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Ice Lab

Tue, Nov 1, 2016·Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul

Buffalo Sabres 2, Minnesota Wild 1

Expected result

Based on shot quality alone, Minnesota Wild win this game 58% of the time.

MIN winsBUF wins

By period

Goals and shots on goal in each period.

TeamP1P2P3Total
BUF190718224
MIN0611507128

Goals, with shots on goal in grey.

Scoring

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

  1. P1 3:16BUFRyan O'ReillyUnassisted · Wrist, 0.24 xG1–0
  2. P2 17:31MINMikael GranlundPPAssists: Eric Staal, Jason Pominville · Backhand, 0.32 xG1–1
  3. P3 13:34BUFJohan LarssonGWGAssists: Brian Gionta · Tip-in, 0.13 xG2–1
Penalties (2)
  1. P2 16:24BUFJosh Gorges: Slashing2 min · PPG
  2. P3 4:43MINChristoph Bertschy: 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 SOG0MIN
44% to win56% to win
← BUF attackMIN attack →
  1. P1 20:00O'Reilly won the faceoff against Koivu
  • Goal
  • Shot
  • Miss
  • Block
  • Hit
  • Takeaway
  • Giveaway
  • Faceoff
  • Penalty

The numbers

Team totals, side by side.

BUFMIN
24Shots on goal28
1.8Expected goals2.2
41Shot attempts60
31Faceoffs won30
1Power plays1
2Penalty minutes2
24Hits19
18Blocked shots9
2Giveaways4
10Takeaways4

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. bestEnnis – Girgensons – Reinhart10:47

    xG 0.55–0.19 (74%)attempts 13–9goals 0–0

  2. Grant – Bailey – Baptiste6:46

    xG 0.19–0.27 (42%)attempts 7–8goals 0–0

  3. Gionta – Foligno – Larsson10:46

    xG 0.34–0.44 (44%)attempts 3–10goals 1–0

  4. Moulson – Okposo – O'Reilly17:28

    xG 0.45–0.58 (44%)attempts 9–19goals 1–0

Defence pairs

  1. bestFranson – Kulikov3:03

    xG 0.36–0.00 (100%)attempts 3–1goals 1–0

  2. Bogosian – Kulikov5:40

    xG 0.26–0.01 (95%)attempts 4–1goals 0–0

  3. Franson – McCabe9:00

    xG 0.13–0.12 (53%)attempts 9–6goals 0–0

Minnesota Wild

Forward lines

  1. bestStaal – Coyle – Niederreiter14:29

    xG 0.50–0.25 (66%)attempts 14–6goals 0–0

  2. Schroeder – Graovac – Bertschy7:46

    xG 0.42–0.18 (70%)attempts 6–7goals 0–0

  3. Koivu – Pominville – Granlund15:49

    xG 0.46–0.34 (57%)attempts 19–8goals 0–1

  4. Stewart – Zucker – Eriksson Ek10:57

    xG 0.20–0.60 (25%)attempts 9–13goals 0–0

Defence pairs

  1. Suter – Dumba20:34

    xG 0.44–0.42 (51%)attempts 19–18goals 0–0

  2. Suter – Spurgeon4:12

    xG 0.00–0.04 (0%)attempts 3–1goals 0–0

  3. Brodin – Folin14:10

    xG 0.65–0.74 (47%)attempts 21–10goals 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.

MIN 2.2 xGBUF 1.8 xG
00.511.52P1P2P3EndxG

Tempo: attempts, hits and takeaways per minute

MINBUF

Win probability

Model-based

How each goal and each minute changed the likely winner.

Win probability

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

Excitement 30/100 · #822 of 1230 this seasonSwing 1.14 · 3 goals in reachComeback index 44% (winner's lowest chance)
BUF 100%5050%50MIN 100%P1P2P3EndBiggest swing +36 pts

Did the better team win?

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

Based on shot quality alone, Minnesota Wild win this game 58% of the time.

MIN winsBUF wins

Simulated goal difference (MIN − 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).