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Ice Lab

Tue, Mar 22, 2011·Centre Bell, Montreal

Buffalo Sabres 2, Montréal Canadiens 0

Expected result

Based on shot quality alone, Buffalo Sabres win this game 61% of the time.

MTL winsBUF wins

By period

Goals and shots on goal in each period.

TeamP1P2P3Total
BUF0811016224
MTL01201009031

Goals, with shots on goal in grey.

Scoring

Every goal, with the change it made to the home team's win probability.

  1. P2 8:56BUFNathan GerbeGWGAssists: Tyler Myers, Andrej Sekera · Tip-in, 0.26 xG1–0
  2. P3 19:38BUFNathan GerbeENUnassisted · Wrist, 0.59 xG2–0
Penalties (7)
  1. P1 5:10BUFBrad Boyes: Tripping2 min
  2. P1 7:50MTLHal Gill: Tripping2 min
  3. P1 11:53MTLP.K. Subban: Interference2 min
  4. P2 2:09MTLPaul Mara: Cross checking2 min
  5. P2 3:13BUFThomas Vanek: Interference goalkeeper2 min
  6. P2 6:00MTLAlexandre Picard: Tripping2 min
  7. P3 7:53MTLJames Wisniewski: Hooking2 min

Replay

Watch the game unfold on the ice: every shot, hit, turnover and faceoff appears as it happened, then fades. Drag the timeline to jump; goals are marked on it.

BUF00 SOG · 0.0 xG

20:00

P1

0.0 xG · 0 SOG0MTL
47% to win53% to win
← BUF attackMTL attack →
  1. P1 20:00Connolly won the faceoff against Gomez
  • Goal
  • Shot
  • Miss
  • Block
  • Hit
  • Takeaway
  • Giveaway
  • Faceoff
  • Penalty

The numbers

Team totals, side by side.

BUFMTL
24Shots on goal31
3.0Expected goals2.5
58Shot attempts52
23Faceoffs won21
5Power plays2
4Penalty minutes10
14Hits23
12Blocked shots17
9Giveaways11
9Takeaways9

Line combinations that worked

Model-based

Each team's forward lines and defence pairs at 5-on-5 (two minutes or more together), best first by expected goals for minus against.

Buffalo Sabres

Forward lines

  1. bestGaustad – Mancari – Gerbe9:34

    xG 0.62–0.23 (73%)attempts 12–9goals 1–0

  2. Niedermayer – Grier – McCormick6:50

    xG 0.07–0.22 (24%)attempts 3–6goals 0–0

  3. Boyes – Stafford – Ennis8:46

    xG 0.15–0.37 (29%)attempts 7–8goals 0–0

  4. Connolly – Pominville – Vanek13:14

    xG 0.11–0.55 (17%)attempts 10–9goals 0–0

Defence pairs

  1. bestSekera – Myers11:06

    xG 0.55–0.49 (53%)attempts 10–9goals 1–0

  2. Leopold – Myers2:21

    xG 0.04–0.00 (100%)attempts 1–0goals 0–0

  3. Leopold – Butler12:24

    xG 0.25–0.26 (49%)attempts 12–8goals 0–0

Montréal Canadiens

Forward lines

  1. bestGomez – Gionta – Moen9:00

    xG 0.44–0.08 (84%)attempts 13–3goals 0–0

  2. Cammalleri – Kostitsyn – Eller7:42

    xG 0.30–0.19 (62%)attempts 5–8goals 0–0

  3. Gomez – Gionta – Cammalleri4:13

    xG 0.20–0.10 (68%)attempts 6–3goals 0–0

  4. Moen – Kostitsyn – Eller5:27

    xG 0.13–0.03 (83%)attempts 4–3goals 0–0

Defence pairs

  1. bestHamrlik – Wisniewski16:04

    xG 0.77–0.41 (65%)attempts 18–13goals 0–0

  2. Gill – Subban14:28

    xG 0.29–0.22 (57%)attempts 11–9goals 0–0

  3. Mara – Picard9:04

    xG 0.13–0.47 (22%)attempts 5–14goals 0–1

How the game flowed

Model-based

Chance quality for each side, minute by minute, with pressure underneath.

Expected goals flow

Running total of expected goals for each team. Steep climbs are spells of pressure; dots are goals. Shaded bands mark power plays (team colour), 4-on-4 or 3-on-3 (grey) and empty nets.

MTL 2.5 xGBUF 3.0 xG
0123P1P2P3EndxG

Tempo: attempts, hits and takeaways per minute

MTLBUF

Win probability

Model-based

How each goal and each minute changed the likely winner.

Win probability

MTL's chance of winning through the game. Above the middle line MTL is favoured, below it BUF. Dots are goals.

Excitement 10/100 · #1075 of 1230 this seasonSwing 0.76 · 2 goals in reachComeback index 47% (winner's lowest chance)
BUF 100%5050%50MTL 100%P1P2P3EndBiggest swing +25 pts

Did the better team win?

Every shot replayed 10,000 times, scoring with its expected-goal probability.

Based on shot quality alone, Buffalo Sabres win this game 61% of the time.

MTL winsBUF wins

Simulated goal difference (MTL − BUF), 10,000 replays

-7
-6
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5
+6
+7

The outlined bar is the actual result (excluding the shootout).