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Ice Lab

Thu, Jan 9, 2020·Enterprise Center, St. Louis

Buffalo Sabres 1, St. Louis Blues 5

Expected result

Based on shot quality alone, St. Louis Blues win this game 64% of the time.

STL winsBUF wins

By period

Goals and shots on goal in each period.

TeamP1P2P3Total
BUF071606119
STL21111525531

Goals, with shots on goal in grey.

Scoring

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

  1. P1 4:47STLRobert ThomasAssists: Tyler Bozak, Alexander Steen · Wrist, 0.06 xG0–1
  2. P1 13:29STLTyler BozakGWGAssists: Robert Thomas, Niko Mikkola · Wrist, 0.06 xG0–2
  3. P2 4:22BUFJack EichelAssists: Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Dahlin · Wrist, 0.05 xG1–2
  4. P2 10:17STLDavid PerronPPAssists: Brayden Schenn, Jaden Schwartz · Slap, 0.05 xG1–3
  5. P3 5:36STLAlexander SteenAssists: Robert Thomas, Tyler Bozak · Wrist, 0.12 xG1–4
  6. P3 15:18STLAlexander SteenENAssists: Ryan O'Reilly · Wrist, 0.61 xG1–5
Penalties (4)
  1. P2 9:01BUFRasmus Asplund: High sticking2 min · PPG
  2. P3 9:15STLAlex Pietrangelo: High sticking2 min
  3. P3 14:50STLZachary Sanford: Roughing2 min
  4. P3 14:50BUFRasmus Ristolainen: Roughing2 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 SOG0STL
45% to win55% to win
← BUF attackSTL attack →
  1. P1 20:00Eichel won the faceoff against O'Reilly
  • Goal
  • Shot
  • Miss
  • Block
  • Hit
  • Takeaway
  • Giveaway
  • Faceoff
  • Penalty

The numbers

Team totals, side by side.

BUFSTL
19Shots on goal31
1.6Expected goals2.4
36Shot attempts48
24Faceoffs won30
1Power plays1
4Penalty minutes4
23Hits16
11Blocked shots5
6Giveaways5
13Takeaways11

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. bestJohansson – Reinhart – Eichel3:10

    xG 0.50–0.05 (91%)attempts 5–1goals 0–0

  2. Vesey – Reinhart – Eichel8:27

    xG 0.32–0.11 (75%)attempts 8–4goals 0–0

  3. Vesey – Lazar – Sheary3:05

    xG 0.11–0.02 (82%)attempts 3–2goals 0–0

  4. Reinhart – Eichel – Asplund6:30

    xG 0.16–0.17 (47%)attempts 4–5goals 1–0

Defence pairs

  1. bestMontour – Jokiharju6:52

    xG 0.42–0.12 (78%)attempts 8–3goals 0–1

  2. Ristolainen – Dahlin6:11

    xG 0.25–0.15 (63%)attempts 3–5goals 1–0

  3. Ristolainen – Pilut10:04

    xG 0.37–0.29 (57%)attempts 8–9goals 0–1

St. Louis Blues

Forward lines

  1. bestSchenn – Schwartz – Kyrou12:14

    xG 0.38–0.14 (73%)attempts 12–6goals 0–0

  2. Steen – Bozak – Thomas11:19

    xG 0.39–0.22 (64%)attempts 10–6goals 3–0

  3. Perron – O'Reilly – Sanford13:06

    xG 0.30–0.43 (41%)attempts 10–8goals 0–1

  4. Sundqvist – MacEachern – Barbashev8:30

    xG 0.17–0.55 (23%)attempts 4–8goals 0–0

Defence pairs

  1. bestBortuzzo – Mikkola12:50

    xG 0.53–0.19 (74%)attempts 12–6goals 3–0

  2. Pietrangelo – Dunn18:06

    xG 0.43–0.44 (49%)attempts 15–10goals 0–1

  3. Bouwmeester – Faulk17:44

    xG 0.35–0.86 (29%)attempts 13–14goals 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.

STL 2.4 xGBUF 1.6 xG
00.511.522.5P1P2P3EndxG

Tempo: attempts, hits and takeaways per minute

STLBUF

Win probability

Model-based

How each goal and each minute changed the likely winner.

Win probability

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

Excitement 25/100 · #849 of 1082 this seasonSwing 0.76 · 5 goals in reachComeback index 54% (winner's lowest chance)
BUF 100%5050%50STL 100%P1P2P3EndBiggest swing +14 pts

Did the better team win?

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

Based on shot quality alone, St. Louis Blues win this game 64% of the time.

STL winsBUF wins

Simulated goal difference (STL − 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).