Buffalo Sabres vs. Dallas StarsDec 31, 2024

FinalTuesday, Dec 31, 2024· American Airlines Center

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	1	1	2		BUF	8	10	5	23
DAL	0	1	3	4		DAL	12	10	11	33

: BUF 48DAL 71
: BUF 2.70DAL 4.80
PP goals: BUF 0DAL 0
Hits: BUF 23DAL 10
Blocks: BUF 17DAL 11
PIM: BUF 2DAL 0
: BUF 27%DAL 73%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Dallas Stars beat Buffalo Sabres 4–2

Dallas Stars beat Buffalo Sabres 4–2 at home. Jason Robertson (DAL) led the scoring with 1G 2A. Ryan McLeod (BUF) played 12:14, −4:39 down on his 16:53 season average over 78 games.

Points
Jason Robertson had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 2 shots in 15:15.Robertson
Points
Thomas Harley had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 19:59.Harley
Usage
Ryan McLeod (BUF) played 12:14, −4:39 down on his 16:53 season average over 78 games.McLeod
Usage
Thomas Harley (DAL) played 19:59, −3:27 down on his 23:26 season average over 77 games.Harley
Usage
Jamie Benn (DAL) played 19:02, +3:47 up on his 15:15 season average over 79 games.Benn
Usage
Matt Duchene (DAL) played 20:47, +3:41 up on his 17:06 season average over 81 games.Duchene
Usage
Oskar Bäck (DAL) played 15:07, +3:28 up on his 11:39 season average over 72 games.Bäck
Luck
Jamie Benn (DAL) generated 1.07 xG on 9 attempts without scoring; the chances were there.Benn

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)DAL attacks right (top on phones) →

DAL
BUF
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 119 of 119 attempts · DAL 71 · BUF 48

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

DAL
BUF
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

DAL 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 14% of the game, DAL 49%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

DAL

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	DAL
	53	76
	2.95	4.02
	2.84	3.81
	13	19
	6	6
	22	18
	−0.137	+0.137
	14%	49%

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 – Tuch – Thompson
12:3838% CF
L2Cozens – Quinn – Peterka
11:5045% CF
L3Krebs – Kulich – Benson
11:0862% CF
L4Lafferty – Malenstyn – McLeod
7:5743% CF
D1Dahlin – Byram
18:3744% CF
D2Samuelsson – Power
18:0141% CF
D3Clifton – Bryson
11:3732% CF

PK1FTuch – McLeod
1:16
PK2FMalenstyn – Krebs
0:26
PK1DBryson – Power
0:56
PK2DSamuelsson – Byram
0:46

Current BUF line combinations →

Dallas Stars

L1Benn – Duchene – Johnston
15:1465% CF
L2Bäck – Bourque – Stankoven
10:1850% CF
L3Dadonov – Hintz – Robertson
9:2267% CF
L4Blackwell – Steel – Hryckowian
5:3329% CF
D1Heiskanen – Lyubushkin
15:2056% CF
D2Lindell – Lundkvist
14:2555% CF
D3Dumba – Harley
13:2267% CF

PP1Benn – Hintz – Robertson – Heiskanen – Johnston
1:39100% CF
PP2Dadonov – Duchene – Lindell – Harley – Stankoven
0:17100% CF

Current DAL line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

2nd period

9:49
DALRoope Hintz (Jason Robertson, Thomas Harley)wrist0.07 xG
BUF: Zucker, Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin, ByramDAL: Dadonov, Hintz, Robertson, Heiskanen, Harley
BUF 0 – 1 DAL
10:20
BUFJason Zucker (Tage Thompson, Bowen Byram)snap0.71 xG
BUF: Zucker, Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin, ByramDAL: Dadonov, Hintz, Robertson, Heiskanen, Harley
BUF 1 – 1 DAL

3rd period

2:35
DALJason Robertsonwrist0.22 xG
BUF: Bryson, Dahlin, Cozens, Quinn, PeterkaDAL: Dadonov, Lindell, Hintz, Robertson, Lundkvist
BUF 1 – 2 DAL
4:57
BUFBeck Malenstyn (Sam Lafferty, Ryan McLeod)deflected0.17 xG
BUF: Clifton, Lafferty, Malenstyn, Bryson, McLeodDAL: Dadonov, Hintz, Robertson, Heiskanen, Lyubushkin
BUF 2 – 2 DAL
11:32
DALWyatt Johnston (Thomas Harley)tip-in0.05 xG
BUF: Lafferty, Malenstyn, McLeod, Dahlin, ByramDAL: Benn, Duchene, Heiskanen, Harley, Johnston
BUF 2 – 3 DAL
18:23
DALEsa LindellEN (Jason Robertson, Casey DeSmith)wrist0.36 xG
BUF: Thompson, Samuelsson, Krebs, Cozens, Power, KulichDAL: Lindell, Steel, Robertson, Heiskanen, Stankoven
BUF 2 – 4 DAL

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
Tage Thompson C	L1	0	1	1	-1	1	0.09	0	1	0	18:35	—	—	36	42
Alex Tuch R	L1	0	0	0	0	2	0.16	0	1	0	18:23	—	—	37	43
Jason Zucker L	L1	1	0	1	0	4	0.86	3	0	0	17:04	—	—	37	42
Dylan Cozens C	L2	0	0	0	-2	1	0.10	0	1	0	16:26	—	—	38	16
JJ Peterka R	L2	0	0	0	-1	1	0.17	0	0	0	15:51	—	—	36	14
Jack Quinn R	L2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.03	0	0	0	15:09	—	—	36	13
Peyton Krebs C	L3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.05	2	0	0	15:26	—	—	59	45
Zach Benson L	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.24	1	0	0	14:54	—	—	56	48
Jiri Kulich C	L3	0	0	0	-1	2	0.15	0	0	0	14:50	—	—	61	48
Ryan McLeod C	L4	0	1	1	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	12:14	—	—	33	69
Beck Malenstyn L	L4	1	0	1	0	1	0.17	1	2	0	11:14	—	—	38	83
Sam Lafferty C	L4	0	1	1	0	3	0.35	3	1	0	10:08	—	—	35	83
Bowen Byram D	D1	0	1	1	-1	1	0.09	3	5	0	24:46	—	—	42	53
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	0	0	-2	3	0.06	3	2	0	22:32	—	—	42	52
Owen Power D	D2	0	0	0	-1	2	0.15	0	2	0	21:28	—	—	54	44
Mattias Samuelsson D	D2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.01	2	1	0	21:10	—	—	36	20
Jacob Bryson D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	1	0	15:19	—	—	33	29
Connor Clifton D	D3	0	0	0	+1	1	0.01	5	0	2	14:31	—	—	35	37

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(start)	L	32	29	3	.906	3.77	58:00

Dallas Stars

DAL skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk		PP	SH
Wyatt Johnston C	L1	1	0	1	+1	4	1.24	0	1	21:00	—	—	63	80
Matt Duchene C	L1	0	0	0	+1	3	0.42	0	1	20:47	—	—	67	80
Jamie Benn L	L1	0	0	0	+1	7	1.06	0	0	19:02	—	—	61	75
Logan Stankoven C	L2	0	0	0	+1	4	0.12	1	0	15:54	—	—	59	51
Oskar Bäck C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	15:07	—	—	47	29
Mavrik Bourque C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.04	1	0	13:29	—	—	60	38
Roope Hintz C	L3	1	0	1	0	3	0.60	1	1	15:32	—	—	60	45
Jason Robertson L	L3	1	2	3	+1	2	0.28	1	0	15:15	—	—	63	47
Evgenii Dadonov L	L3	0	0	0	0	2	0.05	0	0	12:41	—	—	58	34
Sam Steel C	L4	0	0	0	+1	0	0.05	2	0	14:54	—	—	38	31
Colin Blackwell C	L4	0	0	0	0	2	0.14	1	0	10:47	—	—	46	45
Justin Hryckowian C	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	2	0	7:30	—	—	33	16
Miro Heiskanen D	D1	0	0	0	+1	1	0.19	0	2	25:09	—	—	60	55
Ilya Lyubushkin D	D1	0	0	0	-1	0	0.02	0	0	17:02	—	—	58	64
Esa Lindell D	D2	1	0	1	+2	3	0.40	0	0	22:00	—	—	56	70
Nils Lundkvist D	D2	0	0	0	+1	0	0.07	0	2	16:37	—	—	57	61
Thomas Harley D	D3	0	2	2	+1	1	0.05	0	1	19:59	—	—	67	42
Mathew Dumba D	D3	0	0	0	0	1	0.05	1	3	17:15	—	—	56	59

DAL goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Casey DeSmith(start)	W	23	21	2	.913	2.70	60:00

Goal anatomy

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

Beck Malenstyn (BUF) 3rd 4:57 · assists Sam Lafferty, Ryan McLeod · Deflection · carried in · 10.2 mph shot · 3.2 s from entry to goal.

Beck Malenstyn · 3rd 4:57 · BUF

Play: deflection
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 0
Shot: 10.2 mph
Distance: 5 ft
Entry to goal: 3.2 s
Type: rebound

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

Roope Hintz · 2nd 9:49 · DAL

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: pass
Odd man: 1-on-0
Passes: 3
Shot: 67.1 mph
Distance: 36 ft
Entry to goal: 3.9 s

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

Jason Zucker · 2nd 10:20 · BUF

Play: rebound
Entry: carry
Odd man: 4-on-2
Passes: 2 (royal road)
Shot: 18.5 mph
Distance: 4 ft
Entry to goal: 7.3 s
Type: rebound

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

Jason Robertson · 3rd 2:35 · DAL

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 60.2 mph
Distance: 24 ft

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

Wyatt Johnston · 3rd 11:32 · DAL

Play: deflection
Entry: loose
Odd man: No
Passes: 1
Shot: 20.4 mph
Distance: 9 ft
Entry to goal: 7.6 s

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

Esa Lindell · 3rd 18:23 · DAL EN

Play: dump-and-chase
Entry: dump
Odd man: 5-on-0
Passes: 0
Shot: 3.0 mph
Distance: 9 ft
Entry to goal: 2.9 s

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.