Buffalo Sabres vs. New York IslandersJan 24, 2026

FinalSaturday, Jan 24, 2026· UBS Arena

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	2	3	5		BUF	6	7	8	21
NYI	0	0	0	0		NYI	13	7	6	26

: BUF 46NYI 54
: BUF 2.49NYI 2.32
PP goals: BUF 0NYI 0
Hits: BUF 16NYI 24
Blocks: BUF 11NYI 13
PIM: BUF 8NYI 6
: BUF 26%NYI 74%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Buffalo Sabres rout New York Islanders 5–0

Buffalo Sabres beat New York Islanders 5–0 at NYI. Jason Zucker (BUF) led the scoring with 2G 0A. New look for NYI: Drouin–Horvat–Heineman skated 10:44 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (56.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

Points
Jason Zucker had two goals (2 points) on 3 shots in 13:44.Zucker
Points
Mattias Samuelsson had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 21:32.Samuelsson
Points
Ryan McLeod had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 18:14.McLeod
New line
New look for NYI: Drouin–Horvat–Heineman skated 10:44 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (56.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Drouin Horvat Heineman
Luck
BUF scored 5 goals on 2.49 expected goals (46 attempts), finishing well above its chances.
Luck
NYI scored 0 goals on 2.32 expected goals (54 attempts), well short of its chances.
Usage
Mathew Barzal (NYI) played 12:45, −8:01 down on his 20:46 season average over 80 games.Barzal
New line
New look for NYI: Cizikas–MacLean–Ritchie skated 9:55 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (42.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Cizikas MacLean Ritchie

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)NYI attacks right (top on phones) →

NYI
BUF
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 100 of 100 attempts · NYI 54 · BUF 46

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

NYI
BUF
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

NYI 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 29% of the game, NYI 37%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

NYI

BUF

goals / penalties

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
Goal
Penalty

Head-to-head matchups

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

Matchup matrix

NYI 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	NYI
	52	48
	2.59	1.94
	2.49	1.88
	13	10
	1	4
	24	19
	−0.144	+0.144
	29%	37%

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

L1Zucker – McLeod – Quinn
9:2145% CF
L2Ostlund – Benson – Helenius
7:3475% CF
L3Tuch – Thompson – Doan
5:5831% CF
L4Malenstyn – Krebs – Kozak
4:4569% CF
D1Samuelsson – Dahlin
11:0443% CF
D2Byram – Power
10:1068% CF
D3Kesselring – Metsa
0:00

PP1Zucker – Thompson – Dahlin – Doan – Ostlund
2:3940% CF
PP2Tuch – McLeod – Byram – Quinn – Benson
1:10
PK1FTuch – McLeod
3:30
PK2FMalenstyn – Benson
1:54
PK1DDahlin – Byram
1:15
PK2DKesselring – Power
0:39

Current BUF line combinations →

New York Islanders

L1Pageau – Holmstrom – Shabanov
10:5054% CF
L2Drouin – Horvat – Heineman
10:4457% CF
L3Cizikas – MacLean – Ritchie
9:5543% CF
L4Lee – Duclair – Barzal
8:1642% CF
D1Pelech – DeAngelo
12:1556% CF
D2Mayfield – Schaefer
11:5458% CF
D3Boqvist – George
10:4229% CF

PP1Drouin – Horvat – Holmstrom – Ritchie – Schaefer
2:54100% CF
PP2Lee – Duclair – DeAngelo – Barzal – Heineman
1:29100% CF
PK1FPageau – Holmstrom
2:00
PK2FCizikas – Horvat
1:17
PK1DMayfield – Pelech
1:39
PK2DDeAngelo – Boqvist
0:24

Current NYI line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

2nd period

0:33
BUFJason Zucker (Jack Quinn, Ryan McLeod)snap0.13 xG
BUF: Zucker, McLeod, Samuelsson, Dahlin, QuinnNYI: Pelech, Drouin, Horvat, DeAngelo, Heineman
BUF 1 – 0 NYI
19:47
BUFTage Thompson (Zach Benson, Mattias Samuelsson)snap0.16 xG
BUF: Thompson, Dahlin, Byram, Kozak, BensonNYI: Lee, Mayfield, Pelech, Duclair, Barzal
BUF 2 – 0 NYI

3rd period

0:25
BUFJason Zucker (Ryan McLeod)snap0.30 xG
BUF: Zucker, McLeod, Samuelsson, Dahlin, QuinnNYI: Pageau, Pelech, DeAngelo, Holmstrom, Shabanov
BUF 3 – 0 NYI
14:02
BUFRasmus DahlinEN (Peyton Krebs)wrist0.33 xG
BUF: Tuch, Samuelsson, Dahlin, Krebs, DoanNYI: Drouin, Horvat, Holmstrom, Heineman, Ritchie, Schaefer
BUF 4 – 0 NYI
14:38
BUFAlex Tuch (Mattias Samuelsson, Michael Kesselring)deflected0.12 xG
BUF: Tuch, Samuelsson, Kesselring, Krebs, DoanNYI: Cizikas, Mayfield, MacLean, George, Ritchie
BUF 5 – 0 NYI

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
Ryan McLeod C	L1	0	2	2	+2	1	0.10	0	0	0	18:14	—	—	45	60
Jason Zucker L	L1	2	0	2	+2	3	0.46	0	2	0	13:44	—	—	46	61
Jack Quinn R	L1	0	1	1	+2	2	0.25	0	0	0	13:12	—	—	41	57
Zach Benson L	L2	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	2	0	2	17:32	—	—	65	65
Noah Ostlund C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.10	0	1	0	16:56	—	—	64	62
Konsta Helenius C	L2	0	0	0	0	2	0.23	2	0	0	11:03	—	—	68	72
Alex Tuch R	L3	1	0	1	+2	1	0.15	0	2	0	17:57	—	—	41	38
Tage Thompson C	L3	1	0	1	+1	3	0.38	2	0	0	17:06	—	—	39	48
Josh Doan R	L3	0	0	0	+2	0	0.00	0	1	0	15:19	—	—	39	41
Peyton Krebs C	L4	0	1	1	+2	0	0.00	2	0	0	12:44	—	—	65	63
Beck Malenstyn L	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	12:26	—	—	56	68
Tyson Kozak C	L4	0	0	0	+1	0	0.00	2	0	0	9:44	—	—	58	74
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	1	0	1	+4	3	0.64	2	0	0	24:44	—	—	45	58
Mattias Samuelsson D	D1	0	2	2	+4	1	0.01	2	1	2	21:32	—	—	50	51
Owen Power D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.02	0	1	0	24:30	—	—	55	64
Bowen Byram D	D2	0	0	0	+1	2	0.10	0	0	0	21:18	—	—	62	70
Michael Kesselring D	D3	0	1	1	+1	1	0.03	0	3	2	13:45	—	—	46	58
Zach Metsa D	D3	0	0	0	0	1	0.00	0	0	0	10:14	—	—	60	16

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Alex Lyon(start)	W	26	26	0	.1000	2.32	60:00

New York Islanders

NYI skaters
Skater	Line	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Simon Holmstrom R	L1	-2	1	0.16	0	0	0	19:51	—	—	50	32
Jean-Gabriel Pageau C	L1	-1	1	0.00	1	1	0	16:58	—	—	57	38
Maxim Shabanov R	L1	-1	1	0.15	1	0	0	14:43	—	—	57	41
Bo Horvat C	L2	-2	4	0.35	2	0	0	19:20	—	—	56	41
Jonathan Drouin L	L2	-2	0	0.04	0	0	0	17:18	—	—	57	40
Emil Heineman L	L2	-2	6	0.40	3	0	0	16:36	—	—	62	45
Calum Ritchie C	L3	-2	3	0.09	3	0	0	15:01	—	—	43	19
Casey Cizikas C	L3	-1	1	0.02	3	2	0	12:43	—	—	47	24
Kyle MacLean C	L3	-1	1	0.03	2	1	0	12:35	—	—	40	25
Mathew Barzal C	L4	-1	0	0.07	0	0	0	12:45	—	—	38	55
Anthony Duclair L	L4	-1	0	0.09	0	4	0	12:15	—	—	36	52
Anders Lee L	L4	-1	3	0.52	1	0	2	11:28	—	—	44	55
Tony DeAngelo D	D1	-2	2	0.18	0	0	0	21:28	—	—	59	47
Adam Pelech D	D1	-3	1	0.02	3	1	0	20:26	—	—	54	41
Matthew Schaefer D	D2	-1	1	0.07	1	1	2	23:14	—	—	62	58
Scott Mayfield D	D2	-2	1	0.06	2	2	2	19:26	—	—	52	42
Adam Boqvist D	D3	0	0	0.07	2	0	0	15:54	—	—	32	31
Isaiah George D	D3	-1	0	0.00	0	1	0	13:56	—	—	27	27

NYI goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
David Rittich(start)	L	20	16	4	.800	2.16	58:03

Goal anatomy

Animated replays from NHL EDGE tracking, with the entry, passes and shot speed for each goal.

Jason Zucker (BUF) 2nd 0:33 · assists Jack Quinn, Ryan McLeod · Rebound · 26.2 mph shot.

Jason Zucker · 2nd 0:33 · BUF

Play: rebound
Passes: 0
Shot: 26.2 mph
Distance: 2 ft
Type: rebound

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Tage Thompson · 2nd 19:47 · BUF

Play: rebound
Entry: carry
Odd man: 3-on-2
Passes: 0
Shot: 20.1 mph
Distance: 5 ft
Entry to goal: 4.4 s
Type: rebound

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Jason Zucker · 3rd 0:25 · BUF

Play: cycle
Passes: 0
Shot: 27.5 mph
Distance: 10 ft

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Alex Tuch · 3rd 14:38 · BUF

Play: deflection
Passes: 2 (royal road)
Shot: 33.5 mph
Distance: 9 ft
Type: deflection

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Rasmus Dahlin · 3rd 14:02 · BUF EN

Play: cycle
Passes: 0
Shot: 19.2 mph
Distance: 25 ft

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

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.