Buffalo Sabres at Dallas Stars

Dec 31, 2025 · American Airlines Center

Team	Goals	Shots
Buffalo Sabres	4	31
Dallas Stars	1	29

Scoring

Time	Team	Goal	Assists	Score
1st Period
00:15	DAL	Mavrik Bourque (6)	Jason Robertson (23), Miro Heiskanen (28)	0 - 1
2nd Period
07:44	BUF	Josh Doan (11)	Tage Thompson (17)	1 - 1
17:05	BUF	Bowen Byram (9)	Noah Ostlund (4), Alex Tuch (20)	2 - 1
3rd Period
09:21	BUF	Tage Thompson (19)	Josh Doan (15), Bowen Byram (11)	3 - 1
11:35	BUF	Tage Thompson (20)	Noah Ostlund (5), Owen Power (8)	4 - 1

Penalties

Time	Team	Player	Penalty	Min
1st Period
00:38	DAL	Radek Faksa	High sticking	2
2nd Period
01:41	DAL	Justin Hryckowian	Tripping	2
04:44	BUF	Josh Doan	Tripping	2
3rd Period
03:59	BUF	Tage Thompson	Hooking	2

Shot attempts

Team	Attempts (Corsi)	Unblocked (Fenwick)	On goal	Goals	Expected goals	5-on-5 CF%
Buffalo Sabres	59	46	31	4	3.1	54.6
Dallas Stars	48	38	29	1	3.3	45.4

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 Dallas Stars had taken more, and below it and blue while Buffalo Sabres had.

Expected goals

Buffalo Sabres: 3.1 expected, 4 scored · Dallas Stars: 3.3 expected, 1 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

Dallas Stars

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	11:42	66.7	62.7	1-0
Ryan McLeod · Jack Quinn · Zach Benson	10:45	57.9	40.0	0-0
Alex Tuch · Josh Norris · Noah Ostlund	9:22	41.2	14.9	1-1
Jordan Greenway · Beck Malenstyn · Josh Dunne	9:08	58.3	56.5	0-0

Defence pair	Time	CF%	xGF%	Goals
Rasmus Dahlin · Owen Power	8:47	84.6	73.8	1-0
Mattias Samuelsson · Bowen Byram	8:26	31.6	58.5	2-0
Michael Kesselring · Owen Power	8:14	47.1	43.6	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
72	Tage Thompson	C	2	1	3	3	2	7	1	18:45	0.82	23-12	1.51-0.83
24	Bowen Byram	D	1	1	2	3	0	2	3	24:36	0.39	20-19	1.30-0.67
91	Josh Doan	R	1	1	2	2	2	3	4	15:27	0.50	21-10	1.36-0.74
86	Noah Ostlund	C	0	2	2	1	0	0	0	12:56	0.01	12-14	0.32-0.95
25	Owen Power	D	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	24:12		25-14	0.87-0.75
89	Alex Tuch	R	0	1	1	1	0	2	1	18:21	0.05	13-12	0.33-0.83
6	Zach Benson	L	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	16:11	0.15	14-14	0.64-0.69
7	Michael Kesselring	D	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	12:04	0.01	11-11	0.47-0.59
9	Josh Norris	C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13:07	0.07	7-17	0.13-0.90
12	Jordan Greenway	L	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	12:28	0.01	7-6	0.38-0.31
19	Peyton Krebs	C	0	0	0	1	0	2	2	13:59	0.28	20-10	1.24-0.74
22	Jack Quinn	R	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	15:21	0.03	12-14	0.51-0.69
23	Mattias Samuelsson	D	0	0	0	1	0	3	1	22:56	0.11	19-24	0.90-1.65
26	Rasmus Dahlin	D	0	0	0	1	0	5	0	24:43	0.34	25-10	1.47-1.07
29	Beck Malenstyn	L	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	13:36		13-7	0.54-0.41
44	Josh Dunne	C	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	11:15	0.29	8-8	0.52-0.43
71	Ryan McLeod	C	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	16:35	0.04	12-8	0.38-0.55
73	Zach Metsa	D	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	09:28	0.01	6-10	0.15-0.65

#	Goalie	Decision	Shots against	Saves	Goals against	TOI	xGA	Saved above xG
1	Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen	W	29	28	1	60:00	3.21	+2.21

Dallas Stars

Lines and pairings

Forward line	Time	CF%	xGF%	Goals
Roope Hintz · Jason Robertson · Mavrik Bourque	10:40	82.6	96.4	1-0
Colin Blackwell · Radek Faksa · Oskar Bäck	9:14	18.2	43.1	0-0
Mikko Rantanen · Sam Steel · Wyatt Johnston	5:55	46.7	37.9	0-0
Matt Duchene · Mikko Rantanen · Wyatt Johnston	4:49	25.0	40.0	0-2

Defence pair	Time	CF%	xGF%	Goals
Nils Lundkvist · Thomas Harley	9:58	42.9	53.7	0-1
Esa Lindell · Miro Heiskanen	9:19	66.7	93.8	1-0
Alexander Petrovic · Ilya Lyubushkin	8:42	35.7	13.1	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

#	Skater	Pos	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	Shots	Hits	TOI	xG	CF-CA	xGF-xGA
22	Mavrik Bourque	C	1	0	1	0	0	3	0	15:17	0.59	19-9	1.44-0.23
4	Miro Heiskanen	D	0	1	1	-1	0	2	0	24:50	0.17	22-18	1.55-0.77
21	Jason Robertson	L	0	1	1	1	0	8	0	21:16	0.43	26-12	1.59-0.39
5	Nils Lundkvist	D	0	0	0	-1	0	1	2	15:53	0.07	11-16	0.94-0.99
10	Oskar Bäck	C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12:54		4-11	0.33-0.42
12	Radek Faksa	C	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	12:33	0.26	3-12	0.32-0.44
14	Jamie Benn	L	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0	11:27		9-13	0.14-0.52
15	Colin Blackwell	C	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	12:33	0.49	3-10	0.31-0.41
18	Sam Steel	C	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	13:17		15-12	0.52-0.70
23	Esa Lindell	D	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	22:58	0.05	16-13	1.34-0.42
24	Roope Hintz	C	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	16:32	0.38	22-9	1.54-0.17
28	Alexander Petrovic	D	0	0	0	-1	0	1	4	13:27	0.08	11-16	0.20-0.52
46	Ilya Lyubushkin	D	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	16:37	0.03	8-15	0.12-0.61
49	Justin Hryckowian	C	0	0	0	-1	2	0	1	10:10		5-12	0.07-0.40
53	Wyatt Johnston	C	0	0	0	-3	0	1	1	16:59	0.22	9-20	0.70-1.56
55	Thomas Harley	D	0	0	0	-4	0	2	1	22:58	0.03	21-28	1.26-1.83
95	Matt Duchene	C	0	0	0	-4	0	1	0	15:43	0.23	4-17	0.31-1.06
96	Mikko Rantanen	R	0	0	0	-2	0	1	1	20:36	0.31	12-22	0.78-1.46

#	Goalie	Decision	Shots against	Saves	Goals against	TOI	xGA	Saved above xG
1	Casey DeSmith	L	31	27	4	60:00	3.01	-0.99