hockeystats.io

Buffalo SabresBUF 3–2 Final Vancouver CanucksVAN

Thursday, December 11, 2025

Final 1st2nd3rd T SOG
Buffalo SabresBUF 120 3 15
Vancouver CanucksVAN 110 2 32

No impact calculated for this game. Impacts are calculated for games in the next 7 days.

Highlights

Scoring

1st Period
7:36 BUF Rasmus Dahlin (3) Ryan McLeod (11), Jack Quinn (10) · slap xG 0.08 1–0 ▶
19:49 VAN Kiefer Sherwood (13)PP Conor Garland (10), Quinn Hughes (21) · backhand xG 0.06 1–1 ▶
2nd Period
6:15 VAN Max Sasson (6) Jake DeBrusk (6), Elias Pettersson (3) · snap xG 0.16 1–2 ▶
9:12 BUF Tage Thompson (15) Rasmus Dahlin (22) · wrist xG 0.12 2–2 ▶
14:46 BUF Zach Benson (1)PP Josh Doan (13), Tage Thompson (13) · snap xG 0.15 3–2 ▶
3rd Period
No scoring

Score away–home after each goal; season totals in parentheses.

Shot quality

Expected goals (xG) rate every unblocked shot by how often shots like it go in, from where it was taken, the shot type, the strength and what happened just before it. How it works

BUF 19%Deserve to win81% VAN
BUFVAN
1.62Expected goals3.48
3Goals (no shootout)2
1.31Expected goals, 5 on 52.53
37Shot attempts84
28Unblocked attempts56
15Shots on goal32

Game notes

What stood out as the game went on, from the play-by-play and the shifts. Time on the bench is counted in 5-on-5 play outside the penalty box; the note says the player sat, not why. Goals saved are against the shots' expected goals (xG).

3rd Period
3:10 BUF No shift No shift · Bryson, 22:34 on the bench
No shift after 8:09 of the 2nd; 8 shifts (5:02) before that
10:10 BUF No shift No shift · Dunne, 17:46 on the bench
No shift after 12:57 of the 2nd; 9 shifts (6:21) before that
15:40 BUF No shift No shift · Rosen, 12:20 on the bench
No shift after 3:23 of the 3rd; 12 shifts (8:42) before that
17:54 VAN Pulled goalie Pulled goalie · Pulled Demko, down 3–2
With 2:06 left
18:50 VAN xG swing xG swing · Out-chanced BUF 1.17–0.13
In xG over 10 minutes, 8:50 to 18:50 of the 3rd; neither team scored

Shot map

BUF shoots ←Bigger circle: higher xG; filled: goal→ VAN shoots
Evander Kane: wrist, 30 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 0:50) Elias Pettersson: wrist, 56 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 0:54) Jack Quinn: snap, 43 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 1:03) Tom Willander: wrist, 57 ft, xG 0.02 (P1 1:46) Max Sasson: wrist, 58 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 1:56) Tage Thompson: snap, 21 ft, xG 0.16 (P1 2:28) Tyler Myers: slap, 62 ft, xG 0.02 (P1 3:21) Conor Garland: deflected, 45 ft, xG 0.03 (P1 5:08) Tyson Kozak: wrist, 35 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 5:28) Isak Rosen: snap, 11 ft, xG 0.02 (P1 5:29) Filip Hronek: slap, 51 ft, xG 0.00 (P1 7:53) Arshdeep Bains: wrist, 16 ft, xG 0.03 (P1 8:25) Tom Willander: slap, 52 ft, xG 0.04 (P1 9:54) Evander Kane: wrist, 38 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 10:34) Kiefer Sherwood: wrist, 28 ft, xG 0.03 (P1 10:45) Elias Pettersson: wrist, 65 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 11:58) Elias Pettersson: wrist, 41 ft, xG 0.04 (P1 12:35) Jake DeBrusk: wrist, 32 ft, xG 0.11 (P1 12:47) Aatu Räty: deflected, 7 ft, xG 0.13 (P1 13:08) Peyton Krebs: wrist, 66 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 13:33) Tage Thompson: snap, 30 ft, xG 0.10 (P1 15:01) David Kampf: wrist, 79 ft, xG 0.00 (P1 15:30) Max Sasson: snap, 23 ft, xG 0.07 (P1 16:16) Filip Hronek: wrist, 64 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 16:20) Bowen Byram: snap, 32 ft, xG 0.18 (P1 16:56) Marcus Pettersson: slap, 63 ft, xG 0.02 (P1 17:43) Tyler Myers: backhand, 25 ft, xG 0.03 (P1 17:45) Zach Benson: wrist, 29 ft, xG 0.03 (P1 18:11) Tage Thompson: snap, 39 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 18:15) Tage Thompson: snap, 42 ft, xG 0.01 (P1 18:17) Conor Garland: wrist, 40 ft, xG 0.03 (P1 18:55) Kiefer Sherwood: wrist, 46 ft, xG 0.04 (P1 19:44) Evander Kane: tip-in, 25 ft, xG 0.04 (P2 1:29) Tyson Kozak: tip-in, 15 ft, xG 0.07 (P2 1:51) Rasmus Dahlin: snap, 27 ft, xG 0.04 (P2 4:45) Owen Power: wrist, 55 ft, xG 0.02 (P2 7:35) Jordan Greenway: wrist, 24 ft, xG 0.13 (P2 7:39) Evander Kane: wrist, 17 ft, xG 0.04 (P2 9:46) Jack Quinn: snap, 17 ft, xG 0.04 (P2 10:02) Tage Thompson: wrap-around, 6 ft, xG 0.03 (P2 10:15) Peyton Krebs: between-legs, 6 ft, xG 0.04 (P2 10:29) Arshdeep Bains: snap, 39 ft, xG 0.04 (P2 12:30) Tyler Myers: slap, 45 ft, xG 0.04 (P2 12:36) Max Sasson: wrist, 32 ft, xG 0.04 (P2 12:41) Max Sasson: wrist, 11 ft, xG 0.21 (P2 12:43) Quinn Hughes: wrist, 37 ft, xG 0.04 (P2 12:55) Rasmus Dahlin: snap, 46 ft, xG 0.01 (P2 14:03) Evander Kane: slap, 28 ft, xG 0.05 (P2 15:11) Quinn Hughes: wrist, 33 ft, xG 0.05 (P2 16:11) Conor Garland: backhand, 10 ft, xG 0.10 (P2 16:58) Tage Thompson: snap, 41 ft, xG 0.07 (P2 17:23) Rasmus Dahlin: snap, 37 ft, xG 0.01 (P2 18:24) Jack Quinn: wrist, 13 ft, xG 0.15 (P2 18:52) Aatu Räty: tip-in, 24 ft, xG 0.08 (P2 19:35) Quinn Hughes: slap, 55 ft, xG 0.05 (P2 19:55) Linus Karlsson: snap, 25 ft, xG 0.18 (P3 1:29) Jake DeBrusk: wrist, 91 ft, xG 0.00 (P3 4:08) Filip Hronek: deflected, 44 ft, xG 0.03 (P3 4:59) Jake DeBrusk: poke, 6 ft, xG 0.20 (P3 5:01) Josh Doan: wrist, 50 ft, xG 0.01 (P3 5:29) Jake DeBrusk: wrist, 8 ft, xG 0.07 (P3 7:41) Nils Hoglander: tip-in, 19 ft, xG 0.08 (P3 8:30) Drew O'Connor: wrist, 14 ft, xG 0.18 (P3 9:24) Owen Power: snap, 54 ft, xG 0.02 (P3 9:52) Mattias Samuelsson: wrist, 60 ft, xG 0.01 (P3 10:01) Quinn Hughes: slap, 55 ft, xG 0.04 (P3 12:09) Josh Doan: tip-in, 11 ft, xG 0.09 (P3 12:24) Drew O'Connor: backhand, 5 ft, xG 0.06 (P3 12:54) Filip Hronek: wrist, 33 ft, xG 0.03 (P3 13:26) Brock Boeser: wrist, 7 ft, xG 0.16 (P3 14:18) Quinn Hughes: wrist, 16 ft, xG 0.04 (P3 15:28) Filip Hronek: slap, 59 ft, xG 0.02 (P3 15:32) Drew O'Connor: wrist, 33 ft, xG 0.02 (P3 16:15) Max Sasson: wrist, 7 ft, xG 0.21 (P3 17:14) Nils Hoglander: snap, 28 ft, xG 0.03 (P3 17:46) Nils Hoglander: wrist, 32 ft, xG 0.02 (P3 17:52) Jake DeBrusk: wrist, 4 ft, xG 0.28 (P3 18:36) Jake DeBrusk: tip-in, 8 ft, xG 0.09 (P3 18:42) Conor Garland: wrist, 50 ft, xG 0.04 (P3 19:36) Rasmus Dahlin: GOAL, slap, 40 ft, xG 0.08 (P1 7:36) Kiefer Sherwood: GOAL, backhand, 10 ft, xG 0.06 (P1 19:49) Max Sasson: GOAL, snap, 17 ft, xG 0.16 (P2 6:15) Tage Thompson: GOAL, wrist, 37 ft, xG 0.12 (P2 9:12) Zach Benson: GOAL, snap, 25 ft, xG 0.15 (P2 14:46)
About these numbers

xG comes from hockeystats.io's own model, a gradient-boosted tree model trained on every unblocked shot from the 2021-22 to 2025-26 regular seasons using the NHL's public play-by-play. Each shot's value is the share of similar shots that became goals. A team's xG is the sum over its shots; "deserve to win" asks how often the team would outscore its opponent if every shot went in at exactly that rate. Blocked shots count as attempts but have no xG (the NHL records where they were blocked, not where they were taken), so the map leaves them out.

Box score

Buffalo Sabres

Skater GAP+/− AttxG HitBlkTOI
Forwards
71 Ryan McLeod 011 +1 10.00 0020:52
72 Tage Thompson 112 +1 70.48 0219:06
91 Josh Doan 011 +1 30.10 0018:45
19 Peyton Krebs 000 +1 30.04 1118:43
48 Tyson Kozak 000 0 20.08 3516:45
6 Zach Benson 101 +1 30.18 0016:13
12 Jordan Greenway 000 0 20.13 1216:01
22 Jack Quinn 011 +1 40.21 0115:39
29 Beck Malenstyn 000 -1 10.00 4112:48
44 Josh Dunne 000 -1 00.00 0006:21
Defense
23 Mattias Samuelsson 000 +1 10.01 1126:32
26 Rasmus Dahlin 112 +2 40.14 1324:51
21 Conor Timmins 000 0 10.00 1521:27
24 Bowen Byram 000 -1 10.18 0120:47
25 Owen Power 000 0 20.04 0319:46
78 Jacob Bryson 000 0 00.00 0105:02
Goalie SAGA SVSV% xGA GSAx
Alex Lyon 32230 .938 3.48 +1.48

Vancouver Canucks

Skater GAP+/− AttxG HitBlkTOI
Forwards
83 Conor Garland 011 -1 50.20 1020:41
6 Brock Boeser 000 -1 30.16 0120:26
44 Kiefer Sherwood 101 -1 80.13 2019:24
91 Evander Kane 000 -1 80.15 2017:29
74 Jake DeBrusk 011 +1 80.76 1016:16
63 Max Sasson 101 +1 70.69 0014:46
64 David Kampf 000 -1 10.00 0014:07
21 Nils Hoglander 000 0 50.13 2013:11
18 Drew O'Connor 000 -1 40.26 0012:56
54 Aatu Räty 000 0 20.22 3011:40
94 Linus Karlsson 000 +1 10.18 2010:51
13 Arshdeep Bains 000 0 30.07 0009:20
Defense
43 Quinn Hughes 011 -1 90.22 0030:03
17 Filip Hronek 000 0 60.09 3123:33
57 Tyler Myers 000 0 70.08 1220:06
26 Marcus Pettersson 000 -1 20.02 1117:25
25 Elias Pettersson 011 +1 30.05 4013:11
5 Tom Willander 000 -1 20.06 0212:04
Goalie SAGA SVSV% xGA GSAx
Thatcher Demko 15312 .800 1.62 -1.38

Skaters by time on ice. Goalie lines count shots with the goalie in net, from the NHL play-by-play.

Player ratings

What each player added to the result, in goals, from most to least. Hover a number for what it's made of.

Buffalo Sabres

Player Rating Points Shots On ice Pen FO Other GSAx TOI
26 Rasmus Dahlin D +1.87 +1.45 +0.09 +0.16 0.00 0.00 +0.17 — 24:51
34 Alex Lyon G +1.48 0.00 — — 0.00 — — +1.48 59:56
72 Tage Thompson C +1.36 +1.30 +0.31 -0.26 0.00 -0.05 +0.06 — 19:06
6 Zach Benson L +0.99 +0.75 +0.12 +0.12 0.00 0.00 0.00 — 16:13
91 Josh Doan R +0.81 +0.70 +0.06 +0.03 0.00 0.00 +0.02 — 18:45
22 Jack Quinn R +0.40 +0.55 +0.14 -0.16 -0.15 -0.01 +0.03 — 15:39
71 Ryan McLeod C +0.39 +0.70 0.00 -0.26 0.00 -0.05 0.00 — 20:52
48 Tyson Kozak C +0.31 0.00 +0.05 -0.02 0.00 +0.02 +0.25 — 16:45
63 Isak Rosen R +0.21 0.00 +0.02 +0.09 +0.15 0.00 -0.04 — 8:42
78 Jacob Bryson D +0.21 0.00 0.00 +0.16 0.00 0.00 +0.05 — 5:02
19 Peyton Krebs C -0.01 0.00 +0.03 -0.24 +0.15 0.00 +0.05 — 18:43
12 Jordan Greenway L -0.03 0.00 +0.09 -0.05 -0.15 -0.01 +0.10 — 16:01
25 Owen Power D -0.20 0.00 +0.03 -0.38 0.00 0.00 +0.15 — 19:46
23 Mattias Samuelsson D -0.22 0.00 +0.01 -0.27 0.00 0.00 +0.05 — 26:32
4 Bowen Byram D -0.63 0.00 +0.11 -0.79 0.00 0.00 +0.05 — 20:47
44 Josh Dunne C -0.78 0.00 0.00 -0.78 0.00 +0.02 -0.02 — 6:21
52 Trevor Kuntar C -1.02 0.00 0.00 -1.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 — 5:12
21 Conor Timmins D -1.08 0.00 0.00 -1.27 0.00 0.00 +0.19 — 21:27
29 Beck Malenstyn L -1.15 0.00 0.00 -1.03 -0.15 0.00 +0.03 — 12:48

Vancouver Canucks

Player Rating Points Shots On ice Pen FO Other GSAx TOI
63 Max Sasson C +2.65 +0.75 +0.45 +1.48 0.00 -0.01 -0.02 — 14:46
74 Jake DeBrusk L +2.11 +0.70 +0.49 +0.92 0.00 0.00 0.00 — 16:16
57 Tyler Myers D +1.21 0.00 +0.05 +1.04 0.00 0.00 +0.12 — 20:06
25 Elias Pettersson D +1.17 +0.55 +0.03 +0.60 0.00 0.00 -0.02 — 13:11
94 Linus Karlsson C +1.06 0.00 +0.12 +0.95 0.00 0.00 0.00 — 10:51
8 Conor Garland R +1.02 +0.70 +0.13 +0.04 +0.15 0.00 0.00 — 20:41
21 Nils Hoglander L +0.93 0.00 +0.08 +0.70 +0.15 0.00 0.00 — 13:11
43 Quinn Hughes D +0.85 +0.55 +0.14 +0.24 0.00 0.00 -0.08 — 30:03
44 Kiefer Sherwood L +0.53 +0.75 +0.09 -0.31 0.00 0.00 0.00 — 19:24
29 Marcus Pettersson D +0.47 0.00 +0.02 +0.40 0.00 0.00 +0.05 — 17:25
17 Filip Hronek D +0.35 0.00 +0.06 +0.39 -0.15 0.00 +0.05 — 23:33
13 Arshdeep Bains L +0.24 0.00 +0.05 +0.35 -0.15 -0.01 0.00 — 9:20
18 Drew O'Connor L +0.22 0.00 +0.17 +0.09 0.00 0.00 -0.04 — 12:56
54 Aatu Räty C +0.18 0.00 +0.14 +0.02 0.00 +0.02 0.00 — 11:40
6 Brock Boeser R +0.01 0.00 +0.10 -0.15 0.00 +0.01 +0.05 — 20:26
5 Tom Willander D +0.01 0.00 +0.04 -0.28 +0.15 0.00 +0.10 — 12:04
91 Evander Kane L -0.02 0.00 +0.09 -0.11 0.00 -0.01 0.00 — 17:29
64 David Kampf C -0.32 0.00 0.00 -0.40 0.00 +0.08 0.00 — 14:07
35 Thatcher Demko G -1.38 0.00 — — 0.00 — — -1.38 57:54

An expected-goals take on Dom Luszczyszyn's Game Score: goals and assists, the quality of a player's own shots, shot quality for and against while they were on the ice at 5v5, penalties, faceoffs and puck plays, all in goals; goalies by goals saved above expected. From the NHL play-by-play and shift charts.