BUF 2 – 3 DET

Shot attempts include missed and blocked shots. Expected goals (xG) weigh each unblocked shot by its chance of going in; high-danger is 0.12 xG or more. Power-play goals and chances are the NHL's line where it publishes one (otherwise the play-by-play's stretches of man-advantage time), which counts a double minor as two chances and a 5-on-3 from two penalties as two, so the count can run above the number of penalties in the Full Game Log below. Score-adjusted is the share as if the game were tied at a neutral site.

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.

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 is home ice alone.

Long shift. A skater who stepped on at even strength and stayed out for 1:00 or more of unbroken play, mostly at even strength. 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. A team is on long shifts at 5v5 when 3 or more of its skaters are past that minute, and only the time past the minute counts: the first minute plays like any other stretch of the game, while past it the play tilts hard toward the end the team is defending (in 2025–26, a team on long shifts took 24% of the shot attempts in that time, which was 1.9% of all 5v5 play). Time on long shifts is seconds on the clock, not each skater's seconds added up.

Goals. Each goal lists the skaters it was scored on and how long each had been out, with the same unbroken play clock. Power-play goals count too, though a penalty kill unit runs long by design. Empty-net and shootout goals are left out. Stretches under 0:15 with no shot attempt or goal against are not listed, though their time is in the totals.

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 time on long shifts is at least 0:30 and among the highest fifth of those, or when a 5v5 goal went in with 3 or more of the scored-on team's skaters past the minute.

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 on a long shift and tiring at the same time, so these rows describe when the danger came, not what caused it.

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. On-ice xG counts shots on goal only, where a team's xG and a skater's own ixG also count missed shots.

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.