Buffalo Sabres vs. Vegas Golden KnightsDec 19, 2022

FinalMonday, Dec 19, 2022· T-Mobile Arena

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	3	0	3		BUF	6	7	5	18
VGK	0	0	2	2		VGK	10	10	23	43

: BUF 45VGK 72
: BUF 2.74VGK 4.96
PP goals: BUF 0VGK 0
Hits: BUF 16VGK 13
Blocks: BUF 15VGK 9
PIM: BUF 6VGK 2
: BUF 44%VGK 56%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Buffalo Sabres edge Vegas Golden Knights 3–2

Buffalo Sabres beat Vegas Golden Knights 3–2 at VGK. Lawrence Pilut (BUF) led the scoring with 1G 1A. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (BUF) faced 43 shots and stopped 41 (.953), +11 against a season average of 31.9; the win.

Points
Lawrence Pilut had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 1 shot in 13:31.Pilut
Goalie
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (BUF) faced 43 shots and stopped 41 (.953), +11 against a season average of 31.9; the win.Luukkonen
Luck
VGK scored 2 goals on 4.96 expected goals (72 attempts), well short of its chances.
Usage
Reilly Smith (VGK) played 22:28, +5:34 up on his 16:54 season average over 77 games.Smith
Usage
Alex Pietrangelo (VGK) played 28:43, +4:48 up on his 23:55 season average over 72 games.Pietrangelo
Usage
Casey Fitzgerald (BUF) played 15:33, +3:46 up on his 11:47 season average over 26 games.Fitzgerald
Usage
Mattias Samuelsson (BUF) played 28:30, +6:26 up on his 22:04 season average over 54 games.Samuelsson
Usage
William Karlsson (VGK) played 20:56, +3:30 up on his 17:26 season average over 81 games.Karlsson

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 117 of 117 attempts · VGK 72 · BUF 45

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 18% of the game, VGK 57%.

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
	49	61
	1.90	4.07
	1.88	3.81
	5	12
	4	2
	17	22
	−0.086	+0.086
	18%	57%

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

L1Skinner – Tuch – Thompson
12:0748% CF
L2Okposo – Girgensons – Krebs
7:4560% CF
L3Cozens – Quinn – Peterka
5:5111% CF
L4Olofsson – Jost – Mittelstadt
4:4133% CF
D1Samuelsson – Dahlin
17:2333% CF
D2Clague – Lyubushkin
10:4428% CF
D3Fitzgerald – Pilut
7:4565% CF

PP1Olofsson – Clague – Mittelstadt – Quinn – Peterka
1:010% CF
PP2Skinner – Tuch – Thompson – Dahlin – Cozens
0:53
PK1FJost – Cozens
1:31
PK2FOkposo – Girgensons
0:57
PK1DFitzgerald – Samuelsson
2:17
PK2DDahlin – Pilut
2:04

Current BUF line combinations →

Vegas Golden Knights

L1Smith – Karlsson – Marchessault
13:1267% CF
L2Carrier – Kolesar – Roy
8:5765% CF
L3Kessel – Stone – Stephenson
4:290% CF
L4Amadio – Leschyshyn – Rondbjerg
3:1975% CF
D1Martinez – Pietrangelo
18:1356% CF
D2McNabb – Miromanov
12:3450% CF
D3Hutton – Hague
10:1177% CF

PP1Pietrangelo – Smith – Stone – Marchessault – Stephenson
4:40100% CF
PP2Kessel – Karlsson – Carrier – Roy – Miromanov
1:12100% CF
PK1FSmith – Karlsson
0:42
PK2FRoy – Rondbjerg
0:41
PK1DPietrangelo – McNabb
1:12
PK2DMartinez – Hague
0:42

Current VGK line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

2nd period

1:53
BUFJeff Skinner (Alex Tuch, Lawrence Pilut)wrist0.07 xG
BUF: Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Fitzgerald, PilutVGK: Martinez, Smith, Karlsson, Marchessault, Hague
BUF 1 – 0 VGK
7:15
BUFTage Thompson (Casey Fitzgerald)wrist0.15 xG
BUF: Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Fitzgerald, DahlinVGK: Kessel, Stone, Stephenson, Hutton, Hague
BUF 2 – 0 VGK
13:28
BUFLawrence Pilut (Kyle Okposo, Peyton Krebs)slap0.01 xG
BUF: Okposo, Girgensons, Fitzgerald, Pilut, KrebsVGK: Kessel, McNabb, Amadio, Leschyshyn, Miromanov
BUF 3 – 0 VGK

3rd period

3:54
VGKChandler Stephenson (Michael Amadio, Alec Martinez)wrist0.19 xG
BUF: Olofsson, Fitzgerald, Mittelstadt, Pilut, CozensVGK: McNabb, Stone, Stephenson, Amadio, Miromanov
BUF 3 – 1 VGK
17:38
VGKReilly Smith (Alex Pietrangelo, William Karlsson)wrist0.06 xG
BUF: Okposo, Girgensons, Jost, Dahlin, LyubushkinVGK: Pietrangelo, Smith, Stone, Karlsson, Marchessault, Stephenson
BUF 3 – 2 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	PIM		PP	SH
Alex Tuch R	L1	0	1	1	+2	2	0.35	1	2	0	18:44	—	—	46	40
Tage Thompson C	L1	1	0	1	+2	3	0.34	1	1	0	17:57	—	—	45	43
Jeff Skinner L	L1	1	0	1	+2	1	0.18	1	0	0	16:26	—	—	46	40
Kyle Okposo R	L2	0	1	1	0	3	0.15	0	1	0	14:22	—	—	53	29
Zemgus Girgensons C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.30	2	0	0	13:29	—	—	70	49
Peyton Krebs C	L2	0	1	1	+1	1	0.00	1	0	0	11:02	—	—	63	30
Dylan Cozens C	L3	0	0	0	-1	1	0.06	1	0	0	18:18	—	—	31	24
Jack Quinn R	L3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	9:45	—	—	15	3
JJ Peterka R	L3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	9:27	—	—	13	2
Casey Mittelstadt C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0.35	0	1	0	17:23	—	—	48	27
Victor Olofsson L	L4	0	0	0	-1	1	0.23	0	0	0	15:22	—	—	57	37
Tyson Jost C	L4	0	0	0	-1	1	0.01	0	0	0	12:46	—	—	36	22
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	0	0	0	1	0.68	2	6	0	29:03	—	—	44	39
Mattias Samuelsson D	D1	0	0	0	0	3	0.06	2	3	2	28:30	—	—	37	30
Kale Clague D	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	16:45	—	—	44	20
Ilya Lyubushkin D	D2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	4	1	4	15:37	—	—	33	11
Casey Fitzgerald D	D3	0	1	1	+2	0	0.00	0	0	0	15:33	—	—	58	53
Lawrence Pilut D	D3	1	1	2	+1	1	0.03	0	0	0	13:31	—	—	60	44

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(start)	W	43	41	2	.953	4.96	60:00

Vegas Golden Knights

VGK skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Jonathan Marchessault R	L1	0	0	0	0	8	1.11	1	0	0	22:39	—	—	67	78
Reilly Smith R	L1	1	0	1	0	5	0.63	1	0	0	22:28	—	—	71	80
William Karlsson C	L1	0	1	1	0	3	0.42	0	0	0	20:56	—	—	66	78
Nicolas Roy C	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.36	1	1	0	16:54	—	—	48	67
William Carrier L	L2	0	0	0	0	2	0.50	2	0	0	14:33	—	—	57	77
Keegan Kolesar R	L2	0	0	0	0	3	0.26	4	0	2	10:24	—	—	58	78
Mark Stone R	L3	0	0	0	+1	5	0.66	1	0	0	22:41	—	—	50	61
Chandler Stephenson C	L3	1	0	1	+1	1	0.29	0	0	0	21:20	—	—	52	58
Phil Kessel R	L3	0	0	0	-2	1	0.06	0	0	0	8:33	—	—	11	2
Michael Amadio R	L4	0	1	1	0	2	0.15	0	0	0	13:34	—	—	55	65
Jonas Rondbjerg R	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0	0	8:34	—	—	33	10
Jake Leschyshyn C	L4	0	0	0	-1	1	0.01	0	0	0	6:29	—	—	46	61
Alex Pietrangelo D	D1	0	1	1	+1	4	0.23	1	1	0	28:43	—	—	61	71
Alec Martinez D	D1	0	1	1	-1	3	0.09	1	1	0	20:07	—	—	55	67
Daniil Miromanov D	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	2	0	17:28	—	—	38	59
Brayden McNabb D	D2	0	0	0	0	2	0.06	1	2	0	17:25	—	—	58	80
Nicolas Hague D	D3	0	0	0	-2	0	0.05	0	1	0	14:46	—	—	65	72
Ben Hutton D	D3	0	0	0	-1	2	0.07	0	1	0	12:58	—	—	56	58

VGK goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Adin Hill(start)	L	18	15	3	.833	1.59	57:28

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.