NHL Recaps: Wednesday, Jan 7, 2026

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

Game recaps

Final

Full report

Dallas Stars

Washington Capitals

Dallas Stars beat Washington Capitals 4–1

Dallas Stars beat Washington Capitals 4–1 at WSH. Sam Steel (DAL) led the scoring with 1G 1A. Ryan Leonard (WSH) played 22:07, +7:48 up on his 14:19 season average over 74 games.

•Sam Steel had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 1 shot in 18:16.
•Ryan Leonard (WSH) played 22:07, +7:48 up on his 14:19 season average over 74 games.
•Logan Thompson (WSH) faced 35 shots and stopped 32 (.914), +8 against a season average of 27.4; the loss.

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

Montreal Canadiens beat Calgary Flames 4–1

Montreal Canadiens beat Calgary Flames 4–1 at home. Alexandre Texier (MTL) led the scoring with 1G 2A. New look for CGY: Kadri–Huberdeau–Klapka skated 8:32 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (25% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

•Alexandre Texier had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 3 shots in 13:57.
•Cole Caufield had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 4 shots in 14:43.
•New look for CGY: Kadri–Huberdeau–Klapka skated 8:32 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (25% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

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

Chicago Blackhawks rout St. Louis Blues 7–3

Chicago Blackhawks beat St. Louis Blues 7–3 at home. Connor Murphy (CHI) led the scoring with 1G 1A.

•Connor Murphy had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 19:08.
•Landon Slaggert had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 12:47.
•Louis Crevier had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 2 shots in 17:35.

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

Utah Mammoth beat Ottawa Senators 3–1

Utah Mammoth beat Ottawa Senators 3–1 at home. Clayton Keller (UTA) led the scoring with 0G 2A. New look for OTT: Batherson–Cozens–Stützle skated 8:15 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (90.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

•Clayton Keller had 2 assists (2 points) on 1 shot in 22:31.
•New look for OTT: Batherson–Cozens–Stützle skated 8:15 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (90.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.
•New look for OTT: Zetterlund–Tkachuk–Pinto skated 6:09 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (15% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games.

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

San Jose Sharks edge Los Angeles Kings 4–3 (OT)

San Jose Sharks beat Los Angeles Kings 4–3 in overtime at LAK. Macklin Celebrini (SJS) led the scoring with 1G 2A. SJS's first power-play unit (Orlov, Toffoli, Wennberg, Eklund and Celebrini) scored 1 power-play goal on 14 attempts in 3:29 together.

•Macklin Celebrini had a goal and 2 assists (3 points) on 7 shots in 25:12.
•Alex Turcotte had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 4 shots in 17:22.
•Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist (2 points) on 4 shots in 22:26.

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

Goal of the night

The hardest tracked shot of the night: Alex Laferriere for LAK vs SJS, 80.3 mph. Full game report →

Alex Laferriere (LAK vs SJS): Deflection, 0 passes, 80.3 mph shot.

Top performers

Player	Game	G	A	P	SOG	Hits	Blk	TOI	PP
Macklin Celebrini SJS	at LAK	1	2	3	7	1	0	25:12	—
Alexandre Texier MTL	vs CGY	1	2	3	3	0	1	13:57	—
Kevin Fiala LAK	vs SJS	1	1	2	4	3	0	22:26	—
Alex Turcotte LAK	vs SJS	1	1	2	4	1	0	17:22	—
Cole Caufield MTL	vs CGY	1	1	2	4	0	0	14:43	—
Connor Murphy CHI	vs STL	1	1	2	2	0	4	19:08	—
Louis Crevier CHI	vs STL	1	1	2	2	2	2	17:35	—
Landon Slaggert CHI	vs STL	1	1	2	2	1	1	12:47	—
Sam Steel DAL	at WSH	1	1	2	1	0	0	18:16	—
Oliver Moore CHI	vs STL	1	1	2	1	0	0	14:37	—
Joel Edmundson LAK	vs SJS	0	2	2	2	0	2	20:13	—
Matt Grzelcyk CHI	vs STL	0	2	2	1	1	1	16:59	—

Line changes

New look for DAL: Duchene–Blackwell–Hryckowian skated 6:59 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (38.5% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →
New look for CGY: Kadri–Huberdeau–Klapka skated 8:32 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (25% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →
New look for CGY: Farabee–Sharangovich–Zary skated 6:12 together at 5v5 as the L4 trio (61.1% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →
New look for OTT: Batherson–Cozens–Stützle skated 8:15 together at 5v5 as the L2 trio (90.9% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →
New look for OTT: Zetterlund–Tkachuk–Pinto skated 6:09 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (15% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →
New look for UTA: Kerfoot–Tanev–Yamamoto skated 7:28 together at 5v5 as the L3 trio (22.2% of the shot attempts), a combination not used in the team's last 5 games. Report →

Goalie notes

Goalie	Game	Dec	SA	GA	SV%
Dustin Wolf CGY	at MTL	L	36	4	.889
Logan Thompson WSH	vs DAL	L	35	3	.914
Jordan Binnington STL	at CHI	L	35	7	.800
Karel Vejmelka UTA	vs OTT	W	33	1	.970
Spencer Knight CHI	vs STL	W	30	3	.900
Jacob Fowler MTL	vs CGY	W	29	1	.966
Darcy Kuemper LAK	vs SJS	O	28	4	.857
Yaroslav Askarov SJS	at LAK	W	26	3	.885
Casey DeSmith DAL	at WSH	W	24	1	.958
Leevi Meriläinen OTT	at UTA	L	21	3	.857

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.