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Ice Lab

Wed, Apr 5, 2017·KeyBank Center, Buffalo

Montréal Canadiens 1, Buffalo Sabres 2

Expected result

Based on shot quality alone, Buffalo Sabres win this game 64% of the time.

BUF winsMTL wins

By period

Goals and shots on goal in each period.

TeamP1P2P3Total
MTL01101219132
BUF1911506230

Goals, with shots on goal in grey.

Scoring

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

  1. P1 6:01BUFRasmus RistolainenAssists: Josh Gorges, Jack Eichel · Slap, 0.02 xG0–1
  2. P2 11:35BUFTyler EnnisGWGAssists: Evander Kane, Ryan O'Reilly · Wrist, 0.23 xG0–2
  3. P3 0:46MTLTomas PlekanecAssists: Alexander Radulov, Paul Byron · Backhand, 0.16 xG1–2
Penalties (1)
  1. P3 10:11BUFRasmus Ristolainen: High sticking2 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.

MTL00 SOG · 0.0 xG

20:00

P1

0.0 xG · 0 SOG0BUF
44% to win56% to win
← MTL attackBUF attack →
  1. P1 20:00Plekanec won the faceoff against Eichel
  • Goal
  • Shot
  • Miss
  • Block
  • Hit
  • Takeaway
  • Giveaway
  • Faceoff
  • Penalty

The numbers

Team totals, side by side.

MTLBUF
32Shots on goal30
2.0Expected goals2.7
53Shot attempts49
28Faceoffs won16
1Power plays0
0Penalty minutes2
9Hits26
8Blocked shots5
15Giveaways9
2Takeaways6

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.

Montréal Canadiens

Forward lines

  1. bestPlekanec – Byron – Gallagher11:16

    xG 0.23–0.15 (61%)attempts 5–9goals 0–1

  2. Shaw – Galchenyuk – Lehkonen11:15

    xG 0.65–0.62 (51%)attempts 9–10goals 0–1

  3. Mitchell – King – Flynn10:58

    xG 0.19–0.40 (33%)attempts 8–7goals 0–0

  4. Radulov – Pacioretty – Danault15:23

    xG 0.54–1.06 (34%)attempts 20–17goals 0–0

Defence pairs

  1. bestMarkov – Petry15:28

    xG 0.73–0.24 (75%)attempts 17–8goals 0–0

  2. Petry – Nesterov2:09

    xG 0.11–0.00 (100%)attempts 5–0goals 0–0

  3. Davidson – Nesterov12:15

    xG 0.53–0.44 (54%)attempts 12–7goals 1–1

Buffalo Sabres

Forward lines

  1. bestFoligno – Reinhart – Eichel8:32

    xG 0.46–0.19 (71%)attempts 11–8goals 1–0

  2. Gionta – O'Reilly – Kane13:35

    xG 0.64–0.43 (60%)attempts 13–13goals 0–0

  3. Moulson – Deslauriers – Girgensons8:25

    xG 0.21–0.22 (49%)attempts 5–8goals 0–0

  4. Moulson – Reinhart – Eichel4:16

    xG 0.10–0.19 (36%)attempts 2–3goals 0–1

Defence pairs

  1. bestGorges – Ristolainen12:29

    xG 0.88–0.39 (69%)attempts 17–12goals 1–0

  2. Kulikov – Ristolainen8:42

    xG 0.30–0.27 (53%)attempts 7–11goals 0–0

  3. Gorges – Bogosian7:23

    xG 0.02–0.01 (59%)attempts 2–1goals 0–0

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.

BUF 2.7 xGMTL 2.0 xG
-0.500.511.522.53P1P2P3EndxG

Tempo: attempts, hits and takeaways per minute

BUFMTL

Win probability

Model-based

How each goal and each minute changed the likely winner.

Win probability

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

Excitement 12/100 · #1068 of 1230 this seasonSwing 0.71 · 3 goals in reachComeback index 55% (winner's lowest chance)
MTL 100%5050%50BUF 100%P1P2P3EndBiggest swing +15 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 64% of the time.

BUF winsMTL wins

Simulated goal difference (BUF − MTL), 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).