Buffalo Sabres vs. Dallas StarsDec 31, 2025

FinalWednesday, Dec 31, 2025· American Airlines Center

away

Buffalo SabresBUF

home

Dallas StarsDAL

: BUF —DAL —
PP goals: BUF —DAL —
Hits: BUF 24DAL 15
Blocks: BUF 9DAL 12
PIM: BUF 4DAL 4
: BUF 58%DAL 42%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Buffalo Sabres beat Dallas Stars 4–1

Buffalo Sabres beat Dallas Stars 4–1 at DAL. Tage Thompson (BUF) led the scoring with 2G 1A. Justin Hryckowian (DAL) played 10:10, −3:10 down on his 13:20 season average over 80 games.

Points
Tage Thompson had two goals and an assist (3 points) on 7 shots in 18:45.Thompson
Points
Bowen Byram had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 24:36.Byram
Points
Josh Doan had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 3 shots in 15:27.Doan
Points
Noah Ostlund had 2 assists (2 points) in 12:56.Ostlund
Usage
Justin Hryckowian (DAL) played 10:10, −3:10 down on his 13:20 season average over 80 games.Hryckowian
Usage
Wyatt Johnston (DAL) played 16:59, −3:11 down on his 20:10 season average over 81 games.Johnston
Shots
Jason Robertson (DAL) led everyone with 8 shot on goals without scoring.Robertson

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 28% of the game, DAL 29%.

Head-to-head matchups

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

Matchup matrix

DAL 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	DAL
	64	53
	2.79	3.14
	2.67	3.07
	17	16
	0	2
	13	18
	+0.070	−0.070
	28%	29%

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

L1Thompson – Krebs – Doan
11:4263% CF
L2McLeod – Quinn – Benson
10:4558% CF
L3Tuch – Norris – Ostlund
9:2241% CF
L4Greenway – Malenstyn – Dunne
9:0867% CF
D1Kesselring – Power
8:1853% CF
D2Samuelsson – Dahlin
6:4938% CF
D3Byram – Metsa
3:5225% CF

PP1Thompson – Norris – Dahlin – Doan – Benson
2:0680% CF
PP2Tuch – McLeod – Byram – Quinn – Power
1:5467% CF
PK1FGreenway – Malenstyn
1:55
PK2FTuch – McLeod
1:50
PK1DSamuelsson – Byram
1:50
PK2DKesselring – Power
0:51

Current BUF line combinations →

Dallas Stars

L1Hintz – Robertson – Bourque
10:4083% CF
L2Blackwell – Faksa – Bäck
9:1418% CF
L3Rantanen – Steel – Johnston
5:5547% CF
L4Benn – Duchene – Hryckowian
3:250% CF
D1Lundkvist – Harley
10:0443% CF
D2Lindell – Heiskanen
9:2568% CF
D3Petrovic – Lyubushkin
8:4329% CF

PP1Rantanen – Hintz – Robertson – Heiskanen – Johnston
2:51
PP2Duchene – Rantanen – Robertson – Harley – Bourque
0:31100% CF
PK1FBlackwell – Steel
1:39
PK2FFaksa – Bäck
1:28
PK1DLindell – Heiskanen
2:59
PK2DLyubushkin – Harley
0:54

Current DAL line combinations →

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	2	1	3	+3	7	1	0	2	18:45	—	—	63
Josh Doan R	L1	1	1	2	+2	3	4	0	2	15:27	—	—	65
Peyton Krebs C	L1	0	0	0	+1	2	2	0	0	13:59	—	—	63
Ryan McLeod C	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	16:35	—	—	60
Zach Benson L	L2	0	0	0	+1	1	0	1	0	16:11	—	—	50
Jack Quinn R	L2	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	15:21	—	—	46
Alex Tuch R	L3	0	1	1	+1	2	1	1	0	18:21	—	—	52
Josh Norris C	L3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13:07	—	—	29
Noah Ostlund C	L3	0	2	2	+1	0	0	1	0	12:56	—	—	46
Beck Malenstyn L	L4	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	13:36	—	—	65
Jordan Greenway L	L4	0	0	0	0	1	4	0	0	12:28	—	—	62
Josh Dunne C	L4	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	11:15	—	—	56
Owen Power D	D1	0	1	1	+1	0	0	1	0	24:12	—	—	67
Michael Kesselring D	D1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	12:04	—	—	55
Rasmus Dahlin D	D2	0	0	0	+1	5	0	0	0	24:43	—	—	71
Mattias Samuelsson D	D2	0	0	0	+1	3	1	2	0	22:56	—	—	42
Bowen Byram D	D3	1	1	2	+3	2	3	1	0	24:36	—	—	49
Zach Metsa D	D3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	9:28	—	—	38

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA		TOI
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(start)	W	29	28	1	.966	60:00

Dallas Stars

DAL skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-		Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Jason Robertson L	L1	0	1	1	+1	8	0	0	0	21:16	—	—	68
Roope Hintz C	L1	0	0	0	+1	1	1	0	0	16:32	—	—	71
Mavrik Bourque C	L1	1	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	15:17	—	—	68
Oskar Bäck C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12:54	—	—	27
Colin Blackwell C	L2	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	12:33	—	—	23
Radek Faksa C	L2	0	0	0	0	2	1	1	2	12:33	—	—	20
Mikko Rantanen R	L3	0	0	0	-2	1	1	0	0	20:36	—	—	38
Wyatt Johnston C	L3	0	0	0	-3	1	1	1	0	16:59	—	—	35
Sam Steel C	L3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	13:17	—	—	56
Matt Duchene C	L4	0	0	0	-4	1	0	0	0	15:43	—	—	19
Jamie Benn L	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	0	2	0	11:27	—	—	36
Justin Hryckowian C	L4	0	0	0	-1	0	1	1	2	10:10	—	—	24
Thomas Harley D	D1	0	0	0	-4	2	1	1	0	22:58	—	—	45
Nils Lundkvist D	D1	0	0	0	-1	1	2	1	0	15:53	—	—	41
Miro Heiskanen D	D2	0	1	1	-1	2	0	1	0	24:50	—	—	58
Esa Lindell D	D2	0	0	0	+1	1	0	1	0	22:58	—	—	55
Ilya Lyubushkin D	D3	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	16:37	—	—	30
Alexander Petrovic D	D3	0	0	0	-1	1	4	2	0	13:27	—	—	37

DAL goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA		TOI
Casey DeSmith(start)	L	31	27	4	.871	60:00

Goal anatomy

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

Mavrik Bourque () · unassisted · Deflection · dumped in · 2-on-0 at the blue line · 8.3 mph shot · 8.4 s from entry to goal.

Mavrik Bourque

Play: deflection
Entry: dump
Odd man: 2-on-0
Passes: 2
Shot: 8.3 mph
Distance: 16 ft
Entry to goal: 8.4 s
Type: deflection

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

Josh Doan

Play: cycle
Entry: carry
Odd man: 2-on-0
Passes: 1
Shot: 62.2 mph
Distance: 24 ft
Entry to goal: 9.3 s
Type: one-timer

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

Bowen Byram

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 2-on-1
Passes: 2
Shot: 43.3 mph
Distance: 26 ft
Entry to goal: 2.1 s

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

Tage Thompson

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 12.0 mph
Distance: 6 ft

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

Tage Thompson

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 3-on-2
Passes: 3
Shot: 80.1 mph
Distance: 33 ft
Entry to goal: 2.0 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.