Buffalo Sabres beat New Jersey Devils 3–1

Buffalo Sabres beat New Jersey Devils 3–1 at NJD. Peyton Krebs (BUF) led the scoring with 1G 0A. New look for NJD: Meier–Bratt–Hischier skated 11:47 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (68.8% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

New line
New look for NJD: Meier–Bratt–Hischier skated 11:47 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (68.8% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Meier Bratt Hischier
New line
New look for BUF: Malenstyn–Dunne–Rosen skated 8:29 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (57.1% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Malenstyn Dunne Rosen
New line
New look for NJD: Hughes–Gritsyuk–Mercer skated 10:36 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (52.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Hughes Gritsyuk Mercer
New line
New look for NJD: Noesen–Glendening–Cotter skated 5:03 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (40% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Noesen Glendening Cotter
Usage
Jack Quinn (BUF) played 11:07, −4:36 down on his 15:43 season average over 81 games.Quinn
Luck
NJD scored 1 goal on 2.79 expected goals (71 attempts), well short of its chances.
Usage
Peyton Krebs (BUF) played 17:54, +4:11 up on his 13:43 season average over 81 games.Krebs
Usage
Cody Glass (NJD) played 17:55, +4:22 up on his 13:33 season average over 69 games.Glass

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 119 of 119 attempts · NJD 71 · BUF 48

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 19% of the game, NJD 48%.

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

Head-to-head matchups

NJD skaters (rows) against BUF skaters (columns) at 5v5. Square size is time together; colour is xGF% from the NJD side.

Matchup matrix

NJD xGF% 4060square size = TOI together · blank = under 1:00

Sequence card

5-on-5 possession-chain numbers from the sequence engine (Draw Equity and control cover all situations).

Sequence card
Stat	BUF	NJD
	54	68
	1.55	2.33
	1.51	2.26
	5	12
	4	4
	30	22
	−0.067	+0.068
	19%	48%

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

L1Thompson – Krebs – Doan
13:0235% CF
L2Tuch – Norris – Ostlund
12:1352% CF
L3McLeod – Quinn – Benson
9:2539% CF
L4Malenstyn – Dunne – Rosen
8:2957% CF
D1Samuelsson – Dahlin
15:2929% CF
D2Kesselring – Power
13:0860% CF
D3Byram – Metsa
10:3652% CF

PK1FTuch – McLeod
1:25
PK2FMalenstyn – Ostlund
0:28
PK1DSamuelsson – Byram
1:25
PK2DKesselring – Power
0:28

Current BUF line combinations →

New Jersey Devils

L1Meier – Bratt – Hischier
11:4769% CF
L2Palat – Brown – Glass
11:1650% CF
L3Hughes – Gritsyuk – Mercer
10:3653% CF
L4Noesen – Glendening – Cotter
5:0340% CF
D1Pesce – Hughes
18:1154% CF
D2Hamilton – Siegenthaler
15:4649% CF
D3Dillon – White
10:4958% CF

PP1Noesen – Bratt – Hischier – Hughes – Hughes
1:2450% CF
PP2Hamilton – Brown – Meier – Gritsyuk – Mercer
0:30100% CF

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
Peyton Krebs C	L1	1	0	1	0	3	1.03	1	1	0	17:54	—	—	35	33
Tage Thompson C	L1	0	1	1	0	0	0.07	1	1	0	16:48	—	—	39	35
Josh Doan R	L1	0	0	0	-1	2	0.14	0	2	0	15:03	—	—	35	32
Alex Tuch R	L2	0	0	0	+1	4	0.15	2	1	0	18:47	—	—	52	43
Noah Ostlund C	L2	0	0	0	+1	1	0.01	0	2	0	17:08	—	—	55	46
Josh Norris C	L2	1	0	1	+1	1	0.20	0	1	0	15:48	—	—	50	37
Ryan McLeod C	L3	0	1	1	+2	2	0.16	0	1	0	14:47	—	—	48	54
Zach Benson L	L3	1	0	1	+1	1	0.19	1	0	2	13:05	—	—	41	47
Jack Quinn R	L3	0	1	1	+1	0	0.01	1	0	0	11:07	—	—	42	53
Beck Malenstyn L	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.01	5	0	0	13:23	—	—	50	37
Josh Dunne C	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.00	0	0	0	13:09	—	—	41	37
Isak Rosen R	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.02	1	0	0	10:44	—	—	47	26
Mattias Samuelsson D	D1	0	0	0	+1	0	0.00	5	4	0	26:07	—	—	21	23
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	1	1	+2	1	0.04	0	4	0	22:34	—	—	42	62
Owen Power D	D2	0	1	1	+1	2	0.04	1	1	0	21:43	—	—	55	44
Michael Kesselring D	D2	0	0	0	-1	3	0.09	1	2	0	15:41	—	—	58	28
Bowen Byram D	D3	0	1	1	+1	1	0.45	0	2	0	22:18	—	—	38	30
Zach Metsa D	D3	0	0	0	0	1	0.04	1	1	0	11:54	—	—	50	51

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(start)	W	27	26	1	.963	2.79	60:00

New Jersey Devils

NJD skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk		PP	SH
Nico Hischier C	L1	0	0	0	-2	3	0.34	2	1	19:48	—	—	73	76
Jesper Bratt L	L1	0	0	0	-2	3	0.43	1	0	19:29	—	—	68	74
Timo Meier R	L1	0	0	0	-2	7	0.72	1	1	16:19	—	—	70	76
Connor Brown R	L2	0	0	0	-1	4	0.38	1	0	19:03	—	—	50	41
Cody Glass C	L2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.06	0	0	17:55	—	—	46	44
Ondrej Palat L	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.11	1	0	12:47	—	—	50	47
Jack Hughes C	L3	1	0	1	0	2	0.15	0	1	20:57	—	—	56	72
Arseny Gritsyuk R	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.16	0	0	17:09	—	—	42	46
Dawson Mercer C	L3	0	1	1	+1	2	0.19	1	2	15:33	—	—	48	62
Stefan Noesen R	L4	0	0	0	-1	1	0.10	0	0	11:36	—	—	46	64
Paul Cotter L	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.11	2	0	10:22	—	—	50	54
Luke Glendening C	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	8:28	—	—	35	35
Luke Hughes D	D1	0	0	0	-2	0	0.01	0	3	26:36	—	—	59	55
Brett Pesce D	D1	0	0	0	-2	0	0.00	1	2	21:11	—	—	55	53
Dougie Hamilton D	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0.02	3	1	22:48	—	—	57	58
Jonas Siegenthaler D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.01	0	1	17:10	—	—	49	52
Brenden Dillon D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	2	1	14:39	—	—	58	64
Colton White D	D3	0	1	1	+1	1	0.01	1	0	12:03	—	—	60	83

NJD goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Jake Allen(start)	L	24	22	2	.917	1.31	56:07

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 DevilsDec 21, 2025

Fantasy takeaways

Buffalo Sabres beat New Jersey Devils 3–1

Shot map

Shot map

Game flow

Cumulative shot attempts

Shift chart

Shifts

Head-to-head matchups

Matchup matrix

Sequence card

Lines used

Buffalo Sabres

New Jersey Devils

Scoring summary

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Box score

Buffalo Sabres

New Jersey Devils