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Ice Lab

Mon, Mar 15, 2021·KeyBank Center, Buffalo

Washington Capitals 6, Buffalo Sabres 0

Expected result

Based on shot quality alone, Buffalo Sabres win this game 52% of the time.

BUF winsWSH wins

By period

Goals and shots on goal in each period.

TeamP1P2P3Total
WSH11331126630
BUF0207014023

Goals, with shots on goal in grey.

Scoring

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

  1. P1 18:46WSHEvgeny KuznetsovGWGAssists: Justin Schultz, Conor Sheary · Wrist, 0.01 xG1–0
  2. P2 2:41WSHNicklas BackstromAssists: T.J. Oshie, Nick Jensen · Wrist, 0.18 xG2–0
  3. P2 5:59WSHRichard PanikAssists: Dmitry Orlov · Slap, 0.06 xG3–0
  4. P2 15:07WSHDaniel SprongAssists: Nick Jensen · Snap, 0.18 xG4–0
  5. P3 6:46WSHGarnet HathawayAssists: Justin Schultz, Carl Hagelin · Tip-in, 0.12 xG5–0
  6. P3 16:21WSHAlex OvechkinAssists: Conor Sheary · Snap, 0.13 xG6–0
Penalties (3)
  1. P1 16:43BUFRasmus Dahlin: Hooking2 min
  2. P3 7:17BUFTaylor Hall: Hooking2 min
  3. P3 12:48WSHDmitry Orlov: Holding2 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.

WSH00 SOG · 0.0 xG

20:00

P1

0.0 xG · 0 SOG0BUF
46% to win54% to win
← WSH attackBUF attack →
  1. P1 20:00Backstrom won the faceoff against Staal
  • Goal
  • Shot
  • Miss
  • Block
  • Hit
  • Takeaway
  • Giveaway
  • Faceoff
  • Penalty

The numbers

Team totals, side by side.

WSHBUF
30Shots on goal23
2.0Expected goals2.2
49Shot attempts49
24Faceoffs won19
2Power plays1
2Penalty minutes4
5Hits9
14Blocked shots9
9Giveaways5
4Takeaways7

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.

Washington Capitals

Forward lines

  1. bestHagelin – Dowd – Hathaway10:19

    xG 0.34–0.01 (98%)attempts 9–9goals 1–0

  2. Panik – Kuznetsov – Sheary3:27

    xG 0.11–0.00 (100%)attempts 2–0goals 0–0

  3. Kuznetsov – Vrana – Sprong11:22

    xG 0.31–0.47 (40%)attempts 7–11goals 1–0

  4. Ovechkin – Oshie – Backstrom12:35

    xG 0.40–0.57 (41%)attempts 12–12goals 1–0

Defence pairs

  1. bestSchultz – Orlov11:45

    xG 0.51–0.09 (85%)attempts 11–4goals 2–0

  2. Chara – Jensen14:17

    xG 0.48–0.28 (63%)attempts 12–11goals 1–0

  3. Dillon – van Riemsdyk2:20

    xG 0.00–0.08 (0%)attempts 0–4goals 0–0

Buffalo Sabres

Forward lines

  1. bestSheahan – Hall – Thompson12:22

    xG 0.90–0.12 (88%)attempts 19–6goals 0–0

  2. Skinner – Lazar – Mittelstadt8:20

    xG 0.51–0.21 (70%)attempts 7–6goals 0–1

  3. Okposo – Rieder – Asplund12:01

    xG 0.45–0.43 (51%)attempts 9–13goals 0–0

  4. Staal – Reinhart – Olofsson13:09

    xG 0.16–0.80 (17%)attempts 8–10goals 0–3

Defence pairs

  1. bestIrwin – Montour15:29

    xG 0.96–0.42 (69%)attempts 20–10goals 0–2

  2. Ristolainen – Bryson16:46

    xG 0.17–0.38 (30%)attempts 6–14goals 0–1

  3. Miller – Dahlin18:05

    xG 0.49–0.87 (36%)attempts 14–16goals 0–2

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 2.2 xGWSH 2.0 xG
00.511.52P1P2P3EndxG

Tempo: attempts, hits and takeaways per minute

BUFWSH

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 WSH. Dots are goals.

Excitement 4/100 · #816 of 868 this seasonSwing 0.58 · 3 goals in reachComeback index 46% (winner's lowest chance)
WSH 100%5050%50BUF 100%P1P2P3EndBiggest swing +20 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 52% of the time.

BUF winsWSH wins

Simulated goal difference (BUF − WSH), 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).