@ STL (Nov 11, 2014)vs TOR (Nov 15, 2014) ›

November 13, 2014

Xcel Energy Center | St. Paul

BUF 36 MIN

FINAL

Head-to-Head vs MIN all-time
1ST2ND3RDT
BUF2013
MIN4116
Shots on goal BUF 28, MIN 39W N. BackstromL J. Enroth
Summary

MIN had more shot attempts in all situations and won 6-3.

IN NET
Buffalo J. Enroth .868
MIN N. Backstrom .962
MIN D. Kuemper .000
POWER PLAY
Buffalo 0 of 2
MIN 2 of 4
TURNING POINT
R. Carter goal (P1 6:07), Sabres win chance drops from 52% to 33%
WIN DNA
2 of 4 winning traits
SHIFTS
Buffalo pinned 1:26 at 5v5 (typical 0:53)
Game Leaders
Z. Girgensons
2 (1G-1A)
POINTS
Z. Girgensons
1.4
GAME SCORE
T. Ennis
4
SHOTS
T. Ennis
19:57
TOI (F)
N. Zadorov
25:17
TOI (D)
J. Enroth
.868 (33/38)
SAVE %

Stats by Period

All situations, by period.

BUFMIN

Shots on goal are counted from the play-by-play, which on a few games sits one shot off the box score line in the header and Team Stats.

Additional per-period stats
Each cell is BUF-MIN.
 1ST2ND3RDTotal
Faceoffs Won11-128-126-725-31
Hits7-58-57-222-12
Takeaways4-42-02-28-6
Giveaways3-20-33-06-5
PDO (5v5): BUF 1.047MIN 0.953. Shooting % plus save %. About 1.000 is neutral.

Game Flow

Running shot attempts for and against, all situations. Shading shows who led.

Tied for only 4 minutes, too few for a score-tied view.

P3 20:00
+41+210-21-41shot attemptsBUFMIN

Dots are goals, navy for Buffalo.

How this is measured

Score-adjusted weights each attempt by how often teams take one in that score state, home or away, at that point of the game, league-wide (2016-17 to 2025-26): the share as if the game were tied at a neutral site. Score-tied counts only attempts while tied, and needs 15 tied minutes and 30 attempts.

Win Probability

Buffalo's chance of winning, from the score, the time left and the strength state.

Opened at 32%.

P3 20:00
100%75%50%25%0%Buffalo win chanceBUFMIN
BIGGEST SWINGS
  1. P1 06:07R. Carter (2) 52% to 33%-19
  2. P1 01:03R. Ristolainen (1) 32% to 50%+18
  3. P1 09:21K. Brodziak (3) 33% to 17%-16
  4. P1 06:24Z. Girgensons (4) 17% to 33%+16

Dots are goals, diamonds penalties, squares a goalie pull; navy for Buffalo.

How this is measured

Each team is expected to score at the league rate for the season, tilted for home ice and scaled for the strength state. The chance Buffalo ends regulation ahead follows from the score and the time left, with a tie going to 3-on-3 overtime and a shootout. The opening value comes from both teams' goals for and against to that date, regressed toward the league average early in a season, plus home ice.

Shot Map

Every shot attempt, to scale.

Replay
P3 19:57
Shot on goal (size = xG)GoalMissed shot×Blocked shot

Win DNA

2 of 4 winning traits showed up tonight. Win rates are over the full 2014–15 regular season (82 games).

Wins (23)Losses (59, 8 in overtime or a shootout)This game
3+ scorersD combined 3+ ptsScored firstDepth goal50%100%
Yes
3+ different scorers
Sabres win 64% when yes, 15% when no
No
Defensemen combined for 3+ points
too few games to split
Yes
Scored first
Sabres win 50% when yes, 11% when no
No
Depth forward scored
Sabres win 52% when yes, 19% when no

Shift Rhythm

Buffalo was pinned for 1:26 at 5v5, well above the typical 0:53 a game, and gave up 2 shot attempts in that time.

Z. Girgensons was out for 1:03 of it, the most on the team.

Buffalo sent skaters back out on short rest 32 times, well above the typical 22 a game.

N. Zadorov went back out on short rest 9 times, once after only 18 seconds on the bench. In a typical game, the busiest skater does it about 4 times.

BUFMINTypical game, 2025–26
Pinned time (5v5)1:260:420:53
Shot attempts against while pinned221
Short-rest shifts321922

When Buffalo was pinned

PeriodClockPinnedSkaters (unbroken play)Attempts againstGA
P118:52 to 18:570:0500
P28:52 to 8:570:0500
P211:34 to 11:560:2200
P219:39 to 20:000:2110
P31:38 to 1:460:0800

When Minnesota was pinned

PeriodClockPinnedSkaters (unbroken play)Attempts againstGA
P26:28 to 6:380:1000
P28:53 to 9:070:1410
P35:37 to 5:390:0200
P313:56 to 14:120:1610
How this is measured

Pinned. A team is pinned when 3 or more of its skaters on the ice are past a minute of unbroken play, at 5v5. A hemmed-in shift is an even-strength shift in which the unit was on for more than 1:00 without a whistle to change on, and stayed at even strength for most of it. A stoppage inside a shift starts the clock over, however it began: what counts is the run of play they could not get off the ice for. Only the time past the minute counts: the first minute of those shifts plays like any other stretch of the game, while past it the play tilts hard toward the end the pinned team is defending (in 2025–26, a pinned team took 24% of the shot attempts; pinned time was 1.9% of all 5v5 play). Pinned time is seconds on the clock, not each skater's seconds added up.

Short rest. An even-strength shift a skater started after less than 45 seconds on the bench, same period only (an intermission is a full rest).

Typical game. The middle value across Buffalo games in the 2025–26 regular season, counting both teams (164 team totals), so it stands in for a league-average game. This season has no measured row yet, so 2025–26 stands in. A sentence at the top only appears when a number is among the highest fifth of those, or when a goal went in while a team was pinned.

Shots at an empty net are left out of every row. None of this says why a goal went in: a unit that cannot change is pinned and tiring at the same time, so these rows describe when the danger came, not what caused it.

Shift by shift

Shift length, in order, for one Buffalo skater this game.

31 shifts, averaging 0:47. 3 hemmed-in, 7 after a short rest, 0:28 pinned.

Replay
Shift 31
Hemmed-in shiftShort rest before itGoal forGoal againstPenalty takenPower playPenalty killPeriod average and middle half of shifts (even strength)
P1avg 0:38P2avg 0:57P3avg 0:450:000:301:001:302:0015101520253031Shift Number

Period averages are even strength only. Typical in 2025–26: 0:45, 0:50 (the long change), 0:47.

Line Combinations

Lines and pairs at 5v5, and how they did together.

What do TOI, CF, xG% etc. mean?
GP
Games in which this exact line/pair shared the ice together at 5v5.
TOI
Time on ice together at 5v5, meaning the whole line/pair on the ice at once, not any one player's own total. Only the seconds that exact pair or trio was the unit count, which is why a pair's TOI and xG% here differ slightly from the WOWY table, where together counts every 5v5 second the two share, whoever else is on the ice.
xGF / xGA
Expected goals for/against while this combo was on the ice, from this site's own xG model.
xG%
Share of on-ice expected goals this combo earned: xGF / (xGF + xGA). The single best read on who controlled play.
GF / GA
Actual goals for/against while this combo was on the ice together.
CF / CA (Corsi For / Against, Shot Attempts)
"Corsi" is just the hockey-analytics name for total shot attempts: shots on goal, missed shots, and blocked shots combined, a volume proxy for who had the puck more. CF is this combo's own attempts, CA is the opponent's.
CF%
Share of on-ice shot attempts (Corsi) this combo earned: CF / (CF + CA).
CF% Rel
This combo's CF% minus the team's own CF% in the minutes this exact combo was NOT on the ice. Positive means the combo lifted the team's play; negative means it dragged it down.
xGF% Rel
This combo's xG% minus the team's own xG% in the minutes this exact combo was NOT on the ice. Positive means the combo lifted the team's expected-goals share; negative means it dragged it down.
FF / FA
Unblocked shot attempts (also called Fenwick): shots on goal plus misses, excluding blocks. One layer closer to real scoring chances than CF/CA.
SF / SA
Shots on goal for/against while this combo was on the ice together.
Minimum Ice Time
Drag the slider on each table down to see combos with less shared ice time. Their percentages get noisier the lower you go, since a combo that barely played together can swing to 100% or 0% off a single shot.
STRENGTH
Forward Lines
LineGPTOIGFGACFCACF%CF% RelFFFASFSA
Moulson–Ennis–Girgensons113:4220111739.3%8.6%914910
Gionta–Mitchell–Flynn110:400061135.3%3.5%6843
McCormick–Stafford–Deslauriers14:120010100.0%68.3%1010
McCormick–Kaleta–Deslauriers14:0102090.0%-34.0%0503
Stafford–Stewart–Hodgson13:10012433.3%1.2%2312
Kaleta–Stewart–Hodgson12:32002340.0%8.1%1211
Gionta–Mitchell–Deslauriers12:0800030.0%-32.7%0303
Pageof 1
Defense Pairs
LineGPTOIGFGACFCACF%CF% RelFFFASFSA
Ristolainen–Zadorov118:4320131841.9%12.0%1215108
Benoit–Myers19:090161430.0%-2.4%41138
Strachan–Myers17:370041126.7%-6.0%4534
Strachan–Weber15:35022918.2%-14.9%2725
Pageof 1

Three Stars

1N. NiederreiterMIN | RW3G 0A 3P
2J. SpurgeonMIN | D1G 0A 1P
3J. FontaineMIN | RW0G 2A 2P

Box Score

ON-ICE RATES
Player
G
A
P
+/-
PIM
SOG
iGAx
On-Ice
Game Score
TOI
On-Ice TOIxGF%xGF% RelCF%CF% RelFF%GF%PDOxGSGS
#28 Z. Girgensons (C)
1
1
2
+1
0
2
16:1636.4%+7.0%36.0%100.0%1.222
1.4
18:58
#17 T. Mitchell (C)
1
0
1
+1
0
3
14:2333.3%+1.7%40.0%100.0%1.200
0.7
16:35
#21 D. Stafford (RW)
0
1
1
-1
2
1
9:3350.0%+20.3%55.6%50.0%0.917
0.7
12:24
#26 M. Moulson (LW)
0
1
1
+1
0
2
15:0436.4%+7.0%38.5%100.0%1.222
0.9
18:13
#44 N. Deslauriers (LW)
0
1
1
-1
0
1
12:3520.0%-14.8%27.3%33.3%1.000
0.2
14:41
#63 T. Ennis (RW)
0
1
1
+1
0
4
16:4835.1%+5.3%37.0%100.0%1.222
0.8
19:57
#51 N. Zadorov (D)
0
1
1
+3
0
1
23:2038.9%+11.8%43.3%100.0%1.273
0.7
25:17
#55 R. Ristolainen (D)
1
0
1
+2
2
4
21:1342.4%+16.9%42.9%100.0%1.200
1.0
24:06
#8 C. McCormick (C)
0
0
0
-2
0
1
10:2113.3%-22.9%20.0%0.0%0.667
-0.7
15:01
#12 B. Gionta (RW)
0
0
0
0
0
3
14:3527.3%-6.6%31.6%1.000
-0.3
16:01
#19 C. Hodgson (C)
0
0
0
-1
0
0
6:5238.5%+7.5%40.0%0.0%0.750
-0.3
7:53
#36 P. Kaleta (RW)
0
0
0
-2
2
0
7:3520.0%-14.8%22.2%0.0%0.500
-0.9
8:06
#65 B. Flynn (C)
0
0
0
0
0
0
13:3930.4%-2.4%35.3%1.000
-0.4
17:51
#80 C. Stewart (RW)
0
0
0
-1
0
2
7:5341.7%+11.1%44.4%0.0%0.667
-0.1
8:31
#6 M. Weber (D)
0
0
0
-2
0
0
6:3623.1%-10.7%20.0%0.0%0.600
-0.5
10:41
#24 T. Strachan (D)
0
0
0
-2
0
1
17:0524.1%-12.2%36.8%33.3%0.944
-0.6
21:59
#57 T. Myers (D)
0
0
0
-2
2
2
18:2227.0%-9.1%30.8%0.0%0.929
-0.7
24:07
#61 A. Benoit (D)
0
0
0
-1
0
1
9:5630.0%-2.8%26.7%0.0%0.875
-0.5
13:48
Total
3
6
9
8
28
1.3

On-ice rates are 5-on-5. Rel compares to the team with that skater off the ice.

GoalieSAGAxGASV%GSAxGSTOIDec
#1 J. Enroth385.868-0.459:39L

Team Stats

BUFMIN
28Shots on Goal39
15.8%Shooting % (5v5)11.1%
.889Save % (5v5).842
1.047PDO (5v5)0.953
25 (45%)Faceoffs Won31 (55%)
2Power Play Chances4
0%PP%50%
50%PK%100%
0PPG2
8Penalty Minutes4
22Hits12
21Blocked Shots6
6Giveaways5
8Takeaways6

Full Game Log

1ST
00:00Period start
01:03GOAL (BUF): Rasmus Ristolainen (1), assists: Matt Moulson, Zemgus Girgensons
06:07GOAL (MIN): Ryan Carter (2), assists: Kyle Brodziak, Justin Fontaine
06:14GOAL (MIN): Nino Niederreiter (5), assists: Charlie Coyle
06:24GOAL (BUF): Zemgus Girgensons (4), assists: Tyler Ennis, Nikita Zadorov
09:21GOAL (MIN): Kyle Brodziak (3), assists: Justin Fontaine, Ryan Carter
17:52GOAL (MIN): Nino Niederreiter (6), assists: Mikael Granlund, Mathew Dumba(PP)
20:00Period end
2ND
00:00Period start
13:50GOAL (MIN): Jared Spurgeon (3), assists: Jason Pominville, Mikko Koivu(PP)
20:00Period end
3RD
00:00Period start
12:56GOAL (BUF): Torrey Mitchell (2), assists: Drew Stafford, Nicolas Deslauriers
17:32GOAL (MIN): Nino Niederreiter (7), assists: Charlie Coyle, Ryan Suter(EN)
20:00Period end
20:00Game end
@ STL (Nov 11, 2014)vs TOR (Nov 15, 2014) ›