Buffalo Sabres vs. Pittsburgh PenguinsMar 25, 2021

FinalThursday, Mar 25, 2021· PPG Paints Arena

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	0	0	0		BUF	15	5	16	36
PIT	1	1	2	4		PIT	12	9	10	31

: BUF 67PIT 59
: BUF 3.37PIT 3.84
PP goals: BUF 0PIT 2
Hits: BUF 30PIT 23
Blocks: BUF 15PIT 15
PIM: BUF 8PIT 8
: BUF 43%PIT 57%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Pittsburgh Penguins rout Buffalo Sabres 4–0

Pittsburgh Penguins beat Buffalo Sabres 4–0 at home. Sidney Crosby (PIT) led the scoring with 0G 3A. PIT's first power-play unit (Crosby, Letang, Rust, Guentzel and McCann) scored 2 power-play goals on 7 attempts in 3:33 together.

Points
Sidney Crosby had 3 assists (3 points) on 2 shots in 20:52.Crosby
Points
Jared McCann had two goals (2 points) on 5 shots in 12:20.McCann
Points
Kris Letang had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 24:46.Letang
PP1
PIT's first power-play unit (Crosby, Letang, Rust, Guentzel and McCann) scored 2 power-play goals on 7 attempts in 3:33 together.Crosby Letang Rust Guentzel McCann
Luck
BUF scored 0 goals on 3.37 expected goals (67 attempts), well short of its chances.
Goalie
Casey DeSmith (PIT) faced 36 shots and stopped 36 (.1000), +9 against a season average of 27.1; the win.DeSmith
New line
New look for BUF: Eakin–Fogarty–Smith skated 6:47 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (40% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Eakin Fogarty Smith
New line
New look for PIT: Gaudreau–Angello–Zohorna skated 6:00 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (88.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Gaudreau Angello Zohorna

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)PIT attacks right (top on phones) →

PIT
BUF
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 126 of 126 attempts · PIT 59 · BUF 67

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

PIT
BUF
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

PIT 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 32% of the game, PIT 38%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

PIT

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	PIT
	61	53
	3.06	2.17
	2.69	1.98
	14	7
	7	14
	11	23
	−0.031	+0.031
	32%	38%

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 – Hall – Reinhart
13:1771% CF
L2Sheahan – Olofsson – Cozens
8:0755% CF
L3Skinner – Lazar – Mittelstadt
7:2638% CF
L4Eakin – Fogarty – Smith
6:4740% CF
D1Ristolainen – Bryson
11:4470% CF
D2Jokiharju – Dahlin
11:1163% CF
D3Miller – Montour
10:3936% CF

PP1Hall – Reinhart – Olofsson – Mittelstadt – Dahlin
4:03100% CF
PP2Staal – Skinner – Miller – Ristolainen – Cozens
2:11100% CF
PK1FSheahan – Lazar
2:52
PK2FEakin – Mittelstadt
1:22
PK1DRistolainen – Bryson
1:43
PK2DMiller – Montour
1:11

Current BUF line combinations →

Pittsburgh Penguins

L1Crosby – Rust – Guentzel
14:3645% CF
L2Sceviour – Jankowski – Lafferty
11:1423% CF
L3McCann – Rodrigues – Aston-Reese
8:3074% CF
L4Gaudreau – Angello – Zohorna
6:0089% CF
D1Letang – Dumoulin
15:2832% CF
D2Pettersson – Marino
15:0957% CF
D3Matheson – Ceci
9:4160% CF

PP1Crosby – Letang – Rust – Guentzel – McCann
3:33100% CF
PP2Matheson – Angello – Marino – Rodrigues – Zohorna
1:27100% CF
PK1FGaudreau – Aston-Reese
2:49
PK2FSceviour – Jankowski
1:13
PK1DDumoulin – Ceci
5:11
PK2DLetang – Marino
1:24

Current PIT 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	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Taylor Hall L	L1	0	2	0.19	2	0	0	21:54	—	—	68	86
Sam Reinhart C	L1	0	5	0.58	0	1	0	21:37	—	—	68	83
Eric Staal C	L1	0	4	1.15	2	0	0	19:14	—	—	68	87
Victor Olofsson L	L2	-1	4	0.20	2	0	0	15:24	—	—	55	65
Riley Sheahan C	L2	-1	1	0.02	1	1	2	15:11	—	—	44	47
Dylan Cozens C	L2	0	1	0.21	1	1	2	14:41	—	—	52	57
Casey Mittelstadt C	L3	-2	1	0.01	0	0	0	16:25	—	—	38	22
Curtis Lazar C	L3	-1	2	0.08	3	0	0	14:03	—	—	38	23
Jeff Skinner L	L3	-2	2	0.06	0	0	0	12:49	—	—	48	29
Cody Eakin C	L4	0	1	0.17	3	0	0	11:04	—	—	36	6
Steven Fogarty C	L4	0	0	0.00	1	1	2	10:36	—	—	36	7
C.J. Smith L	L4	0	0	0.00	3	0	0	7:57	—	—	29	6
Rasmus Ristolainen D	D1	0	4	0.10	3	0	0	22:03	—	—	63	46
Jacob Bryson D	D1	0	2	0.22	0	4	2	18:04	—	—	59	56
Rasmus Dahlin D	D2	-2	5	0.34	0	2	0	23:29	—	—	57	69
Henri Jokiharju D	D2	-2	1	0.01	1	0	0	14:57	—	—	60	76
Colin Miller D	D3	0	0	0.00	4	3	0	18:32	—	—	43	50
Brandon Montour D	D3	0	1	0.02	4	2	0	17:49	—	—	32	27

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Dustin Tokarski(start)	L	30	27	3	.900	2.30	58:37

Pittsburgh Penguins

PIT skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Bryan Rust R	L1	0	1	1	+1	3	0.30	1	1	0	21:35	—	—	43	30
Sidney Crosby C	L1	0	3	3	+1	2	0.16	2	2	2	20:52	—	—	42	31
Jake Guentzel C	L1	1	0	1	+1	4	0.67	0	0	0	20:06	—	—	43	30
Colton Sceviour C	L2	0	0	0	0	2	0.07	2	1	0	14:59	—	—	21	20
Mark Jankowski L	L2	0	0	0	0	2	0.12	2	1	0	14:51	—	—	20	21
Sam Lafferty C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	2	1	0	12:40	—	—	23	21
Zachary Aston-Reese L	L3	0	0	0	0	3	0.23	3	0	2	14:12	—	—	64	74
Evan Rodrigues C	L3	0	0	0	0	2	0.05	0	0	0	13:53	—	—	64	64
Jared McCann L	L3	2	0	2	0	5	1.57	0	0	0	12:20	—	—	70	81
Frederick Gaudreau C	L4	0	1	1	+1	1	0.00	0	0	0	12:51	—	—	69	59
Radim Zohorna L	L4	1	0	1	+1	2	0.35	2	0	0	8:35	—	—	82	84
Anthony Angello C	L4	0	1	1	+1	0	0.01	2	0	2	8:15	—	—	89	89
Kris Letang D	D1	0	2	2	0	1	0.04	1	3	0	24:46	—	—	34	25
Brian Dumoulin D	D1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	4	0	23:31	—	—	30	16
John Marino D	D2	0	0	0	+1	1	0.18	1	1	0	21:32	—	—	55	45
Marcus Pettersson D	D2	0	0	0	0	0	0.02	2	0	0	16:20	—	—	58	44
Cody Ceci D	D3	0	0	0	+2	1	0.00	1	1	0	18:01	—	—	56	62
Mike Matheson D	D3	0	0	0	+1	2	0.06	1	0	2	13:52	—	—	59	65

PIT goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Casey DeSmith(start)	W	36	36	0	.1000	3.37	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. Pittsburgh PenguinsMar 25, 2021

Fantasy takeaways

Pittsburgh Penguins rout Buffalo Sabres 4–0

Shot map

Shot map

Game flow

Cumulative shot attempts

Shift chart

Shifts

Sequence card

Lines used

Buffalo Sabres

Pittsburgh Penguins

Scoring summary

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Box score

Buffalo Sabres

Pittsburgh Penguins