Game 6 Scoring Chances and Zone Entries: Sabres 2 vs. Leafs 1 (SO)

There was another early goal in a Leafs game this year, but this time it was Toronto that scored, taking a lead inside the first two minutes.

They held on for most of the remainder of the game, but with less than five minutes to go, Evander Kane scored an equalizer. After the Leafs weren’t able to score after a number of overtime chances, the game went to a shoot-out, and the Leafs suffered their second such defeat of the year.

The Leafs were the better team for most of the game in possession, and only in the final minutes of the third period did Buffalo move ahead in Corsi. The Sabres dominated the final period, especially the last ten minutes, after the Leafs did pretty well to keep them under control for the first forty minutes. The Leafs were beaten out in the neutral zone, and for a third straight game weren’t particularly effective at generating controlled entries.

Team	Chances	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	ES	ESClose	ESCh%	NZEnt%	ContEnt	OppContEnt
Tor	16	2	5	3	6	14	7	51.9%	48.2%	38.0%	42.4%
Buf	23	5	6	11	1	13	4	48.1%	51.8%	-	-

Buffalo’s power-play was the main source of their offense for much of the first two periods, as Toronto did a good job of limiting their ES chances, However, when Buffalo began to make a more serious push in the final frame, the Leafs struggled, out-chanced 9-1 in the last twelve minutes of the game, including 7-1 at ES. After a slow start to the overtime, the pairing of Van Riemsdyk and Kadri caused a lot of trouble, and the Leafs were somewhat unlucky not to get a winner.

Period	Time	ST	SO	Team	How	State	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6	O1	O2	O3	O4	O5	O6
1	18:32	0	0	Tor	GOAL! Parenteau deflects Polak shot	ES	15	33	40	45	46	52	6	9	15	31	46	88
1	12:20	1	0	Buf	Moulson from O'Rielly	SH	2	16	26	44	45		23	26	31	46	63	90
1	12:05	1	0	Buf	Moulson wide from loose puck	SH	2	16	26	44	45		23	26	31	46	63	90
1	11:22	1	0	Buf	Moulson from loose puck	SH	2	16	26	44	45		23	26	31	46	63	90
1	09:57	1	0	Buf	Foligno drives	ES	21	43	44	45	47	52	3	28	29	31	44	82
1	04:57	1	0	Tor	Kadri wide from Komarov	ES	3	21	43	45	47	52	3	22	29	31	44	88
1	04:31	1	0	Buf	Deslauriers from Ennis	ES	15	33	40	45	46	52	4	22	31	44	55	63
2	17:11	1	0	Tor	Harrington wide from loose puck	ES	16	19	36	40	45	46	3	22	26	29	31	44
2	16:08	1	0	Tor	Van Riemsdyk from loose puck	ES	2	3	21	43	45	47	4	23	31	55	63	90
2	14:32	1	0	Tor	Van Riemsdyk from rebound	PP	3	15	19	21	43	45	22	29	31	55	90
2	11:46	1	0	Tor	Lupul wide from loose puck	ES	2	3	16	19	26	45	6	12	31	46	82	90
2	11:14	1	0	Buf	Kane wide from rebound	SH	2	33	40	44	45		9	12	15	31	55	88
2	10:10	1	0	Buf	Moulson from Reinhart	SH	23	26	44	45	46		23	26	31	46	63	90
2	10:04	1	0	Buf	O'Rielly wide from loose puck	SH	23	26	44	45	46		23	26	31	46	63	90
2	09:19	1	0	Buf	Foligno from Deslauriers	ES	2	21	43	45	46	47	4	28	31	44	55	82
2	07:17	1	0	Tor	Holland wide from Van Riemsdyk	ES	2	3	23	24	43	45	6	9	15	31	46	88
2	01:15	1	0	Buf	Eichel drives wide	ES	23	28	33	36	44	45	3	9	15	29	31	63
2	00:07	1	0	Buf	Reinhart drives	SH	16	40	44	45	46		23	26	31	46	63	90
3	19:29	1	0	Tor	Grabner wide from loose puck	SH	26	40	44	45	46		9	12	15	31	55	88
3	18:58	1	0	Buf	Eichel from loose puck	SH	23	26	44	45	46		9	12	15	31	55	88
3	13:44	1	0	Buf	Ennis drives	ES	2	3	16	19	26	45	6	23	31	46	63	90
3	12:03	1	0	Tor	Spaling from Winnik	ES	2	3	16	19	26	45	6	9	31	46	63	90
3	10:31	1	0	Buf	Eichel wraparound	ES	21	36	43	45	46	47	6	15	23	31	46	82
3	10:25	1	0	Buf	Reinhart wide from rebound	ES	21	36	43	45	46	47	6	15	23	31	46	82
3	10:12	1	0	Buf	Girgensons deflects Weber shot	ES	24	28	33	44	45	52	6	12	26	28	31	46
3	08:29	1	0	Buf	Kane wraparound	ES	26	43	44	45	46	47	3	9	22	29	31	63
3	06:18	1	0	Buf	Ennis from loose puck	ES	2	16	19	26	45	46	6	15	31	46	63	90
3	06:12	1	0	Buf	Franson from Ennis	ES	2	16	19	26	45	46	6	15	31	46	63	90
3	04:29	1	0	Buf	GOAL! Kane from giveaway	ES	21	43	44	45	46	47	4	9	26	28	31	55
3	03:56	1	1	Buf	Reinhart deflects O'Reilly shot	SH	2	16	40	44	45		23	26	31	46	63	90
3	02:28	1	1	Buf	Gionta deflects McCabe shot	SH	16	23	36	45	46		9	12	15	29	31	46
3	00:22	1	1	Tor	Komarov wraparound wide	ES	3	21	43	44	45	47	3	9	12	15	29	31
4	04:21	1	1	Buf	Kane from O'Rielly	ES	16	26	44	45			9	31	55	90
4	04:06	1	1	Tor	Rielly drives	ES	21	43	44	45			15	31	55	63
4	03:35	1	1	Tor	Kadri drives	ES	3	21	43	45			3	15	31	63
4	01:33	1	1	Tor	Kadri from Van Riemsdyk	ES	21	43	44	45			15	31	55	63
4	01:19	1	1	Tor	Van Riemsdyk drives wide	ES	21	43	44	45			15	31	55	63
4	00:07	1	1	Tor	Hunwick wide from Van Riemsdyk	ES	2	21	43	45			15	31	55	90
4	00:01	1	1	Tor	Van Riemsdyk wide from Kadri	ES	21	43	44	45			15	31	55	90

Leafs Player Data

Player	ESChF	ESChA	ESCh%	ESTOI	ZS%	NZ%	ContEnt	OppContEnt
Grabner	2	1	66.7%	08:36	100.0%	33.3%	33.3%	44.4%
Van Riemsdyk	9	5	64.3%	19:04	66.7%	52.1%	48.6%	38.2%
Kadri	10	6	62.5%	20:01	66.7%	51.9%	47.5%	37.8%
Parenteau	1	1	50.0%	09:04	100.0%	44.4%	18.8%	45.0%
Lupul	3	3	50.0%	14:06	44.4%	44.7%	42.9%	38.5%
Matthias	1	1	50.0%	10:32	0.0%	52.9%	27.8%	37.5%
Holland	1	1	50.0%	11:20	0.0%	47.1%	25.0%	33.3%
Spaling	3	4	42.9%	16:19	44.4%	41.8%	39.1%	50.0%
Komarov	3	6	33.3%	16:55	70.0%	50.7%	44.1%	39.4%
Winnik	2	5	28.6%	15:15	44.4%	47.2%	36.0%	50.0%
Arcobello	1	3	25.0%	08:26	85.7%	50.0%	21.4%	42.9%
Boyes	0	2	0.0%	09:58	0.0%	55.2%	12.5%	30.8%
Phaneuf	7	1	87.5%	16:50	77.8%	47.0%	35.5%	40.0%
Hunwick	5	4	55.6%	23:40	75.0%	45.5%	42.5%	45.8%
Rielly	5	6	45.5%	18:35	35.3%	50.0%	39.4%	42.4%
Marincin	2	3	40.0%	14:05	50.0%	52.4%	27.3%	25.0%
Harrington	1	3	25.0%	15:19	33.3%	44.4%	29.2%	53.3%
Polak	2	8	20.0%	16:55	75.0%	50.9%	37.0%	30.8%

While a lot of their good chance numbers come down to the overtime period, it was still a strong game from Nazem Kadri and James Van Riemsdyk, who were the only forwards to really make a consistent offensive impression. They weren’t as good during regulation, as you can see from the numbers of their most regular line-mate, Leo Komarov. Despite that, they were the line on for the critical tying goal, part of their most common match-up against the Kane line. You can also see how the top line was easily the most effective in the neutral zone, with a much higher percentage of controlled entries than the rest of the forwards.

Michael Grabner was the only other Leaf to finish positive in chances, but played relatively little at ES, with his most effective work coming as part of a successful series of penalty kills. Daniel Winnik, Nick Spaling and Joffrey Lupul matched up mostly against the Ennis line, and they had the worst numbers at preventing zone entries.

Dion Phaneuf’s defensive numbers are really impressive, as he was on for only a single ES chance against over the course of the game, continuing his strong showings so far this season.

Roman Polak ended up with the worst numbers, as during the third period he had several poor shifts, with a variety of defensive partners. It also wasn’t a great game for Scott Harrington, who played a lot with Morgan Rielly, but wasn’t able to defend the neutral zone very well.