Buffalo Sabres at Ottawa Senators

Dec 23, 2025 · Canadian Tire Centre

Team	Goals	Shots
Buffalo Sabres	3	25
Ottawa Senators	2	26

Decided in overtime.

Scoring

Time	Team	Goal	Assists	Score
1st Period
15:22	BUF	Bowen Byram (7)	Jordan Greenway (3), Josh Dunne (3)	1 - 0
17:13	OTT	Ridly Greig (3)	Claude Giroux (18)	1 - 1
2nd Period
06:11	BUF	Noah Ostlund (6)	Bowen Byram (9), Alex Tuch (19)	2 - 1
09:27	OTT	Tim Stützle (18) PP	Drake Batherson (22), Dylan Cozens (17)	2 - 2
Overtime
00:31	BUF	Bowen Byram (8)	Ryan McLeod (14), Mattias Samuelsson (10)	3 - 2

Penalties

Time	Team	Player	Penalty	Min
1st Period
18:12	BUF	Michael Kesselring	High sticking	2
18:12	OTT	Brady Tkachuk	Roughing	2
2nd Period
02:36	OTT	Nikolas Matinpalo	Interference	2
09:13	BUF	Michael Kesselring	Tripping	2
13:51	BUF	Zach Benson	High sticking	2
3rd Period
18:09	BUF	Alex Tuch	Hooking	2

Shot attempts

Team	Attempts (Corsi)	Unblocked (Fenwick)	On goal	Goals	Expected goals	5-on-5 CF%
Buffalo Sabres	43	32	25	3	1.7	38.4
Ottawa Senators	61	45	26	2	3.5	61.6

How the game went

The gap in shot attempts as the game went on: how many more one team had taken than the other. The line is above the middle and red while Ottawa Senators had taken more, and below it and blue while Buffalo Sabres had.

Expected goals

Buffalo Sabres: 1.7 expected, 3 scored · Ottawa Senators: 3.5 expected, 2 scored

Each line climbs with every chance a team had: a small step for a shot from far out, a big one for a dangerous chance. A dot is a goal. Expected goals adds up how likely each shot was to go in, judged by where it was taken from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. Blocked shots and the shootout are not counted.

Where the attempts came from

Buffalo Sabres

Ottawa Senators

There is a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. "Show as heat map" shades the ice by where the attempts came from.

Buffalo Sabres

Lines and pairings

Forward line	Time	CF%	xGF%	Goals
Tage Thompson · Peyton Krebs · Josh Doan	11:55	30.0	6.2	0-1
Alex Tuch · Josh Norris · Noah Ostlund	11:17	29.4	15.8	1-0
Jordan Greenway · Beck Malenstyn · Josh Dunne	10:30	68.8	74.3	1-0
Ryan McLeod · Jack Quinn · Zach Benson	8:59	29.4	23.4	0-0

Defence pair	Time	CF%	xGF%	Goals
Mattias Samuelsson · Rasmus Dahlin	11:41	37.9	22.8	0-1
Michael Kesselring · Owen Power	11:35	31.6	19.0	0-0
Mattias Samuelsson · Bowen Byram	8:08	25.0	29.1	0-0

The forwards and the defencemen who were on the ice together most at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out.

Players

xG is the expected goals of a skater's own shots. CF-CA and xGF-xGA are the shot attempts and the expected goals for and against while he was on the ice at five-on-five. For a goalie, xGA is what the shots he faced were expected to produce, and the last column is how many of those he saved. What these numbers mean

#	Skater	Pos	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	Shots	Hits	TOI	xG	CF-CA	xGF-xGA
24	Bowen Byram	D	2	1	3	3	0	2	0	24:18	0.15	9-15	0.33-0.73
86	Noah Ostlund	C	1	0	1	1	0	2	0	15:01	0.10	7-20	0.20-0.94
12	Jordan Greenway	L	0	1	1	1	0	4	1	13:36	0.16	12-5	0.43-0.13
23	Mattias Samuelsson	D	0	1	1	0	0	2	1	26:39	0.10	14-30	0.49-1.67
44	Josh Dunne	C	0	1	1	1	0	1	2	13:13	0.04	12-7	0.46-0.14
71	Ryan McLeod	C	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	16:36	0.01	7-20	0.23-1.06
89	Alex Tuch	R	0	1	1	2	2	3	1	18:01	0.27	6-17	0.12-0.81
6	Zach Benson	L	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	12:24	0.14	6-13	0.23-0.77
7	Michael Kesselring	D	0	0	0	0	4	2	0	12:39	0.05	8-13	0.18-0.64
9	Josh Norris	C	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	14:00	0.14	5-12	0.12-0.64
19	Peyton Krebs	C	0	0	0	-1	0	0	3	14:00		8-15	0.07-0.75
22	Jack Quinn	R	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	12:21	0.17	7-14	0.25-0.89
25	Owen Power	D	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	25:10	0.12	11-19	0.25-0.98
26	Rasmus Dahlin	D	0	0	0	-1	0	1	0	22:48	0.03	17-20	0.40-0.95
29	Beck Malenstyn	L	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	16:11	0.10	14-7	0.51-0.14
72	Tage Thompson	C	0	0	0	-1	0	2	0	16:47	0.09	9-14	0.13-0.75
73	Zach Metsa	D	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	08:38		7-9	0.20-0.20
91	Josh Doan	R	0	0	0	-1	0	1	0	13:28	0.04	6-15	0.05-0.75

#	Goalie	Decision	Shots against	Saves	Goals against	TOI	xGA	Saved above xG
34	Alex Lyon	W	26	24	2	60:31	3.37	+1.37

Ottawa Senators

Lines and pairings

Forward line	Time	CF%	xGF%	Goals
Fabian Zetterlund · Brady Tkachuk · Tim Stützle	13:05	50.0	59.0	0-1
Claude Giroux · Michael Amadio · Ridly Greig	12:29	64.7	82.0	1-0
David Perron · Drake Batherson · Dylan Cozens	11:50	65.0	88.8	0-0
Nick Cousins · Fabian Zetterlund · Stephen Halliday	2:23	80.0	39.4	0-0

Defence pair	Time	CF%	xGF%	Goals
Thomas Chabot · Jordan Spence	17:35	66.7	65.7	0-2
Jake Sanderson · Artem Zub	14:35	65.4	83.2	1-0
Nick Jensen · Nikolas Matinpalo	14:05	51.9	72.2	0-0

The forwards and the defencemen who were on the ice together most at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out.

Players

#	Skater	Pos	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	Shots	Hits	TOI	xG	CF-CA	xGF-xGA
18	Tim Stützle	C	1	0	1	-2	0	3	2	21:41	0.27	21-14	1.08-0.49
71	Ridly Greig	C	1	0	1	1	0	1	1	15:11	0.11	11-6	0.22-0.05
19	Drake Batherson	R	0	1	1	0	0	4	0	20:42	0.95	17-8	1.35-0.14
24	Dylan Cozens	C	0	1	1	0	0	2	1	19:32	0.23	15-7	1.18-0.13
28	Claude Giroux	R	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	16:10	0.06	12-6	0.22-0.05
2	Artem Zub	D	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	19:04		18-9	0.82-0.16
3	Nick Jensen	D	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	17:47		16-14	1.11-0.43
8	Brady Tkachuk	L	0	0	0	-2	2	6	2	18:42	0.84	19-13	0.91-0.48
10	Jordan Spence	D	0	0	0	-2	0	0	1	19:33	0.05	20-9	0.67-0.34
20	Fabian Zetterlund	L	0	0	0	-1	0	2	2	18:03	0.27	18-14	0.85-0.53
21	Nick Cousins	C	0	0	0	-1	0	0	2	08:27		9-6	0.15-0.26
22	Michael Amadio	R	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	16:20	0.04	12-6	0.22-0.05
23	Kurtis MacDermid	L	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0	02:40		1-5	0.07-0.21
33	Nikolas Matinpalo	D	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	15:17	0.13	14-14	1.01-0.39
34	Stephen Halliday	C	0	0	0	-1	0	0	3	07:46		6-6	0.10-0.26
57	David Perron	L	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	15:21	0.29	18-8	1.40-0.14
72	Thomas Chabot	D	0	0	0	-2	0	1	1	23:23	0.21	20-10	0.79-0.34
85	Jake Sanderson	D	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	22:25	0.06	18-10	0.78-0.20

#	Goalie	Decision	Shots against	Saves	Goals against	TOI	xGA	Saved above xG
35	Linus Ullmark	OTL	25	22	3	60:31	1.63	-1.37