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Montréal Canadiens at Buffalo Sabres

Jan 31, 2026 · KeyBank Center

Team Goals Shots
Montréal Canadiens 4 31
Buffalo Sabres 2 38

Scoring

Time Team Goal Assists Score
1st Period
11:20 MTL Juraj Slafkovský (21) PP Nick Suzuki (45), Cole Caufield (25) 1 - 0
2nd Period
07:36 BUF Owen Power (4) Tage Thompson (28), Rasmus Dahlin (33) 1 - 1
18:58 BUF Noah Ostlund (10) PP Alex Tuch (25), Bowen Byram (17) 1 - 2
3rd Period
04:14 MTL Cole Caufield (31) Noah Dobson (24), Lane Hutson (47) 2 - 2
10:13 MTL Cole Caufield (32) Nick Suzuki (46), Kirby Dach (4) 3 - 2
19:12 MTL Oliver Kapanen (17) Noah Dobson (25) 4 - 2

Penalties

Time Team Player Penalty Min
1st Period
10:00 BUF Tage Thompson Interference 2
19:06 BUF Bowen Byram Tripping 2
2nd Period
00:58 MTL Lane Hutson Tripping 2
02:46 BUF Ryan McLeod Hooking 2
14:21 MTL Noah Dobson High sticking 2
16:58 MTL Lane Hutson High sticking 2
3rd Period
16:24 MTL Kirby Dach Holding 2

Shot attempts

Team Attempts (Corsi) Unblocked (Fenwick) On goal Goals Expected goals 5-on-5 CF%
Montréal Canadiens 50 42 31 4 4.3 36.6
Buffalo Sabres 80 56 38 2 4.5 63.4

How the game went

051015202530Start2nd3rdBuffalo Sabres aheadMontréal Canadiens ahead

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 Buffalo Sabres had taken more, and below it and blue while Montréal Canadiens had.

Expected goals

Montréal Canadiens: 4.3 expected, 4 scored · Buffalo Sabres: 4.5 expected, 2 scored

01234Start2nd3rdEndMTL goal, 11:20 of 1st, a 15% chanceMTL goal, 4:14 of 3rd, a 7% chanceMTL goal, 10:13 of 3rd, a 30% chanceMTL goal, 19:12 of 3rd, a 44% chanceBUF goal, 7:36 of 2nd, a 6% chanceBUF goal, 18:58 of 2nd, a 14% chanceBUF 4.5MTL 4.3

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

Montréal Canadiens
Buffalo Sabres

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.

Montréal Canadiens

Lines and pairings

Forward lineTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Oliver Kapanen · Juraj Slafkovský · Ivan Demidov11:0050.069.10-0
Nick Suzuki · Kirby Dach · Cole Caufield9:2544.449.42-0
Brendan Gallagher · Phillip Danault · Josh Anderson8:0721.122.70-0
Jake Evans · Joseph Veleno · Zachary Bolduc8:0327.821.50-0
Defence pairTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Noah Dobson · Lane Hutson9:4776.290.31-0
Mike Matheson · Kaiden Guhle9:0727.321.60-0
Mike Matheson · Noah Dobson4:4838.517.00-0

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
13 Cole Caufield R 2 1 3 2 0 5 3 15:39 0.53 9-12 0.65-0.68
14 Nick Suzuki C 0 2 2 3 0 2 0 18:52 0.05 10-13 0.75-0.78
53 Noah Dobson D 0 2 2 3 2 4 2 20:32 0.19 23-18 1.43-0.85
20 Juraj Slafkovský L 1 0 1 1 0 7 2 17:26 0.78 15-15 1.21-0.54
91 Oliver Kapanen C 1 0 1 1 0 2 1 17:28 0.01 17-19 1.22-0.65
48 Lane Hutson D 0 1 1 1 4 2 0 20:10 0.50 19-14 1.06-0.62
77 Kirby Dach C 0 1 1 2 2 1 2 12:29 0.10 9-14 0.73-0.78
7 Brendan Gallagher R 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 10:18 5-16 0.25-0.83
8 Mike Matheson D 0 0 0 -1 0 2 0 27:33 0.04 13-37 0.46-2.02
17 Josh Anderson R 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 12:11 5-17 0.25-0.83
21 Kaiden Guhle D 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 19:29 0.01 13-27 1.33-1.67
24 Phillip Danault C 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 18:13 0.18 5-22 0.25-1.05
45 Alexandre Carrier D 0 0 0 -1 0 1 1 20:28 0.05 6-21 0.67-0.78
71 Jake Evans C 0 0 0 -1 0 1 0 16:33 0.12 7-16 0.26-1.01
72 Arber Xhekaj D 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 07:09 2-11 0.11-0.61
76 Zachary Bolduc R 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 10:10 0.09 5-15 0.25-1.02
90 Joseph Veleno C 0 0 0 -1 0 0 2 10:33 6-17 0.25-1.10
93 Ivan Demidov R 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 16:49 0.38 16-16 1.22-0.56
# Goalie Decision Shots against Saves Goals against TOI xGA Saved above xG
75 Jakub Dobes W 38 36 2 59:58 4.32 +2.32

Buffalo Sabres

Lines and pairings

Forward lineTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Alex Tuch · Tage Thompson · Zach Benson13:1268.867.80-0
Jason Zucker · Ryan McLeod · Jack Quinn9:3469.248.00-0
Josh Doan · Noah Ostlund · Konsta Helenius8:0182.469.50-1
Beck Malenstyn · Peyton Krebs · Tyson Kozak5:4916.722.70-0
Defence pairTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Rasmus Dahlin · Owen Power6:5968.452.70-0
Mattias Samuelsson · Rasmus Dahlin6:4872.270.90-0
Bowen Byram · Owen Power6:3845.045.30-0

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
25 Owen Power D 1 0 1 0 0 6 0 24:00 0.47 30-22 1.62-1.47
86 Noah Ostlund C 1 0 1 -2 0 1 0 13:18 0.14 18-5 0.92-0.41
24 Bowen Byram D 0 1 1 -2 2 1 0 20:19 0.18 25-19 1.54-1.39
26 Rasmus Dahlin D 0 1 1 0 0 4 3 26:03 0.20 32-12 1.54-0.83
72 Tage Thompson C 0 1 1 1 2 5 1 22:21 0.39 23-12 1.16-0.65
89 Alex Tuch R 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 22:29 0.60 23-12 1.16-0.66
6 Zach Benson L 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 20:45 0.33 25-11 1.20-0.56
7 Michael Kesselring D 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 08:53 7-6 0.56-0.47
17 Jason Zucker L 0 0 0 -1 0 4 2 18:40 0.60 18-11 1.01-1.22
19 Peyton Krebs C 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 09:38 0.03 7-12 0.34-0.34
22 Jack Quinn R 0 0 0 -1 0 3 0 17:28 0.19 19-10 1.02-1.17
23 Mattias Samuelsson D 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 21:48 0.16 23-11 0.86-0.54
29 Beck Malenstyn L 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 08:46 0.05 4-10 0.12-0.23
48 Tyson Kozak C 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 06:49 2-10 0.07-0.23
71 Ryan McLeod C 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 17:38 0.17 19-9 1.03-1.11
73 Zach Metsa D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10:46 11-4 0.42-0.25
91 Josh Doan R 0 0 0 -1 0 3 4 17:22 0.91 19-5 1.00-0.46
94 Konsta Helenius C 0 0 0 -1 0 3 1 09:54 0.08 15-4 0.79-0.36
# Goalie Decision Shots against Saves Goals against TOI xGA Saved above xG
34 Alex Lyon L 30 27 3 57:43 2.92 -0.08