Buffalo Sabres vs. Vegas Golden KnightsFeb 28, 2020

FinalFriday, Feb 28, 2020· T-Mobile Arena

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	1	0	1	2		BUF	9	6	19	34
VGK	1	0	3	4		VGK	11	6	11	28

: BUF 67VGK 49
: BUF 2.93VGK 3.22
PP goals: BUF 0VGK 0
Hits: BUF 31VGK 28
Blocks: BUF 11VGK 24
PIM: BUF 0VGK 2
: BUF 32%VGK 68%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Vegas Golden Knights beat Buffalo Sabres 4–2

Vegas Golden Knights beat Buffalo Sabres 4–2 at home. Reilly Smith (VGK) led the scoring with 2G 0A. New look for VGK: Pacioretty–Karlsson–Stephenson skated 13:56 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (48.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

Points
Reilly Smith had two goals (2 points) on 2 shots in 16:01.Smith
New line
New look for VGK: Pacioretty–Karlsson–Stephenson skated 13:56 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (48.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Pacioretty Karlsson Stephenson
New line
New look for VGK: Cousins–Carrier–Roy skated 10:56 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (30% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Cousins Carrier Roy
New line
New look for BUF: Johansson–Vesey–Kahun skated 9:08 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (31.6% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Johansson Vesey Kahun
New line
New look for BUF: Simmonds–Skinner–Lazar skated 10:02 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (75% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Simmonds Skinner Lazar
Usage
Nicolas Roy (VGK) played 16:19, +5:04 up on his 11:15 season average over 27 games.Roy
Usage
Marcus Johansson (BUF) played 12:54, −4:19 down on his 17:13 season average over 59 games.Johansson
Usage
Tomas Nosek (VGK) played 4:43, −7:00 down on his 11:43 season average over 66 games.Nosek

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)VGK attacks right (top on phones) →

VGK
BUF
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 116 of 116 attempts · VGK 49 · BUF 67

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

VGK
BUF
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

VGK 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 23% of the game, VGK 31%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

VGK

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	VGK
	70	58
	3.11	3.22
	2.93	3.09
	10	14
	2	5
	20	23
	−0.140	+0.141
	23%	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

L1Reinhart – Olofsson – Eichel
12:4256% CF
L2Okposo – Larsson – Girgensons
11:3750% CF
L3Simmonds – Skinner – Lazar
10:0275% CF
L4Johansson – Vesey – Kahun
9:0832% CF
D1Ristolainen – Montour
18:0929% CF
D2McCabe – Jokiharju
14:1977% CF
D3Miller – Dahlin
12:2056% CF

PP1Ristolainen – Reinhart – Olofsson – Eichel – Dahlin
1:15100% CF
PP2Simmonds – Johansson – Skinner – Miller – Eichel
0:45100% CF

Current BUF line combinations →

Vegas Golden Knights

L1Pacioretty – Karlsson – Stephenson
13:5648% CF
L2Cousins – Carrier – Roy
10:5630% CF
L3Stastny – Smith – Marchessault
10:3456% CF
L4Reaves – Nosek – Quinney
4:100% CF
D1Martinez – Theodore
18:5040% CF
D2McNabb – Schmidt
17:2446% CF
D3Holden – Whitecloud
15:1952% CF

PK1FStastny – Karlsson
0:47
PK2FSmith – Roy
0:41
PK1DHolden – McNabb
1:13
PK2DMartinez – Whitecloud
0:47

Current VGK line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

1st period

2:16
BUFDominik Kahun (Marcus Johansson, Jimmy Vesey)snap0.23 xG
BUF: Johansson, Miller, Vesey, Dahlin, KahunVGK: Holden, Cousins, Carrier, Roy, Whitecloud
BUF 1 – 0 VGK
11:12
VGKNicolas Roy (Nick Cousins, Nick Holden)wrist0.18 xG
BUF: Miller, Vesey, Reinhart, Eichel, DahlinVGK: Holden, Cousins, Carrier, Roy, Whitecloud
BUF 1 – 1 VGK

3rd period

3:06
VGKWilliam Karlsson (Max Pacioretty, Chandler Stephenson)backhand0.14 xG
BUF: Reinhart, Olofsson, Eichel, Jokiharju, DahlinVGK: Pacioretty, McNabb, Karlsson, Stephenson, Schmidt
BUF 1 – 2 VGK
5:25
VGKReilly Smith (Paul Stastny, Zach Whitecloud)wrap-around0.11 xG
BUF: Johansson, Miller, Vesey, Ristolainen, KahunVGK: Stastny, Holden, Smith, Marchessault, Whitecloud
BUF 1 – 3 VGK
18:11
VGKReilly SmithEN (Jonathan Marchessault)wrist0.54 xG
BUF: Okposo, Ristolainen, Reinhart, Olofsson, Eichel, DahlinVGK: Stastny, McNabb, Smith, Marchessault, Schmidt
BUF 1 – 4 VGK
19:48
BUFJeff Skinner (Brandon Montour, Jake McCabe)backhand0.10 xG
BUF: Simmonds, Skinner, McCabe, Lazar, MontourVGK: Reaves, Martinez, Theodore, Roy, Quinney
BUF 2 – 4 VGK

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		PP	SH
Jack Eichel C	L1	0	0	0	-3	4	0.18	0	0	23:25	—	—	58	30
Sam Reinhart C	L1	0	0	0	-3	1	0.09	1	0	21:11	—	—	58	30
Victor Olofsson L	L1	0	0	0	-2	0	0.00	1	0	17:05	—	—	54	35
Kyle Okposo R	L2	0	0	0	-1	1	0.25	3	0	16:26	—	—	54	55
Zemgus Girgensons C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	4	0	14:43	—	—	54	52
Johan Larsson L	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.17	0	0	14:02	—	—	52	54
Jeff Skinner L	L3	1	0	1	+1	8	1.02	1	0	15:59	—	—	75	72
Wayne Simmonds R	L3	0	0	0	+1	0	0.00	6	0	11:54	—	—	76	77
Curtis Lazar C	L3	0	0	0	+1	2	0.17	3	0	10:39	—	—	76	77
Jimmy Vesey L	L4	0	1	1	-1	2	0.12	1	0	13:12	—	—	33	37
Marcus Johansson L	L4	0	1	1	0	1	0.09	1	2	12:54	—	—	35	43
Dominik Kahun C	L4	1	0	1	0	1	0.23	0	2	10:37	—	—	27	32
Rasmus Ristolainen D	D1	0	0	0	-2	5	0.32	3	1	23:36	—	—	37	27
Brandon Montour D	D1	0	1	1	+1	1	0.02	1	1	21:54	—	—	39	42
Henri Jokiharju D	D2	0	0	0	-1	2	0.05	1	0	19:25	—	—	66	55
Jake McCabe D	D2	0	1	1	+1	3	0.18	0	2	17:33	—	—	83	91
Rasmus Dahlin D	D3	0	0	0	-2	0	0.04	0	1	19:47	—	—	59	41
Colin Miller D	D3	0	0	0	-1	2	0.01	5	2	16:56	—	—	53	42

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Carter Hutton(start)	L	27	24	3	.889	2.68	58:42

Vegas Golden Knights

VGK skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
William Karlsson C	L1	1	0	1	+1	5	0.58	1	1	0	19:08	—	—	45	71
Max Pacioretty L	L1	0	1	1	+1	3	0.24	2	4	0	17:56	—	—	43	64
Chandler Stephenson C	L1	0	1	1	+1	1	0.09	1	0	0	17:36	—	—	54	76
Nicolas Roy C	L2	1	0	1	-1	3	0.25	0	0	0	16:19	—	—	31	23
Nick Cousins C	L2	0	1	1	0	0	0.00	3	0	0	14:15	—	—	32	34
William Carrier L	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	12:50	—	—	29	20
Jonathan Marchessault R	L3	0	1	1	+2	4	0.42	1	0	2	17:13	—	—	64	71
Reilly Smith R	L3	2	0	2	+2	2	0.64	1	0	0	16:01	—	—	64	73
Paul Stastny C	L3	0	1	1	+2	2	0.38	0	0	0	15:03	—	—	63	73
Ryan Reaves R	L4	0	0	0	-1	2	0.36	7	0	0	15:20	—	—	39	33
Gage Quinney C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.04	1	0	0	11:36	—	—	41	23
Tomas Nosek L	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	4:43	—	—	0	0
Alec Martinez D	D1	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	2	5	0	21:56	—	—	39	35
Shea Theodore D	D1	0	0	0	-1	2	0.05	0	2	0	20:47	—	—	42	40
Brayden McNabb D	D2	0	0	0	+2	0	0.00	2	2	0	20:48	—	—	46	71
Nate Schmidt D	D2	0	0	0	+2	0	0.00	1	6	0	20:20	—	—	48	70
Nick Holden D	D3	0	1	1	+1	3	0.07	3	3	0	18:20	—	—	52	57
Zach Whitecloud D	D3	0	1	1	+1	1	0.11	1	1	0	17:27	—	—	50	56

VGK goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Robin Lehner(start)	W	34	32	2	.941	2.93	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.