NHL Recaps: Thursday, Jan 1, 2026

8 games: what happened that matters for your fantasy team, built from the play-by-play and shift charts.

Game recaps

Final

Full report

Washington Capitals

Ottawa Senators

Ottawa Senators edge Washington Capitals 4–3

Ottawa Senators beat Washington Capitals 4–3 at home. Tom Wilson (WSH) led the scoring with 1G 1A. WSH's first power-play unit (Ovechkin, Wilson, Strome, Chychrun and Leonard) scored 1 power-play goal on 4 attempts in 4:00 together.

•Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 3 shots in 22:51.
•Justin Sourdif had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 13:25.
•Shane Pinto had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 18:54.

Full report: shot map, shifts, lines, box score →

Utah Mammoth rout New York Islanders 7–2

Utah Mammoth beat New York Islanders 7–2 at NYI. Dylan Guenther (UTA) led the scoring with 3G 1A.

•Dylan Guenther had a hat trick and an assist (4 points) on 3 shots in 15:23.
•Nick Schmaltz had two goals and an assist (3 points) on 4 shots in 18:07.
•Clayton Keller had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 3 shots in 16:32.

Full report: shot map, shifts, lines, box score →

Toronto Maple Leafs edge Winnipeg Jets 6–5

Toronto Maple Leafs beat Winnipeg Jets 6–5 at home. Auston Matthews (TOR) led the scoring with 3G 1A.

•Auston Matthews had a hat trick and an assist (4 points) on 5 shots in 19:42.
•Mark Scheifele had two goals and an assist (3 points) on 8 shots in 20:28.
•Gabriel Vilardi had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 20:06.

Full report: shot map, shifts, lines, box score →

Pittsburgh Penguins edge Detroit Red Wings 4–3 (OT)

Pittsburgh Penguins beat Detroit Red Wings 4–3 in overtime at home. Sidney Crosby (PIT) led the scoring with 2G 1A. DET's first power-play unit (Kane, Larkin, DeBrincat, Seider and Raymond) scored 1 power-play goal on 12 attempts in 5:24 together.

•Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist (3 points) on 4 shots in 18:27.
•Erik Karlsson had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 22:34.
•DET's first power-play unit (Kane, Larkin, DeBrincat, Seider and Raymond) scored 1 power-play goal on 12 attempts in 5:24 together.

Full report: shot map, shifts, lines, box score →

Montreal Canadiens beat Carolina Hurricanes 7–5

Montreal Canadiens beat Carolina Hurricanes 7–5 at CAR. Sebastian Aho (CAR) led the scoring with 2G 3A. MTL won it by committee.

•Sebastian Aho had two goals and 3 assists (5 points) on 3 shots in 16:50.
•Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 5 shots in 17:14.
•Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 2 shots in 16:54.

Full report: shot map, shifts, lines, box score →

Tampa Bay Lightning beat Los Angeles Kings 5–3

Tampa Bay Lightning beat Los Angeles Kings 5–3 at LAK. Nikita Kucherov (TBL) led the scoring with 1G 2A.

•Nikita Kucherov had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 2 shots in 20:51.
•Corey Perry had 3 assists (3 points) on 2 shots in 11:29.
•Brayden Point had two goals (2 points) on 5 shots in 18:56.

Full report: shot map, shifts, lines, box score →

Chicago Blackhawks edge Dallas Stars 4–3

Chicago Blackhawks beat Dallas Stars 4–3 at home. Ilya Mikheyev (CHI) led the scoring with 2G 0A.

•Ilya Mikheyev had two goals (2 points) on 3 shots in 17:39.
•Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 3 shots in 19:22.
•Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 4 shots in 17:34.

Full report: shot map, shifts, lines, box score →

Seattle Kraken beat Nashville Predators 4–1

Seattle Kraken beat Nashville Predators 4–1 at home. Matty Beniers (SEA) led the scoring with 2G 0A. NSH's first power-play unit (Stamkos, Josi, O'Reilly, Forsberg and Evangelista) scored 1 power-play goal on 1 attempt in 1:50 together.

•Matty Beniers had two goals (2 points) on 2 shots in 17:55.
•NSH's first power-play unit (Stamkos, Josi, O'Reilly, Forsberg and Evangelista) scored 1 power-play goal on 1 attempt in 1:50 together.
•Ryker Evans (SEA) played 20:48, +3:02 up on his 17:46 season average over 66 games.

Full report: shot map, shifts, lines, box score →

Goal of the night

The hardest tracked shot of the night: Sidney Crosby for PIT vs DET, 86.3 mph. Full game report →

Sidney Crosby (PIT vs DET): Point shot, 2 passes, 86.3 mph shot.

Top performers

Player	Game	G	A	P	SOG	Hits	Blk	TOI	PP
Sebastian Aho CAR	vs MTL	2	3	5	3	2	1	16:50	—
Auston Matthews TOR	vs WPG	3	1	4	5	0	1	19:42	—
Dylan Guenther UTA	at NYI	3	1	4	3	0	0	15:23	—
Mark Scheifele WPG	at TOR	2	1	3	8	1	0	20:28	—
Nick Schmaltz UTA	at NYI	2	1	3	4	0	0	18:07	—
Sidney Crosby PIT	vs DET	2	1	3	4	0	0	18:27	—
Andrei Svechnikov CAR	vs MTL	1	2	3	5	1	0	17:14	—
Clayton Keller UTA	at NYI	1	2	3	3	1	0	16:32	—
Nikita Kucherov TBL	at LAK	1	2	3	2	0	1	20:51	—
Mikhail Sergachev UTA	at NYI	1	2	3	2	0	0	20:36	—
Nikolaj Ehlers CAR	vs MTL	1	2	3	2	0	0	16:54	—
Corey Perry LAK	vs TBL	0	3	3	2	0	0	11:29	—

Line changes

New look for PIT: Chinakhov–McGroarty–Kindel skated 7:06 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (46.2% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →

Goalie notes

Goalie	Game	Dec	SA	GA	SV%
Logan Thompson WSH	at OTT	L	32	4	.875
Cam Talbot DET	at PIT	O	31	4	.871
Eric Comrie WPG	at TOR	L	30	6	.800
Leevi Meriläinen OTT	vs WSH	W	29	3	.897
Arturs Silovs PIT	vs DET	W	27	3	.889
Jakub Dobes MTL	at CAR	W	25	5	.800
Spencer Knight CHI	vs DAL	W	25	3	.880
Philipp Grubauer SEA	vs NSH	W	25	1	.960
Dennis Hildeby TOR	vs WPG	W	23	1	.957
Darcy Kuemper LAK	vs TBL	L	23	4	.826
Karel Vejmelka UTA	at NYI	W	22	2	.909
Brandon Bussi CAR	vs MTL	L	22	6	.727
Juuse Saros NSH	at SEA	L	22	3	.864
Jake Oettinger DAL	at CHI	L	21	4	.810
Jonas Johansson TBL	at LAK	W	20	3	.850
Joseph Woll TOR	vs WPG	—	17	4	.765
David Rittich NYI	vs UTA	L	14	5	.643
Marcus Hogberg NYI	vs UTA	—	7	2	.714

Next up: tonight's starting goalies, today's line combinations and today's games. Takeaways are generated from the numbers with fixed rules; nothing is written by a language model.