Buffalo Sabres vs. Minnesota WildMar 22, 2025

FinalSaturday, Mar 22, 2025· Xcel Energy Center

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
BUF	0	0	1	1		BUF	8	6	7	21
MIN	0	3	1	4		MIN	6	10	5	21

: BUF 56MIN 44
: BUF 2.00MIN 3.29
PP goals: BUF 0MIN 0
Hits: BUF 20MIN 20
Blocks: BUF 12MIN 18
PIM: BUF 6MIN 6
: BUF 45%MIN 55%

Fantasy takeaways

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

Minnesota Wild beat Buffalo Sabres 4–1

Minnesota Wild beat Buffalo Sabres 4–1 at home. Mats Zuccarello (MIN) led the scoring with 1G 1A. New look for BUF: Zucker–Tuch–Greenway skated 8:02 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (41.7% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

Points
Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 3 shots in 20:15.Zuccarello
Points
Matt Boldy had 2 assists (2 points) on 4 shots in 19:17.Boldy
New line
New look for BUF: Zucker–Tuch–Greenway skated 8:02 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (41.7% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Zucker Tuch Greenway
Usage
JJ Peterka (BUF) played 23:41, +5:34 up on his 18:07 season average over 76 games.Peterka
Usage
Justin Brazeau (MIN) played 7:36, −4:19 down on his 11:55 season average over 75 games.Brazeau
Usage
Ryan McLeod (BUF) played 22:42, +5:57 up on his 16:45 season average over 78 games.McLeod
Usage
Zach Benson (BUF) played 10:52, −4:00 down on his 14:52 season average over 74 games.Benson
Usage
Mattias Samuelsson (BUF) played 16:01, −3:20 down on his 19:21 season average over 61 games.Samuelsson

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)MIN attacks right (top on phones) →

MIN
BUF
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 100 of 100 attempts · MIN 44 · BUF 56

Game flow

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

Cumulative shot attempts

MIN
BUF
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

MIN 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, MIN 37%.

Shift chart

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

Shifts

MIN

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	MIN
	49	48
	1.26	2.09
	1.23	2.02
	5	11
	4	5
	11	29
	−0.040	+0.040
	32%	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

L1Thompson – McLeod – Peterka
13:5555% CF
L2Zucker – Tuch – Greenway
8:0242% CF
L3Lafferty – Malenstyn – Kozak
4:5944% CF
D1Samuelsson – Dahlin
8:0073% CF
D2Clifton – Bryson
7:4415% CF
D3Byram – Power
7:2069% CF

PP1Zucker – Tuch – Thompson – Dahlin – Peterka
2:16100% CF
PP2McLeod – Krebs – Byram – Power – Benson
1:31100% CF
PK1FGreenway – McLeod
2:19
PK2FTuch – Malenstyn
1:10
PK1DClifton – Samuelsson
2:19
PK2DBryson – Byram
1:20

Current BUF line combinations →

Minnesota Wild

L1Zuccarello – Boldy – Rossi
11:1954% CF
L2Hinostroza – Hartman – Trenin
10:5639% CF
L3Nyquist – Johansson – Gaudreau
8:0445% CF
L4Gaunce – Shore – Brazeau
6:1943% CF
D1Spurgeon – Brodin
15:4162% CF
D2Middleton – Faber
14:4638% CF
D3Bogosian – Merrill
10:3250% CF

PP1Zuccarello – Hartman – Boldy – Rossi – Faber
2:3250% CF
PP2Nyquist – Spurgeon – Johansson – Hinostroza – Gaudreau
1:12
PK1FNyquist – Gaudreau
2:33
PK2FTrenin – Boldy
1:11
PK1DMiddleton – Faber
2:08
PK2DBogosian – Spurgeon
1:36

Current MIN line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

2nd period

0:56
MINMarco Rossi (Yakov Trenin, Vinnie Hinostroza)wrist0.19 xG
BUF: Thompson, McLeod, Byram, Peterka, PowerMIN: Hinostroza, Middleton, Trenin, Rossi, Faber
BUF 0 – 1 MIN
5:07
MINJustin Brazeau (Brendan Gaunce, Matt Boldy)deflected0.70 xG
BUF: Tuch, Malenstyn, Bryson, Dahlin, KozakMIN: Bogosian, Zuccarello, Gaunce, Brazeau, Boldy, Faber
BUF 0 – 2 MIN
8:11
MINMats Zuccarello (Matt Boldy, Zach Bogosian)wrist0.14 xG
BUF: Clifton, Thompson, Bryson, McLeod, PeterkaMIN: Spurgeon, Zuccarello, Brodin, Boldy, Rossi
BUF 0 – 3 MIN

3rd period

6:48
BUFJJ Peterka (Owen Power, Rasmus Dahlin)wrist0.13 xG
BUF: Thompson, Dahlin, Peterka, PowerMIN: Spurgeon, Zuccarello, Brodin, Rossi
BUF 1 – 3 MIN
19:27
MINFrederick GaudreauEN (Mats Zuccarello, Jonas Brodin)wrist0.69 xG
BUF: Tuch, Thompson, McLeod, Dahlin, Byram, PeterkaMIN: Spurgeon, Zuccarello, Brodin, Gaudreau, Boldy
BUF 1 – 4 MIN

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
JJ Peterka R	L1	1	0	1	-2	1	0.13	0	0	0	23:41	—	—	54	29
Ryan McLeod C	L1	0	0	0	-3	1	0.45	0	0	0	22:42	—	—	55	28
Tage Thompson C	L1	0	0	0	-2	3	0.28	0	0	2	21:08	—	—	56	29
Alex Tuch R	L2	0	0	0	-2	1	0.10	2	3	0	19:40	—	—	33	38
Jason Zucker L	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.24	2	0	0	16:44	—	—	44	59
Jordan Greenway L	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.09	4	1	0	16:26	—	—	44	44
Beck Malenstyn L	L3	0	0	0	-1	2	0.20	3	2	0	12:56	—	—	59	46
Tyson Kozak C	L3	0	0	0	-1	0	0.12	1	0	0	11:07	—	—	44	50
Sam Lafferty C	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.01	2	0	0	7:33	—	—	46	71
Rasmus Dahlin D	D1	0	1	1	-1	4	0.14	1	2	2	24:37	—	—	66	33
Mattias Samuelsson D	D1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	16:01	—	—	55	32
Connor Clifton D	D2	0	0	0	-1	0	0.00	0	1	0	12:51	—	—	15	0
Jacob Bryson D	D2	0	0	0	-2	0	0.00	2	1	0	12:09	—	—	13	0
Owen Power D	D3	0	1	1	0	3	0.12	0	0	0	20:46	—	—	67	59
Bowen Byram D	D3	0	0	0	-2	3	0.12	1	2	0	20:03	—	—	52	53
Peyton Krebs C	—	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	15:17	—	—	53	39
Jacob Bernard-Docker D	—	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	2	11:29	—	—	50	44
Zach Benson L	—	0	0	0	0	0	0.02	0	0	0	10:52	—	—	56	53

BUF goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(start)	L	20	17	3	.850	2.60	57:58

Minnesota Wild

MIN skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Mats Zuccarello R	L1	1	1	2	+2	3	0.26	0	1	0	20:15	—	—	57	75
Marco Rossi C	L1	1	0	1	+1	3	0.42	1	0	0	20:09	—	—	59	78
Matt Boldy L	L1	0	2	2	+3	4	0.34	0	2	0	19:17	—	—	55	76
Ryan Hartman R	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	1	0	17:43	—	—	40	42
Vinnie Hinostroza C	L2	0	1	1	+1	1	0.13	3	0	0	14:48	—	—	36	57
Yakov Trenin C	L2	0	1	1	+1	1	0.11	3	1	0	14:21	—	—	41	54
Gustav Nyquist R	L3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	16:11	—	—	36	35
Marcus Johansson L	L3	0	0	0	0	1	0.01	2	0	2	16:04	—	—	56	61
Frederick Gaudreau C	L3	1	0	1	+1	2	0.83	0	0	0	14:32	—	—	43	47
Brendan Gaunce C	L4	0	1	1	+1	1	0.11	3	0	0	9:06	—	—	46	53
Devin Shore C	L4	0	0	0	0	0	0.02	3	0	2	7:56	—	—	55	19
Justin Brazeau R	L4	1	0	1	+1	1	0.70	2	0	0	7:36	—	—	56	57
Jared Spurgeon D	D1	0	0	0	+1	2	0.20	0	2	0	22:07	—	—	59	72
Jonas Brodin D	D1	0	1	1	+1	0	0.00	1	0	2	20:21	—	—	55	67
Brock Faber D	D2	0	0	0	+2	1	0.05	1	3	0	23:55	—	—	39	69
Jake Middleton D	D2	0	0	0	+1	0	0.08	1	4	0	22:43	—	—	37	61
Zach Bogosian D	D3	0	1	1	+1	1	0.01	0	2	0	14:34	—	—	50	53
Jon Merrill D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.02	0	2	0	12:30	—	—	52	36

MIN goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Filip Gustavsson(start)	W	21	20	1	.952	2.00	59:52

Goal anatomy

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

Marco Rossi (MIN) 2nd 0:56 · assists Yakov Trenin, Vinnie Hinostroza · Dump and chase · dumped in · 2-on-1 at the blue line · 53.4 mph shot · 5.5 s from entry to goal.

Marco Rossi · 2nd 0:56 · MIN

Play: dump-and-chase
Entry: dump
Odd man: 2-on-1
Passes: 1
Shot: 53.4 mph
Distance: 15 ft
Entry to goal: 5.5 s
Type: one-timer

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

Justin Brazeau · 2nd 5:07 · MIN

Play: deflection
Passes: 0
Shot: 12.1 mph
Distance: 4 ft
Type: rebound

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

Mats Zuccarello · 2nd 8:11 · MIN

Play: odd-man-rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: 3-on-2
Passes: 0
Shot: 69.1 mph
Distance: 29 ft
Entry to goal: 2.9 s

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

JJ Peterka · 3rd 6:48 · BUF

Play: rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 1
Shot: 71.3 mph
Distance: 30 ft
Entry to goal: 2.9 s

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

Frederick Gaudreau · 3rd 19:27 · MIN EN

Play: point-shot
Passes: 1
Shot: 30.1 mph
Distance: 79 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.