Buffalo Sabres vs. Pittsburgh PenguinsMay 8, 2021

FinalSaturday, May 8, 2021· PPG Paints Arena

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	0	0	0		BUF	11	13	5	29
PIT	0	1	0	1		PIT	3	6	14	23

: BUF 44PIT 38
: BUF 2.23PIT 2.05
PP goals: BUF 0PIT 0
Hits: BUF 23PIT 23
Blocks: BUF 8PIT 7
PIM: BUF 4PIT 2
: BUF 49%PIT 51%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Pittsburgh Penguins edge Buffalo Sabres 1–0

Pittsburgh Penguins beat Buffalo Sabres 1–0 at home. Jeff Carter (PIT) led the scoring with 1G 0A. BUF scored 0 goals on 2.23 expected goals (44 attempts), well short of its chances.

Luck
BUF scored 0 goals on 2.23 expected goals (44 attempts), well short of its chances.
Usage
Anders Bjork (BUF) played 20:17, +6:33 up on his 13:44 season average over 44 games.Bjork
Usage
Arttu Ruotsalainen (BUF) played 9:36, −4:39 down on his 14:15 season average over 16 games.Ruotsalainen
Usage
Evgeni Malkin (PIT) played 13:58, −3:54 down on his 17:52 season average over 32 games.Malkin
Usage
Rasmus Ristolainen (BUF) played 18:21, −4:00 down on his 22:21 season average over 48 games.Ristolainen
Usage
Zachary Aston-Reese (PIT) played 11:30, −3:12 down on his 14:42 season average over 44 games.Aston-Reese

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 82 of 82 attempts · PIT 38 · BUF 44

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 28% of the game, PIT 39%.

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
	43	41
	1.90	2.21
	1.74	2.08
	10	10
	7	2
	17	24
	−0.002	+0.002
	28%	39%

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 – Bjork – Olofsson
12:2054% CF
L2Asplund – Thompson – Mittelstadt
12:1050% CF
L3Sheahan – Murray – Caggiula
7:5343% CF
L4Skinner – Cozens – Ruotsalainen
7:3962% CF
D1Jokiharju – Dahlin
17:2561% CF
D2Ristolainen – Samuelsson
13:3343% CF
D3Miller – Bryson
13:2842% CF

PP1Reinhart – Olofsson – Mittelstadt – Dahlin – Cozens
1:25100% CF
PP2Skinner – Ristolainen – Thompson – Dahlin – Ruotsalainen
0:35
PK1FSheahan – Bjork
1:57
PK2FAsplund – Caggiula
1:11
PK1DJokiharju – Bryson
1:37
PK2DMiller – Samuelsson
1:02

Current BUF line combinations →

Pittsburgh Penguins

L1Crosby – Rust – Guentzel
16:0333% CF
L2Malkin – Zucker – Kapanen
11:4462% CF
L3Carter – Gaudreau – McCann
9:2353% CF
L4Sceviour – Blueger – Aston-Reese
7:5167% CF
D1Letang – Dumoulin
15:5841% CF
D2Pettersson – Marino
13:3969% CF
D3Ceci – Ruhwedel
11:3865% CF

PP1Malkin – Crosby – Letang – Rust – Guentzel
2:20100% CF
PP2Carter – Zucker – Kapanen – Pettersson – Marino
1:32100% CF
PK1FBlueger – Aston-Reese
1:12
PK2FCarter – Sceviour
0:48
PK1DDumoulin – Ceci
1:12
PK2DLetang – Marino
0:48

Current PIT line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

2nd period

1:58
PITJeff Carter (Frederick Gaudreau)wrist0.23 xG
BUF: Miller, Reinhart, Bjork, Caggiula, JokiharjuPIT: Carter, Gaudreau, McCann, Pettersson, Marino
BUF 0 – 1 PIT

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
Anders Bjork L	L1	-1	2	0.21	1	0	0	20:17	—	—	53	48
Sam Reinhart C	L1	-1	1	0.13	0	0	0	19:56	—	—	44	31
Victor Olofsson L	L1	0	2	0.22	0	0	0	18:30	—	—	57	52
Casey Mittelstadt C	L2	0	1	0.26	0	0	0	17:52	—	—	53	44
Rasmus Asplund C	L2	0	2	0.18	1	0	0	15:31	—	—	39	39
Tage Thompson C	L2	0	2	0.05	0	0	0	15:20	—	—	48	55
Riley Sheahan C	L3	0	3	0.08	0	0	0	13:55	—	—	44	78
Drake Caggiula L	L3	-1	2	0.33	1	0	0	13:48	—	—	45	50
Brett Murray L	L3	0	0	0.00	2	1	0	10:05	—	—	53	70
Jeff Skinner L	L4	0	2	0.02	1	0	0	12:40	—	—	65	42
Dylan Cozens C	L4	0	1	0.07	0	0	0	11:37	—	—	53	31
Arttu Ruotsalainen C	L4	0	3	0.31	0	0	0	9:36	—	—	69	45
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	2	0.11	2	0	0	24:18	—	—	60	65
Henri Jokiharju D	D1	-1	0	0.07	2	3	0	21:02	—	—	60	57
Mattias Samuelsson D	D2	0	2	0.03	5	1	2	18:28	—	—	50	32
Rasmus Ristolainen D	D2	0	1	0.06	3	2	2	18:21	—	—	44	19
Jacob Bryson D	D3	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	18:35	—	—	45	56
Colin Miller D	D3	-1	3	0.11	3	1	0	18:07	—	—	48	51

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Michael Houser(start)	L	23	22	1	.957	2.05	58:02

Pittsburgh Penguins

PIT skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Jake Guentzel C	L1	0	0	0	0	3	0.30	1	0	0	20:36	—	—	32	36
Sidney Crosby C	L1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	3	0	0	20:31	—	—	36	45
Bryan Rust R	L1	0	0	0	0	0	0.06	0	2	0	20:05	—	—	32	36
Jason Zucker L	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.04	0	0	0	16:17	—	—	64	52
Kasperi Kapanen R	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	16:09	—	—	60	50
Evgeni Malkin C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.06	0	0	0	13:58	—	—	57	34
Jeff Carter C	L3	1	0	1	+1	3	0.28	0	0	0	14:34	—	—	50	56
Jared McCann L	L3	0	0	0	+1	3	0.27	1	0	2	13:53	—	—	46	46
Frederick Gaudreau C	L3	0	1	1	+1	0	0.14	0	0	0	11:46	—	—	56	57
Teddy Blueger C	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.41	0	0	0	12:27	—	—	56	73
Zachary Aston-Reese L	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.15	5	0	0	11:30	—	—	53	72
Colton Sceviour C	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	1	0	9:33	—	—	67	95
Kris Letang D	D1	0	0	0	0	2	0.07	1	2	0	25:59	—	—	34	34
Brian Dumoulin D	D1	0	0	0	0	2	0.06	4	0	0	23:10	—	—	39	32
John Marino D	D2	0	0	0	+1	2	0.09	2	0	0	18:59	—	—	68	88
Marcus Pettersson D	D2	0	0	0	+1	1	0.06	0	1	0	17:40	—	—	58	90
Cody Ceci D	D3	0	0	0	0	2	0.03	1	1	0	18:08	—	—	46	33
Chad Ruhwedel D	D3	0	0	0	0	2	0.04	4	0	0	12:45	—	—	61	49

PIT goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Maxime Lagace(start)	W	29	29	0	.1000	2.23	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.