Vegas Golden Knights vs. St. Louis BluesJan 2, 2026

FinalFriday, Jan 2, 2026· Enterprise Center

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Goals	1	2	3	T		Shots	1	2	3	T
VGK	1	1	1	3		VGK	6	14	5	25
STL	1	2	1	4		STL	4	7	8	19

: VGK 47STL 47
: VGK 1.86STL 2.77
PP goals: VGK 0STL 0
Hits: VGK 21STL 19
Blocks: VGK 14STL 9
PIM: VGK 4STL 4
: VGK 43%STL 57%

Fantasy takeaways

Generated from the play-by-play, shifts and season context. No opinions, just what changed.

St. Louis Blues edge Vegas Golden Knights 4–3

St. Louis Blues beat Vegas Golden Knights 4–3 at home. Alexey Toropchenko (STL) led the scoring with 1G 1A. New look for STL: Kyrou–Thomas–Neighbours skated 9:56 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (92.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

Points
Alexey Toropchenko had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 13:28.Toropchenko
Points
Oskar Sundqvist had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 1 shot in 11:24.Sundqvist
Points
Mathieu Joseph had 2 assists (2 points) in 11:31.Joseph
Points
Pavel Buchnevich had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 15:04.Buchnevich
New line
New look for STL: Kyrou–Thomas–Neighbours skated 9:56 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (92.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Kyrou Thomas Neighbours
New line
New look for VGK: Barbashev–Eichel–Bowman skated 6:37 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (50% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Barbashev Eichel Bowman
New line
New look for STL: Schenn–Buchnevich–Snuggerud skated 8:19 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (62.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Schenn Buchnevich Snuggerud
New line
New look for VGK: Smith–Hertl–Dorofeyev skated 5:00 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (58.3% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.Smith Hertl Dorofeyev

Shot map

Both teams on one rink, filtered by strength and period.

Shot map

Every attempt, sized by expected goals. Goals are rings, shots on goal dots, misses hollow, blocks crosses.

Strength

Period

Team

← VGK attacks left (bottom on phones)STL attacks right (top on phones) →

STL
VGK
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Showing 94 of 94 attempts · STL 47 · VGK 47

Game flow

Cumulative expected goals and shot attempts, with power plays shaded and goals marked.

Cumulative shot attempts

STL
VGK
Goal
Power play (shaded)

Pressure Index

STL pressure
VGK pressure
Goal
Control (|PI| > 0.25)

: descriptive only, the team with more pressure scored the next goal about half the time. In control: VGK 19% of the game, STL 26%.

Shift chart

Every shift, grouped by line and pair; bars are coloured by strength state. Click a player to highlight.

Shifts

STL

VGK

goals / penalties

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
Goal
Penalty

Head-to-head matchups

STL skaters (rows) against VGK skaters (columns) at 5v5. Square size is time together; colour is xGF% from the STL side.

Matchup matrix

STL xGF% 4060square size = TOI together · blank = under 1:00

Sequence card

5-on-5 possession-chain numbers from the sequence engine (Draw Equity and control cover all situations).

Sequence card
Stat	VGK	STL
	46	48
	1.64	2.14
	1.59	2.08
	8	5
	0	4
	27	26
	−0.030	+0.030
	19%	26%

Definitions: sequence xG, transition attempts, Draw Equity, control and the Pressure Index.

Lines used

Detected from who actually shared the ice, with time together. Percentages are the unit's share of shot attempts.

Vegas Golden Knights

L1Saad – Sissons – Kolesar
9:4967% CF
L2Barbashev – Eichel – Bowman
6:3750% CF
L3Stone – Marner – Howden
6:1671% CF
L4Smith – Hertl – Dorofeyev
5:0058% CF
D1Lauzon – Korczak
14:5450% CF
D2Hanifin – Whitecloud
13:5750% CF
D3Hutton – Megna
4:2257% CF

PP1Stone – Hertl – Eichel – Marner – Dorofeyev
3:28100% CF
PP2Hutton – Barbashev – Hanifin – Howden – Bowman
0:17100% CF
PK1FStone – Eichel
1:18
PK2FSaad – Sissons
0:56
PK1DLauzon – Whitecloud
1:27
PK2DHanifin – Korczak
0:56

Current VGK line combinations →

St. Louis Blues

L1Kyrou – Thomas – Neighbours
9:5693% CF
L2Berggren – Dvorsky – Stenberg
9:3629% CF
L3Schenn – Buchnevich – Snuggerud
8:1963% CF
L4Sundqvist – Joseph – Toropchenko
7:2150% CF
D1Parayko – Broberg
17:0064% CF
D2Faulk – Tucker
12:1840% CF
D3Fowler – Kessel
8:4457% CF

PP1Schenn – Faulk – Kyrou – Berggren – Neighbours
1:58100% CF
PP2Fowler – Buchnevich – Thomas – Snuggerud – Dvorsky
1:4067% CF
PK1FSundqvist – Toropchenko
1:51
PK2FBuchnevich – Thomas
1:24
PK1DParayko – Broberg
2:24
PK2DFaulk – Tucker
0:19

Current STL line combinations →

Scoring summary

Every goal with the skaters on the ice for it.

Box score

Skaters grouped by the line they played on; CF% is the 5v5 share of shot attempts while on the ice.

Vegas Golden Knights

VGK skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Colton Sissons C	L1	0	1	1	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	13:39	—	—	50	51
Brandon Saad L	L1	0	0	0	0	1	0.01	0	1	0	13:23	—	—	62	34
Keegan Kolesar R	L1	1	0	1	+1	1	0.08	4	0	0	12:00	—	—	67	90
Jack Eichel C	L2	0	0	0	-2	3	0.11	2	2	0	19:34	—	—	22	7
Ivan Barbashev L	L2	0	0	0	-1	1	0.00	0	0	0	15:08	—	—	24	11
Braeden Bowman R	L2	0	1	1	0	1	0.25	0	1	0	14:27	—	—	63	59
Mitch Marner R	L3	0	0	0	0	3	0.08	0	3	2	19:01	—	—	44	45
Mark Stone R	L3	1	0	1	0	2	0.31	0	1	0	17:55	—	—	50	72
Brett Howden C	L3	0	1	1	0	1	0.05	0	0	0	14:01	—	—	52	64
Pavel Dorofeyev R	L4	1	0	1	0	2	0.21	0	0	0	17:12	—	—	61	50
Tomas Hertl C	L4	0	0	0	0	1	0.39	3	0	0	17:06	—	—	68	63
Reilly Smith R	L4	0	0	0	-1	1	0.10	0	0	0	12:23	—	—	39	25
Kaedan Korczak D	D1	0	1	1	+1	3	0.04	2	1	0	20:33	—	—	44	43
Jeremy Lauzon D	D1	0	0	0	+2	1	0.08	5	2	0	19:37	—	—	52	57
Noah Hanifin D	D2	0	0	0	-1	2	0.03	2	1	0	26:17	—	—	43	46
Zach Whitecloud D	D2	0	0	0	0	1	0.07	0	2	0	22:29	—	—	59	66
Ben Hutton D	D3	0	0	0	-2	1	0.04	0	0	2	11:56	—	—	35	13
Jaycob Megna D	D3	0	0	0	-2	0	0.00	1	0	0	10:43	—	—	71	18

VGK goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Carter Hart(start)	L	19	15	4	.789	2.39	58:36

St. Louis Blues

STL skaters
Skater	Line	G	A	P	+/-			Hits	Blk	PIM		PP	SH
Robert Thomas C	L1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	20:05	—	—	80	86
Jake Neighbours L	L1	0	0	0	-1	3	0.26	1	0	0	17:23	—	—	70	64
Jordan Kyrou R	L1	0	0	0	+1	1	0.47	0	0	2	15:11	—	—	79	89
Jonatan Berggren R	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.01	2	0	0	14:38	—	—	37	23
Otto Stenberg C	L2	0	0	0	0	0	0.07	2	0	0	14:16	—	—	32	22
Dalibor Dvorsky R	L2	0	0	0	0	1	0.12	4	1	0	14:02	—	—	25	3
Brayden Schenn C	L3	1	0	1	-1	1	0.19	1	1	0	16:44	—	—	54	58
Jimmy Snuggerud R	L3	0	1	1	0	2	0.35	2	0	0	15:13	—	—	52	59
Pavel Buchnevich L	L3	0	2	2	0	1	0.20	0	0	0	15:04	—	—	58	63
Alexey Toropchenko R	L4	1	1	2	+2	2	0.18	1	0	0	13:28	—	—	31	50
Mathieu Joseph R	L4	0	2	2	0	0	0.00	1	1	0	11:31	—	—	46	60
Oskar Sundqvist C	L4	1	1	2	+2	1	0.23	1	1	0	11:24	—	—	50	87
Philip Broberg D	D1	0	0	0	+2	2	0.14	0	1	0	25:23	—	—	65	84
Colton Parayko D	D1	0	0	0	+2	1	0.00	0	2	0	22:37	—	—	62	80
Justin Faulk D	D2	1	0	1	-2	1	0.13	1	1	2	21:00	—	—	36	19
Tyler Tucker D	D2	0	1	1	-1	2	0.03	2	0	0	17:07	—	—	35	21
Cam Fowler D	D3	0	0	0	+1	0	0.00	1	0	0	17:17	—	—	61	59
Matthew Kessel D	D3	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	1	0	13:37	—	—	42	29

STL goalies
Goalie	Dec	SA	SV	GA			TOI
Joel Hofer(start)	W	25	22	3	.880	1.86	60:00

Goal anatomy

Animated replays from NHL EDGE tracking, with the entry, passes and shot speed for each goal.

Keegan Kolesar (VGK) 1st 10:12 · assists Colton Sissons, Kaedan Korczak · Rush · loose puck · 59.8 mph shot · 3.0 s from entry to goal.

Keegan Kolesar · 1st 10:12 · VGK

Play: rush
Entry: loose
Odd man: No
Passes: 3
Shot: 59.8 mph
Distance: 24 ft
Entry to goal: 3.0 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Alexey Toropchenko · 1st 10:39 · STL

Play: rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 1
Shot: 20.0 mph
Distance: 17 ft
Entry to goal: 3.0 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Justin Faulk · 2nd 5:39 · STL

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 66.5 mph
Distance: 26 ft

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Oskar Sundqvist · 2nd 6:37 · STL

Play: rush
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 0
Shot: 14.8 mph
Distance: 33 ft
Entry to goal: 5.3 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Mark Stone · 2nd 9:10 · VGK

Play: turnover-forecheck
Passes: 0
Shot: 36.6 mph
Distance: 8 ft

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Pavel Dorofeyev · 3rd 8:21 · VGK

Play: turnover-forecheck
Entry: carry
Odd man: No
Passes: 1
Shot: 9.9 mph
Distance: 8 ft
Entry to goal: 8.5 s

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Brayden Schenn · 3rd 18:27 · STL

Play: deflection
Entry: loose
Odd man: 2-on-1
Passes: 0
Shot: 7.4 mph
Distance: 6 ft
Entry to goal: 3.3 s
Type: rebound

Watch on NHL.com → · Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE

Methodology

Shot locations come from the NHL play-by-play, normalised so each shooter attacks the same way, then flipped so the home team attacks right. On-ice stats and lines come from the shift charts: a unit is the exact set of skaters sharing the ice, and CF% is the share of all shot attempts while they were out. Head-to-head cells are 5v5 time against each opponent. Expected goals and the Pressure Index appear as their models are released.

Vegas Golden Knights vs. St. Louis BluesJan 2, 2026

Fantasy takeaways

St. Louis Blues edge Vegas Golden Knights 4–3

Shot map

Shot map

Game flow

Cumulative shot attempts

Shift chart

Shifts

Head-to-head matchups

Matchup matrix

Sequence card

Lines used

Vegas Golden Knights

St. Louis Blues

Scoring summary

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Box score

Vegas Golden Knights

St. Louis Blues

Goal anatomy

Keegan Kolesar · 1st 10:12 · VGK

Alexey Toropchenko · 1st 10:39 · STL

Justin Faulk · 2nd 5:39 · STL

Oskar Sundqvist · 2nd 6:37 · STL

Mark Stone · 2nd 9:10 · VGK

Pavel Dorofeyev · 3rd 8:21 · VGK

Brayden Schenn · 3rd 18:27 · STL