NHL Recaps: Friday, Jan 2, 2026

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

Game recaps

Final

Full report

Vegas Golden Knights

St. Louis Blues

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.

•Alexey Toropchenko had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 13:28.
•Oskar Sundqvist had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 1 shot in 11:24.
•Mathieu Joseph had 2 assists (2 points) in 11:31.

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

New York Rangers rout Florida Panthers 5–1

New York Rangers beat Florida Panthers 5–1 at FLA. Mika Zibanejad (NYR) led the scoring with 3G 2A. NYR's first power-play unit (Trocheck, Zibanejad, Panarin, Fox and Lafrenière) scored 2 power-play goals on 7 attempts in 3:44 together.

•Mika Zibanejad had a hat trick and 2 assists (5 points) on 6 shots in 22:06.
•Artemi Panarin had two goals and an assist (3 points) on 5 shots in 18:29.
•Alexis Lafrenière had 3 assists (3 points) on 2 shots in 18:31.

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

Seattle Kraken edge Vancouver Canucks 4–3 (SO)

Seattle Kraken beat Vancouver Canucks 4–3 in a shootout at VAN. Jake DeBrusk (VAN) led the scoring with 1G 2A. VAN's first power-play unit (Boeser, DeBrusk, Pettersson, Sherwood and Willander) scored 2 power-play goals on 4 attempts in 1:18 together.

•Jake DeBrusk had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 5 shots in 18:12.
•VAN's first power-play unit (Boeser, DeBrusk, Pettersson, Sherwood and Willander) scored 2 power-play goals on 4 attempts in 1:18 together.
•New look for VAN: Kane–Boeser–Sasson skated 12:20 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (50% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

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

Minnesota Wild beat Anaheim Ducks 5–2

Minnesota Wild beat Anaheim Ducks 5–2 at ANA. Quinn Hughes (MIN) led the scoring with 0G 4A. MIN's first power-play unit (Zuccarello, Eriksson Ek, Kaprizov, Hughes and Boldy) scored 1 power-play goal on 11 attempts in 4:39 together.

•Quinn Hughes had 4 assists (4 points) on 2 shots in 23:16.
•Danila Yurov had two goals (2 points) on 2 shots in 14:21.
•Yakov Trenin had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 12:14.

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

Goal of the night

The hardest tracked shot of the night: Cale Fleury for SEA @ VAN, 74.7 mph. Full game report →

Cale Fleury (SEA @ VAN): Forecheck turnover, 2 passes, 74.7 mph shot.

Top performers

Player	Game	G	A	P	SOG	Hits	Blk	TOI	PP
Mika Zibanejad NYR	at FLA	3	2	5	6	0	0	22:06	—
Quinn Hughes MIN	at ANA	0	4	4	2	1	1	23:16	—
Artemi Panarin NYR	at FLA	2	1	3	5	0	0	18:29	—
Jake DeBrusk VAN	vs SEA	1	2	3	5	1	1	18:12	—
Alexis Lafrenière NYR	at FLA	0	3	3	2	0	1	18:31	—
Danila Yurov MIN	at ANA	2	0	2	2	0	0	14:21	—
Yakov Trenin MIN	at ANA	1	1	2	2	5	0	12:14	—
Alexey Toropchenko STL	vs VGK	1	1	2	2	1	0	13:28	—
Oskar Sundqvist STL	vs VGK	1	1	2	1	1	1	11:24	—
Joel Eriksson Ek MIN	at ANA	0	2	2	2	1	1	18:42	—
Vincent Trocheck NYR	at FLA	0	2	2	1	1	0	20:30	—
Pavel Buchnevich STL	vs VGK	0	2	2	1	0	0	15:04	—

Line changes

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. Report →
New look for VAN: Kane–Boeser–Sasson skated 12:20 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (50% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →
New look for VAN: DeBrusk–Pettersson–Karlsson skated 11:31 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (64% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →
New look for VAN: Hoglander–Räty–Ohgren skated 9:35 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (62.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →

Goalie notes

Goalie	Game	Dec	SA	GA	SV%
Igor Shesterkin NYR	at FLA	W	37	1	.973
Lukas Dostal ANA	vs MIN	L	34	5	.853
Thatcher Demko VAN	vs SEA	O	28	3	.893
Filip Gustavsson MIN	at ANA	W	28	2	.929
Joel Hofer STL	vs VGK	W	25	3	.880
Joey Daccord SEA	at VAN	W	24	3	.875
Carter Hart VGK	at STL	L	19	4	.789
Sergei Bobrovsky FLA	vs NYR	L	19	4	.789

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.