Team Stats
1985–86 Regular Season
All-time is where 1985–86 ranks among Sabres regular seasons, as a percentile: GF, GA and DIFF since 1970–71 (55 seasons), PP% and PK% since 1977–78 (48). GF, GA and DIFF are relative to each season's league scoring. Higher is better, GA included.
By goal differential, Buffalo's season projects to about a 81-point pace (Pythagorean expectation). They finished with 80, right in line with their goal margin.
Skater Scatter
Any two stats, one dot per skater. What is xG?
Dot size is ice time per game. Above the dashed line: more Goals than xG.
No skaters match these filters. Lower the games-played floor or widen the position filter.
More cuts on the Stats Playground scatter.
Win DNA
Yes-or-no box-score traits, and how often the Sabres won with and without each. Correlation, not cause.
How this is measured
Every counting stat runs higher in a win (you score more when you win), so each game gets a yes-or-no question instead, and the win rate when yes is set against the win rate when no. The gap is the lift, in percentage points. A trait can be a symptom of a good night as much as a reason for one. Shot-attempt share (CF%) is left out: in a single game the trailing team piles up attempts, so out-attempting the opponent has gone with a lower win rate.
The wider the gap on an axis, the more that trait separates a win from a loss.
The totals the table above deliberately doesn't lead with. Goals and points from both positions climb in wins, but the defense's share of the offense barely moves, which is why the question is who else scored, not whether the D did.
Skaters
| Player | No. | GP | G | A | PTS ▾ | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GWG | SOG | S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Andreychuk | 25 | 80 | 36 | 51 | 87 | +3 | 61 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 226 | 15.9% |
| Mike Foligno | 17 | 79 | 41 | 39 | 80 | +27 | 168 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 222 | 18.5% |
| John Tucker | 7 | 75 | 31 | 34 | 65 | +1 | 39 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 146 | 21.2% |
| Phil Housley | 96 | 79 | 15 | 47 | 62 | -10 | 54 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 180 | 8.3% |
| Gilbert Perreault | 11 | 72 | 21 | 39 | 60 | -10 | 28 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 164 | 12.8% |
| Paul Cyr | 22 | 71 | 20 | 31 | 51 | +3 | 120 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 151 | 13.2% |
| Gilles Hamel | 9 | 77 | 19 | 25 | 44 | -26 | 61 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 158 | 12.0% |
| Lindy Ruff | 44 | 54 | 20 | 12 | 32 | +8 | 158 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 131 | 15.3% |
| Mike Ramsey | 5 | 76 | 7 | 21 | 28 | +4 | 117 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 154 | 4.5% |
| Hannu Virta | 3 | 47 | 5 | 23 | 28 | +2 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 81 | 6.2% |
| Steve Dykstra | 4 | 64 | 4 | 21 | 25 | -1 | 108 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 70 | 5.7% |
| Gaetano Orlando | 23 | 60 | 13 | 12 | 25 | -6 | 29 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 70 | 18.6% |
| Ric Seiling | 16 | 69 | 12 | 13 | 25 | -5 | 74 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 85 | 14.1% |
| Doug Smith | 23 | 30 | 10 | 11 | 21 | +2 | 73 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 72 | 13.9% |
| Sean Mckenna | 12 | 45 | 6 | 12 | 18 | -9 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 83 | 7.2% |
| Bill Hajt | 24 | 58 | 1 | 16 | 17 | +17 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 2.4% |
| Pat Hughes | 16 | 50 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -5 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 7.8% |
| Normand Lacombe | 19 | 25 | 6 | 7 | 13 | +7 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 38 | 15.8% |
| Mikael Andersson | 34 | 32 | 1 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7.7% |
| Bob Halkidis | 21 | 37 | 1 | 9 | 10 | -2 | 115 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 5.3% |
| Richie Dunn | 3 | 29 | 4 | 5 | 9 | -5 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 7.3% |
| Don Lever | 9 | 29 | 7 | 1 | 8 | -5 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 31 | 22.6% |
| David Fenyves | 31 | 47 | 0 | 7 | 7 | +12 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 0.0% |
| Brian Engblom | 3 | 30 | 1 | 4 | 5 | +2 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 4.2% |
| Jody Gage | 17 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 16.7% |
| Phil Russell | 5 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -8 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 13.3% |
| Chris Langevin | 15 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | +3 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 20.0% |
| Larry Playfair | 27 | 47 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -8 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 2.9% |
| Adam Creighton | 22 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 11.1% |
| Mal Davis | 29 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 40.0% |
| Paul Gardner | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0% |
| Richard Hajdu | 28 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| Jim Hofford | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.0% |
| Joe Reekie | 29 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| Total | – | – | 296 | 467 | 763 | 1561 | 72 | 12 | 37 | 2398 | 12.3% |
Goalies
| Player | No. | GP | W ▾ | L | T | GAA | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Barrasso | 30 | 60 | 29 | 24 | 5 | 3.61 | .879 | 2 |
| Jacques Cloutier | 31 | 15 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 3.32 | .887 | 1 |
| Daren Puppa | 31 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3.15 | .886 | 1 |
| Total | – | – | 37 | 37 | 6 | – | – | 4 |
A goalie is credited a game played for any appearance, relief included, so GP sums above the team's own games played by the number of relief outings. The Total row leaves GP out for that reason.