NHL Recaps: Sunday, Jan 4, 2026

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

Game recaps

Final / OT

Full report

Montreal Canadiens

Dallas Stars

Montreal Canadiens edge Dallas Stars 4–3 (OT)

Montreal Canadiens beat Dallas Stars 4–3 in overtime at DAL. Wyatt Johnston (DAL) led the scoring with 2G 0A. MTL's first power-play unit (Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson, Slafkovský and Demidov) scored 1 power-play goal on 12 attempts in 4:49 together.

•Wyatt Johnston had two goals (2 points) on 3 shots in 22:48.
•Juraj Slafkovský had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 4 shots in 20:21.
•Lane Hutson had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 1 shot in 27:58.

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

Final / OT

Full report

Pittsburgh Penguins

Columbus Blue Jackets

Pittsburgh Penguins edge Columbus Blue Jackets 5–4 (OT)

Pittsburgh Penguins beat Columbus Blue Jackets 5–4 in overtime at CBJ. Kirill Marchenko (CBJ) led the scoring with 1G 1A. PIT won it by committee.

•Kirill Marchenko had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 4 shots in 16:45.
•Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 3 shots in 24:34.
•Zach Werenski had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 25:54.

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

Florida Panthers edge Colorado Avalanche 2–1

Florida Panthers beat Colorado Avalanche 2–1 at home. Sam Bennett (FLA) led the scoring with 1G 0A. Gabriel Landeskog (COL) played 5:58, −10:37 down on his 16:35 season average over 59 games.

•Gabriel Landeskog (COL) played 5:58, −10:37 down on his 16:35 season average over 59 games.
•Brock Nelson (COL) played 25:15, +5:40 up on his 19:35 season average over 80 games.
•Aaron Ekblad (FLA) played 26:57, +4:32 up on his 22:25 season average over 71 games.

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

Carolina Hurricanes beat New Jersey Devils 3–1

Carolina Hurricanes beat New Jersey Devils 3–1 at NJD. Taylor Hall (CAR) led the scoring with 1G 1A. Jordan Martinook (CAR) played 19:56, +5:10 up on his 14:46 season average over 76 games.

•Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 4 shots in 15:07.
•Jordan Martinook (CAR) played 19:56, +5:10 up on his 14:46 season average over 76 games.
•Jesper Bratt (NJD) played 23:25, +4:43 up on his 18:42 season average over 81 games.

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

Chicago Blackhawks edge Vegas Golden Knights 3–2 (OT)

Chicago Blackhawks beat Vegas Golden Knights 3–2 in overtime at home. Tyler Bertuzzi (CHI) led the scoring with 3G 0A. New look for VGK: Stone–Barbashev–Eichel skated 12:16 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (44.4% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

•Tyler Bertuzzi had a hat trick (3 points) on 5 shots in 19:01.
•Andre Burakovsky had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 18:27.
•New look for VGK: Stone–Barbashev–Eichel skated 12:16 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (44.4% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

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

Goal of the night

The hardest tracked shot of the night: Lane Hutson for MTL @ DAL, 75.7 mph. Full game report →

Lane Hutson (MTL @ DAL): Cycle, 0 passes, 75.7 mph shot.

Top performers

Player	Game	G	A	P	SOG	Hits	Blk	TOI	PP
Tyler Bertuzzi CHI	vs VGK	3	0	3	5	0	1	19:01	—
Wyatt Johnston DAL	vs MTL	2	0	2	3	0	2	22:48	—
Juraj Slafkovský MTL	at DAL	1	1	2	4	1	0	20:21	—
Kirill Marchenko CBJ	vs PIT	1	1	2	4	0	1	16:45	—
Taylor Hall CAR	at NJD	1	1	2	4	1	0	15:07	—
Sidney Crosby PIT	at CBJ	1	1	2	3	1	0	24:34	—
Zach Werenski CBJ	vs PIT	1	1	2	2	0	1	25:54	—
Lane Hutson MTL	at DAL	1	1	2	1	2	0	27:58	—
Denton Mateychuk CBJ	vs PIT	0	2	2	2	0	2	25:01	—
Phillip Danault MTL	at DAL	0	2	2	2	0	1	16:40	—
Ben Kindel PIT	at CBJ	0	2	2	2	0	0	14:01	—
Andre Burakovsky CHI	vs VGK	0	2	2	1	1	0	18:27	—

Line changes

New look for VGK: Stone–Barbashev–Eichel skated 12:16 together at 5v5 as the L1 trio (44.4% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →
New look for VGK: Hertl–Marner–Dorofeyev skated 11:34 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (57.1% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →
New look for VGK: Saad–Howden–Holtz skated 9:44 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (18.8% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →

Goalie notes

Goalie	Game	Dec	SA	GA	SV%
Jet Greaves CBJ	vs PIT	O	43	5	.884
Jake Allen NJD	vs CAR	L	29	3	.931
Brandon Bussi CAR	at NJD	W	29	1	.966
Jake Oettinger DAL	vs MTL	O	28	4	.857
Daniil Tarasov FLA	vs COL	W	28	1	.964
Samuel Montembeault MTL	at DAL	W	27	3	.889
Arturs Silovs PIT	at CBJ	W	25	4	.840
Scott Wedgewood COL	at FLA	L	25	2	.920
Akira Schmid VGK	at CHI	O	20	3	.850
Arvid Soderblom CHI	vs VGK	W	15	2	.867

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.