A third-period onslaught by the Vegas Golden Knights proved to be too much for the Nashville Predators, snapping their three-game win streak in a 7-2 loss on Sunday in Las Vegas.
It was the Golden Knights' seventh straight win.
Vegas scored five goals in the third period and seven unanswered after the Predators took a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Luke Evangelista tipped in a Roman Josi shot 14 minutes into the period to put Nashville up early. It was the third straight game that the Predators have scored the first goal of the game and Josi's ninth point in four games.
Nashville held the lead throughout the majority of the second period until Alexander Holtz and Shea Theodore scored 1:05 apart to swing the lead in favor of Vegas.
In the third, five different Golden Knights players scored, eventually turning a 2-1 lead into 7-1. Five different players had at least two points.
In the final minute of the game, Filip Forsberg scored on the power play to cut Vegas' lead down to five. It was Forsberg's fourth point in two games and Josi's, who had the secondary assist, 10th point in four games.
Ryan O'Reilly had the primary assist, which was his seventh point in four games.
Justus Annuen played the entire game, allowing seven goals on 36 shots and making 29 saves. The loss snaps a three-game win streak for the Predators' netminder.
Nashville was outshot 36-29. Despite the wide loss, the Predators logged just 4 minutes in penalties and killed both penalties.
The Predators fall to 23-21-4 on the season and are still a point outside of a Wild Card spot. Their next game is against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena at 7 p.m. CST.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Alexander Holtz and Shea Theodore scored in a 1:05 span late in the second period and the Vegas Golden Knights had two more two-goal sprees to rout the Nashville Predators 7-1 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory.
Pavel Dorofeyev and captain Mark Stone added goals in a three-minute span in the third, with Dorofeyev scoring his 20th of the season and Stone getting his 10th goal in 11 games and 18th of the season. Stone has a career-best 11-game points streak.
Cole Reinhardt and Mitch Marner scored two more goals in quick succession, striking in a 50-second span, and Keegan Kolesar capped the five-goal third. Akira Schmid made 26 saves.
Luke Evangelista and Filip Forsberg scored for Nashville, and Justus Annunen stopped 29 shots. The Predators had won three straight, the last a 7-3 victory at Colorado on Friday night
Forsberg scored on a power play for Nashville in the final minute. Evangelista opened the scoring with 5:50 left in the first period.
Jonathan Marchessault, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoff MVP in Vegas’ 2023 championship, was activated by Nashville on Saturday after missing 14 games because of a lower-body injury. He’s in his second season with the Predators after seven with Vegas.
Up next
Predators: Host Buffalo on Tuesday night.
Golden Knights: Host Philadelphia on Monday night.
And, unfortunately, the Penguins’ shootout demons got the best of them once again.
Columbus defeated Pittsburgh in a four-round shootout, 4-3, after the Penguins tied the game late in regulation to force overtime. Penguins’ goaltender Arturs Silovs stopped 22 of 25 shots by the Jackets - and stopped two of four in the shootout - while Jackets’ goaltender Elvis Merzlikens was outstanding, stopping 29 of 32 and making some huge saves in overtime to force the shootout for Columbus.
The Blue Jackets did get on the board first, as ex-Penguin Zach Aston-Reese scored his first goal of the season by beating Penguins’ defenseman Kris Letang to the puck with his stick and firing it in at the net-front to make it 1-0.
But, after that goal, the Penguins took over the rest of the period, outshooting Columbus, 11-4, and outscoring them, too. It started when Connor Clifton got the puck in the right circle and snapped one toward the net, which beat Jackets’ goaltender Elvis Merzlikens glove-side to give the blueliner his first goal and point of the season - both firsts as a Penguin.
Then, nearing the end of the period, there was a fast-developing play down low where the puck was roped around the boards, and Sidney Crosby was waiting for it in the left corner. He immediately slapped a pass to the low-slot area, where Rickard Rakell put it home to give the Penguins the 2-1 lead.
But the Blue Jackets made a push in the second period. Kirill Marchenko registered his 18th of the season on a shot from the right circle to tie the game at 2-2, and then, the Penguins began to get into some penalty trouble, which seemed to disrupt their flow. Within the last two and half minutes of the middle frame, another former Penguin, Danton Heinen, tipped an Erik Gudbranson shot from the right point and past Silovs to make it 3-2 in favor of the Jackets.
And the score remained that way until late in regulation. With the goaltender pulled and exactly one minute remaining in regulation, Kris Letang directed a shot-pass right to the tape of Crosby, who was perched to the right of Merzlikens. As he's done a thousand times, Crosby redirected it into the net, and the Penguins tied things at 3-3 to force overtime.
As has been the case in most overtime periods this season, the Penguins controlled play, dominating possession and getting several high-danger scoring chances. However, they could not finish, and the shootout was forced - which has been a large area of weakness for Pittsburgh this season.
The shootout went four rounds, as ex-Jacket Egor Chinakhov rifled his second shootout goal for the Penguins to force another shot after Kent Johnson had already beaten Silovs earlier. Silovs stopped Marchenko, but then Bryan Rust failed to score, and Charlie Coyle came through for the Jackets after that to give Columbus the 4-3 win.
"We're just going to keep working on it," Silovs said. "I think we're getting better, but I think, still, there's another level."
And as for shootouts being more of a mental thing for the team, given the Penguins' 1-7 record in them??
"For sure," Silovs said. "You want to win in the shootout. I think we played a really good overtime. And whether that means scoring a late goal in the third to tie the game, get a big point... I mean, yeah, for sure, after that, you want to win the game. But things happen the way they happen, and [you] just get ready for the next one."
- It feels like there is just one thing off in this lineup right now, despite everything largely going right for the Penguins. And I think it's the configuration of their second and third lines.
I do think Evgeni Malkin and Chinakhov should continue to be iced together. They have developed chemistry, and Chinakhov is the type of player you want paired with an elite playmaker because of his world-class shot.
But I think Ben Kindel should get another shot centering that line. I liked the dynamic of Tommy Novak better with Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau, and - for whatever reason, injury-related or not - the Penguins seem reluctant to put Malkin back at center, even between the big boys.
It's just a small tweak. But I think both players would benefit from that switch.
- This was a huge, huge point for the Penguins, regardless of whether or not they got the two.
They are about to embark on a four-game Western road swing, which is always kind of a toss-up for them. With losses by the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals Saturday, they are also only two points out of second place in the Metropolitan Division with a game in hand on the Isles.
They need to keep banking points however they can, even if I'm going to circle back to this point in a minute.
- The Penguins might not have been able to pull this one out, but good for Chinakhov getting that goal in the shootout against his old team. And, to cap it off, he plowed into Merzlikens - one of his good friends - after ripping it past him.
I keep saying it, but his shot is so impressive.
Didn't win, but this move by Chinny in the shootout with the game on the line...
- Kindel and Malkin came so, so close to closing out the game in overtime. Kindel made a strong puck play behind the net, and - from his stomach - shoveled the puck to a wide-open Malkin at the net-front. Malkin didn't bury it. Then, he and Kindel each got two more opportunities to put it in, and they didn't.
Credit to Merzlikens. He was very good late in this game, and he was good again in the overtime. It's just unfortunate for Kindel, who is generating offense regularly but has gone 16 games without a goal.
- Malkin was on another planet Saturday. He had his gallop, and he looked to be in vintage form. The first line was dangerous on every shift, too.
If the big guys can drive play and continue to keep it going on offense, I think this team will be fine.
- Despite strong defensive efforts in most games since the holiday break, I did not think the Penguins were quite as sharp Saturday.
They were credited with 14 giveaways - I counted more - and they gave up far more odd-man breaks than we've grown used to seeing lately, especially in the second period. Even if they didn't have their best throughout the 60 minutes, however, they still did enough in the goaltending department and when it counted to earn a point.
"I thought in the second, they got some momentum," Crosby said. "Arty made some big saves. There were some chances on both sides, but I thought, for the most part, we've been defending pretty hard. There's always things that we can clean up, but I think our mindset's in the right place."
- Alright. Yes, they got a huge point. This isn’t news, but overtime and shootouts are a legitimate problem for the Penguins, and - at the end of the day - it is costing them points in the standings.
The Penguins are 4-11 in overtime and shootouts, including a 1-7 record in the shootout, While shootouts are a very obvious problem, so is the Penguins’ inability to close out games in overtime.
For the vast majority of overtime this season, the Penguins have dominated possession and generated a lot of scoring chances. They simply haven't finished enough.
Far too many games are being decided by the shootout to begin with, especially given the way the Penguins play in overtime. There was only one NHL team that had more than seven shootouts for the entire 2024-25 season, and that was the Philadelphia Flyers with nine.
The Penguins have already played in eight, and it's January.
Jan 17, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Charlie Coyle (3) scores on Pittsburgh Penguins center goalie Arturs Silovs (37) in a shoot out at PPG Paints Arena. Columbus won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images
As for the overtime period, the Penguins need to be using Chinakhov. He has speed, puck skills, and that shot, which check some boxes for a player who should be out during that time. They need to finish more, and he should, theoretically, help them do that. The Penguins have also missed Erik Karlsson in overtime in two of the last three games, and there is no replacement for him.
As for the shootouts, Rakell and Chinakhov should, in fact, be regulars. But Crosby has just one shootout goal in eight attempts this season, and I'm not so sure the Penguins shouldn't give someone else a go right now.
And, sorry folks: You cannot bring a cold goaltender into a shootout. So, unfortunately, they're at the mercy of whoever happens to be in net. And, well, it's mostly been Silovs. It goes both ways for the Penguins in terms of goaltending and lack of finishing ability, and the Penguins do practice shootouts.
So, they simply need to find a way to close out games before the shootout because these losses cannot continue to happen.
CHICAGO- The Chicago Blackhawks put on an incredible ceremony on Saturday night at the United Center. This was to celebrate "The Banner Years", which honored the teams that won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013, and 2015.
Over 25 alumni who won at least one Cup with Chicago were in attendance. The ceremony, hosted by Pat Foley and Eddie Olczyk, was a successful way of celebrating the best era the Chicago Blackhawks ever had.
The modern-day Blackhawks played poorly for the first 10 minutes of the first period, but Arvid Soderblom made some big saves to keep them in it. Then, they started to play like a team inspired by those who came before them and won championships.
First, Ryan Greene ended a goal-drought with his 6th of the season at 16:14 of the first period. He scored it with a beautiful shot shortly after their power play expired. Andre Burakovsky made a nice pass to Greene after keeping the play alive in the corner.
At 18:14 of the first period, Wyatt Kaiser found the puck high in the zone and skated it a bit closer to the net before sniping one home for a 2-0 lead. It looked like the Blackhawks were well on their way to victory at that point.
It took very little time for the Bruins to get back on track once the second period began. At 1:55 of the middle frame, Elias Linholm made a pass as Charlie McAvoy was walking down the slot, and McAvoy took a great shot to get the Bruins on the board. From there, they were off and running.
McAvoy's goal was the first of five unanswered for the Bruins. Mason Lohrei (twice), Viktor Arvidson, and Marat Khusnutdinov were the goal scorers for Boston.
The Blackhawks have now lost three straight at the hands of the Bruins' sixth straight win. This stretch has seen their offense struggle to find the back of the net.
Connor Bedard has been picking up assists since coming back from his injury, but he hasn't scored yet. The loss is not on him, but the team does have a much better chance to win if he finds ways to score. Expect a goal-scoring breakout from him soon.
This young Blackhawks team is going to go through stretches like this. They are not a well-seasoned bunch, but they have an incredible amount of talent that should allow them to pull out of it in waves.
The Blackhawks are back in action on Monday night, when Jonathan Toews makes his return to the United Center as a road player for the first time as a member of the Winnipeg Jets.
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If that was meant to be the Senators' 30th birthday gift for their arena, the Canadian Tire Centre will be first in line to return it in the morning.
Cole Caufield had two goals and an assist, including the overtime winner, to give the Montreal Canadiens a 6–5 victory in Ottawa. Jake Sanderson had a goal and three assists for the Sens, who also lost to Montreal in the rink's first game 30 years ago tonight.
Ottawa overcame a slow start, some big mistakes, and some bad penalties, which is usually a recipe for disaster. But despite falling behind 2–0 after 20 minutes, the Senators generally controlled the rest of the game, outshooting the Canadiens 34–19 on the night and taking a 5–3 lead late into the third.
In hindsight, those mistakes cost the Senators some surplus room for error that they could have used during their late-game implosion.
Down by two, Montreal pulled their goalie early, and it paid off when Juraj Slafkovský scored his second goal of the game with 4:34 to play, deflecting a point shot with the shaft of his stick—one that just as easily could have ended up in the 10th row. Just over a minute later, Alexandre Carrier fired a slap shot from the point that somehow fooled Senators goaltender Leevi Merilainen, tying the game.
In overtime, the Sens had a great chance on a 2-on-1. A saucer pass attempt by Claude Giroux sailed over the stick of Tim Stützle, who was all in on a one-timer. When Stutzle missed it, he slid into the end boards and out of the play. Meanwhile, Giroux went off on a line change, leading to the easiest 2-on-1 the other way.
Caufield, who may have broken up Giroux's saucer pass, hustled up ice and was thinking shot all the way, and why wouldn't he be? He beat Merilainen with a slap shot to seal the win.
It was yet another rough outing for Merilainen, who allowed six goals on just 19 shots. In his 20 appearances this season, he's supplied .900 or better goaltending just five times. And there was no one defending him in the room either.
"It's hard to give him a pass," head coach Travis Green told the media after the game. "You know, six goals on 18 shots. I'm sure he'd like to have one or two back. I feel bad for him."
Jake Sanderson didn't mince words either, which is usually standard operating procedure in NHL dressing rooms.
"I think Leevi made some good saves," Sanderson said. "But I think at the end of the day, you got to make more than 10 saves to win a game."
Yikes.
If James Reimer can provide even average goaltending tomorrow in Detroit, Merilainen will almost certainly be Belleville-bound when Linus Ullmark returns to work, as he simply bears no resemblance to the goalie we saw last season.
In fairness, there were glitches in front of him too. Thomas Chabot had one of his worst games as a pro, and the coaching staff surely has to be reconsidering his role on the penalty kill.
The team was also hampered early by a steady stream of dumb penalties.
After beating struggling teams this week like the Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers, a victory over the rival Canadiens would have been much more of a statement win. They did come away with a point, but it was a highly discouraging evening for the club and its fan base, especially with the rink filled mostly with Habs fans.
We'll see what the Sens have left in the tank, physically and emotionally, for another rival game on Sunday. This one will be on the road against the rested Red Wings, who don't like the Senators any more than Montreal does. They'd love nothing more than to kick the rival Sens when they're down.
Cal Ritchie (64) battles for position in front of the net during the Islanders' 4-2 loss to the Flames on Jan. 17, 2026 in Calgary.
CALGARY, Alberta — Before the Islanders’ 4-2 loss Saturday against the Flames, coach Patrick Roy was asked about something he’d said two days prior: that he keeps waiting for Matthew Schaefer to hit the rookie wall, and it still hasn’t happened.
The arc of Schaefer’s rookie season has indeed defied any reasonable expectations. For his fellow rookie Cal Ritchie, a highly touted prospect in his own right, though not with the No. 1 overall pedigree of Schaefer, it’s been a little more conventional.
That means the play he made on Calgary’s second goal, when Adam Klapka boxed out Ritchie in front of the net, should be taken as part of the process.
Cal Ritchie (64) battles for position in front of the net during the Islanders’ 4-2 loss to the Flames on Jan. 17, 2026 in Calgary. NHLI via Getty Images
That goal did prompt Roy to start messing with his lines, occasionally skipping over Ritchie on an afternoon when the Islanders as a whole were struggling to capitalize on their chances.
Overall, though, the head coach is more than happy with where Ritchie’s game is right now.
“Played really well against the Oilers,” Roy said of Ritchie before the game. “I was very happy. He made a super nice play on that power-play goal to Anthony Duclair [Thursday night]. I’m very pleased with him.”
Indeed, even Ritchie’s struggles haven’t been without flashes. The spin-o-rama pass he made to Duclair, for example, came on a night where Ritchie’s line didn’t record a shot on net at 5-on-5. Even on Saturday, Ritchie came away with an assist on Anders Lee’s 6-on-5 goal.
Roy said his philosophy with Schaefer is: “Let him play.”
Patrick Roy on the Islanders bench during an Islanders game earlier this season. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
It doesn’t seem to be much different with Ritchie.
“Nobody tried to monitor me when I was playing,” Roy said. “Give [him] the rope and let the guy play.”
David Rittich didn’t have any sentimental words about facing his former team when asked about returning to Calgary on Friday.
“No. Hell no,” he said. “There is not many guys anyway in that locker room who I played with. Obviously, there are some memories I like to think about, but not sentiment at all.”
The Flames didn’t seem to have any sentiment for Rittich — who returned here previously as an L.A. King, Winnipeg Jet and Nashville Predator — either. In his 250th career start, he couldn’t get his first win against his old club, dropping to 0-4-2 in six games against Calgary.
For a third game this season, Samuel Montembeault and the Montreal Canadiens were taking on the Ottawa Senators in the nation’s capital on Saturday night. It’s no secret that these two teams hate each other, and you expect high intensity all around. While the Habs had a 10-point lead over the Sens in the standings going in, Martin St-Louis’ men knew this divisional duel was highly significant, with both the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins coming up in their rearview mirror.
While the game started well for Montreal, when Ottawa took two penalties in the first frame and was unable to stop the Habs’ power play, the Canadiens’ domination on the scoreboard would be short-lived in what turned out to be a roller coaster of a game.
Montreal has struggled in the second frame all year long. Before the start of this game, they had a minus-10 differential in that period. That abysmal record got even worse on Saturday night, as the Senators scored four goals on Montembeault in those 20 minutes.
St-Louis has repeated time and time that the fact his team would allow early goals bugged him, and that was once again the case in that duel. Brady Takchuk scored just 42 seconds into the second, but of course, you’re setting yourself up for a fall when you go down two men at the end of the first frame.
Less than three minutes later, Tim Stutzle was allowed to walk in on Montembeault from the goal line, and no one bothered him as he got near and had time to put his stick between his legs for a filthy goal near-side. He had shaken off Alexandre Carrier’s coverage near the face-off dot, and Kapanen failed to close him down, leading to a highlight-reel goal for the German.
Josh Anderson, who was forming a new line with Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher, gave the Canadiens some hope back when he put them back in the lead. Still, the Senators turned up the heat a notch and dictated the rest of the period, scoring two more goals to get their first lead of the game. Montreal now has a minus-13 differential in the second frame.
About The Man Advantage
It looked like the Canadiens would have a good time on the power play when they put up two goals in the first frame. One came from a quick shot by Juraj Slafkovsky from the bumper position, while the other came off a reasonable Cole Caufield individual effort. After these two goals, though, the Habs completely lost confidence.
On their next man advantage, Claude Giroux, who has played on the penalty kill for most of his 19-season NHL career, decided not to let the Canadiens set up their usual “slapshot” play where one player skates up before dropping the puck to Nick Suzuki, who comes in with speed. When he pressured Lane Hutson, who was in the process of taking the puck up the ice, it was like the wheels came off the wagon. For the rest of the game, Montreal struggled to generate much of anything on the man-advantage.
Waking Up Just In Time
After an atrocious second frame and having generated just two shots on goal in the first 15 minutes of the third, the Habs somehow managed to get back in the game when St-Louis pulled his goaltender. Danault won the faceoff, Hutson took a shot, which Slafkovsky deflected to put the Canadiens back within one. Just over a minute later, Carrier tied it up with a slapshot off an Ivan Demidov feed.
Five goals on only 16 shots for the Canadiens, clearly not a great save percentage for the Senators’ goaltender, but a great shooting percentage for the Habs. Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, even though Montembeault didn’t have a great game, he was solid in the third frame as Ottawa kept peppering his net with shots. Shane Pinto had an opportunity to deal the final blow to the Habs on a breakaway, but Montembeault kept them in.
The overtime period didn’t last long. Hutson looked intent on wrapping things up right away, but he was stopped, and Stutzle and Giroux went the other way on a two-on-one, but the German fanned on the puck. Hutson got it back and launched a long pass to Caufield, who opted to shoot on the two-on-one with Suzuki, scoring his second of the night and 24th of the season.
For much of the game, the Canadiens were far from the better team on the ice, but in the end, they found a way to win in an exciting fashion. Of course, a win in regulation would have been better, but given how dominant the Senators were for long stretches, the Canadiens can count their blessings for those two points. After the game, St-Louis said his team didn't really deserve that win, something he's not said often this season, even when he could have.
Columbus gets the first goal of the game, a shot from Zach Werenski hits Noel Acciari and drops right to Zach Aston-Reese. Aston-Reese is quicker than Silovs as his quick shot slides on in. 1-0 CBJ to open things up 2:42 into the proceedings.
The Pens answer back in short order, matching the unlikely goal-scorer of Aston-Reese with a player scoring his first of the season for himself in Connor Clifton. Nice job by Clifton to stay activated deep in the offensive zone and finish off the goal to tie the game.
A Columbus turnover in their own end happened at the wrong place at the wrong time, and to the wrong guy. Sidney Crosby is there to grab a misplayed puck, he quickly centers the puck for Rickard Rakell to direct on net just as fast. 2-1 lead for the Penguins.
Good reaction from Pittsburgh, Columbus only had two shots after their goal in the last 17+ minutes of the period.
Second period
The Blue Jackets make a strong response early, the Pens get a power play but do little with it and the Columbus momentum keeps building up. They strike when Kirill Marchenko fires up out of no where in the neutral zone to grab a puck on the rush and shoot it in. 2-2 game.
Things don’t get much better for the Pens, most of their opportunities are few and far between. It looks like both teams might get to intermission tied but Danton Heinen redirects an Erik Gudbranson point shot late in the period and Columbus is back in front, 3-2.
Bad period for the Pens, can’t say it was undeserved. Columbus outshot Pittsburgh 13-8 in the period, most of the Pens’ chances were one-offs and not much in the way of consistent pressure.
Third period
Pittsburgh starts the period well by killing an overlap of a second period penalty, Clifton and Crosby flash to get chances that narrowly miss out on hitting the back of the net.
The aggressive play leads to some CBJ chances, Silovs does well to stop Adam Fantilli on a breakaway and fight off a 2-on-1 rush.
The Pens get a glorious opportunity with a late power play with 7:49 to go, still looks bad and doesn’t help.
It takes until about the 1:35 mark to get Silovs out of the net for the extra attacker, it doesn’t take long for the Pens to make it count with another 6v5 goal against Columbus late. Kris Letang shoots for a deflection, Crosby obliges with a typically outstanding redirect into the net past Elvis Merzlikins. 3-3 with 1:01 to go.
Crosby-Malkin-Letang start it out for the Pens. Ben Kindel sneaks on the ice and gets a shot, Merlikins stops him.
Merzlikins keeps the game going with two point-blank stops on Evgeni Malkin. Silovs does his part with a stop on Charlie Coye from righti n front.
Crosby and Novak get really good looks at the net too before time expires but no one scores.
Shootout
The Pens go first, it’s Rakell. Merzlikins stays with the dekes and pokechecks the puck away when Rakell gets too close.
Kent Johnson takes the first turn for Columbus, dekes to the backhand and scores.
—
Crosby is picked to shoot second, he goes with his move to shoot for the glove, but only hits the glove and can’t score.
Fantilli gets the chance to win the game, Silovs makes the stop on the low shot.
—
Egor Chinakhov has to score against his former to keep the game going, his shot to the blocker side hits the net.
Marchenko could win it for CBJ, he was 5/5 on the season but Silovs comes up huge with a stop.
—
Bryan Rust leads off Round 4 with the teams even. He bobbles the puck near the net and doesn’t get much of a shot off.
Coyle goes for the Blue Jackets with yet another chance to win, and this time they do after a strong forehand deke outmaneuvers Silovs.
Some thoughts
A cool little aspect of Malkin playing the wing these days is that sometimes his shift can bleed into when Crosby comes on the ice. That can’t happen when both are centers and change onto the ice for one another. Malkin extended a shift in the first period while the puck was in the offensive zone and got to generate a bonus chance out of it. Fun wrinkle about his move to the wing.
Dan Muse and the Pens look loyal to their goalie rotation, which you can’t knock too much given how well things are going across the board and how condensed the schedule is in this Olympic year. That said, if the concept of rotating goalies is going to stay, the question might shift to how long the team will stay loyal to Silovs being a part of that rotation? That’s a bigger picture question for a different day but one that might be worth asking when Silovs has won eight out of 22 decisions with a GAA over 3 and save percentage under .890% when Joel Blomqvist (.925 save%) and Sergei Murashov (.923%) are performing well and a phone call away for an alternative that could be performing better.
To that end, Moneypuck had Columbus with a 1.4 expected goal total at the point Silovs had surrendered a third goal.
One area Muse has remained too stubbornly loyal to is the shootout order and picking veterans who aren’t performing (Crosby) to go ahead of players who are (Chinakov). Once again, Chinakhov very nearly never even got an opportunity to shoot, the game could have been decided before Round 3 since neither Crosby or Rakell were able to score. This is a very correctable area, maddening to see it continue tonight, and know it’s probably not going to change next time either. It’s tough enough to win shootouts (where the Pens are 1-7 this season) since the goalies aren’t very good at stopping shots, failing to put the shooters in the proper alignment is makes the odds of success even slimer.
This was a sneaky tough position for Pittsburgh to be in, seeing Columbus days after a coaching change (and 2-0-0 coming into the night under Rick Bowness). The former coach seemed to be somewhat unpopular among the players, there’s always that period of revitalization, extra energy and a boost from a new voice coming in. That doesn’t make for an easy opponent, even if it’s not exactly a stacked lineup to deal with. The Pens probably don’t have room to complain too much in the sequence of the schedule since they’ve seen so many opponents in b-2-b situations lately (plus the good fortune of facing Philadelphia last way in full-on collapse mode) but that uncontrollable element worked against them tonight.
Cool to see Clifton get a goal, he played with confidence the rest of the night after that. As mentioned before, the Karlsson departure from the lineup makes for a great opportunity for Clifton to play regularly for the first time in a while. He hasn’t been poor so much as just lacked for the chance. Now it’s here. Clifton was probably one of the more noticeable better players on the ice for the Pens. And yes, I do mean that as a sort of backhanded compliment towards most of the rest of the team that should not have that be the case.
The Pens’ power play (0/3 on the night) might not be the singular reason they didn’t win, but it’s high on the list. Looking back, that early second period power play where they did nothing and Columbus only took off from there was a huge turning point in the game from the dreaded ‘what could have been’ type of thoughts. Then getting a chance to tie the game in the third period and get back in it disappeared without much coming of it. Big turnaround from Thursday night when the power play was incredibly effective (albeit, against a majorly struggling Philadelphia PK played a part in that discrepancy as well).
I don’t have the statistical backup at the moment but boy it sure feels like the 6v5 goals at the end of regulation where a goalie is pulled is way up this season. If not for the whole league, then certainly for the games Pittsburgh has been involved in. Luckily for the Pens, Columbus has been as allergic as they have this season when it comes to preserving third period leads.
Things you don’t see every day is eight total OT shots (and no goals). It usually doesn’t take that many looks at the net to end a game in a 3v3 format.
This game is tough to reconcile the question on if Pittsburgh got a fair shake or not at the end of the day. In some respects, maybe not: the expected goal count was 5.25 – 2.6 in the Pens’ on Moneypuck. On the other hand, the Pens were bad on the power play and had large stretches of unimpressive play. They certainly deserved getting something out of this one, all things considered it would have been pretty nice if someone could have scored in OT. Certainly enough players (Kindel, Malkin, Crosby, Novak) took great shots and had the chance. They couldn’t do that so taking the old school equivalent of a tie (one point) is ultimately fitting.
The next game is about 44 hours from when this one ended, which isn’t too bad. The part about it being, what about 2,500 miles away in Seattle might be the more daunting aspect.
LAS VEGAS -- Former Golden Knight Jonathan Marchessault is expected to return to the ice Saturday night when the Nashville Predators visit Vegas at T-Mobile Arena.
Marchessault was removed from injured reserve earlier in the day, after missing the last 14 games. The 2023 Conn Smythe winner hasn't played since Dec. 17.
Marchessault missed the Predators' first trip to Vegas, a 4-2 New Year's Eve matinee win.
The Predators bring a three-game win streak to Vegas, while the Golden Knights ride a six-game win streak into Saturday night's game at T-Mobile, where Marchessault hoisted the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe trophies three summers ago.
Since joining the Predators, the 35-year-old forward has one goal and one assist against his former employer.
In 28 games this season, Marchessault has 10 points (7 goals, 3 assists).
PHOTO CAPTION: Nashville Predators center Jonathan Marchessault (81) skates with the puck against the St. Louis Blues during the third period at Bridgestone Arena.
Unfortunately for most hockey fans, but perhaps fortunately for the Anaheim Ducks and their supporters, Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar (38) has probably played his last career game against the Ducks. Kopitar announced his retirement from the NHL on the first day of Kings’ training camp before the 2025-26 season.
The Kings drafted Kopitar with the 11th overall pick in the 2005 NHL Draft, out of Södertälje SK of the then-Swedish Elite League. He made his NHL debut at Honda Center on Oct. 6, 2006, against the Ducks, to open the 2006-07 season, a 4-3 Ducks win that will be remembered as Kopitar’s introduction of himself to the NHL and the Ducks as a problem they were going to have to deal with for the duration of his career despite the Ducks going on to win the Stanley Cup in that very season.
Kopitar scored two goals in that game, the first of which was a highlight reel goal where he burned Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger wide, pulled the puck around Conn Smythe-winning goaltender Jean-Sebastian Giguere, and buried from a tough angle. He went on to score a second goal in that game and finished with 22:16 TOI.
That’s how Kopitar’s career started against Anaheim, and he didn’t let up through his entire 20-year career. At the end, he rides off as the player to score the most points against the Anaheim Ducks/Mighty Ducks of Anaheim franchise, with 93 points (32-61=93) in 95 games. He went on to win two Stanley Cups with LA. He was the best player in the only playoff series between the Ducks and Kings franchises, a seven-game Western Conference semi-final matchup in 2014, where he scored nine points (1-8=9), playing his typical brand of detailed, two-way hockey and limiting the impact of the Ducks' top offensive producers.
To accompany his two cups (2012 and 2014), Kopitar’s trophy case includes three Lady Bing trophies, a Mark Messier Leadership Award, and two Selke trophies, an award he’d have won more had it not been for him playing in the same era as Patrice Bergeron and in a later time zone than most awards voters.
Kopitar has played the most games (1491) in a Kings uniform in franchise history and needs just nine more points to become their all-time leading scorer, when he’ll surpass Marcel Dionne (1307). He represented a quiet, lead-by-example brand of leadership that earned him the captaincy in 2016.
Despite the headaches he gave the Ducks franchise, Kopitar played with class, carried it off the ice, and was the catalyst to the “Freeway Faceoff” rivalry from the moment he stepped onto NHL ice that 2006 night in Anaheim and carried that into what was likely his last game against the Ducks, a three-point (all assists) performance that led his club to a 6-1 victory over Anaheim on Dec. 27, 2025.
The Kings and Ducks will face each other for a weekend home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles and Anaheim, respectively. Kopitar was placed on IR on Jan. 10 and will likely be unavailable for this set of games against the Ducks.
Both teams currently sit on the outside, looking in at the 2026 Western Conference playoff picture, leaving the odds of the two meeting in the playoffs at almost zero. If Kopitar has played his last game against the Ducks, his competitive drive will always be respected, and those headaches he gave his rival franchise, the Anaheim Ducks, will linger long after he’s hung ‘em up.
Before Friday’s game in Los Angeles, the Ducks organization presented Kopitar with a VIP tour of Disneyland for ten people. In his 20 years in LA, Kopitar did more for hockey and the growth of the sport in Southern California than all but a few, and it can be argued more than any.
New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt is set to play his 600th NHL game tonight as the Devils take on the Hurricanes.
Bratt made his NHL debut against the Hurricanes in October 2017. Ahead of his milestone game, Bratt shared his thoughts with NJD.tv.
“It’s really special. Time goes fast,” Bratt said. “Super honored and happy to be doing it here in the same place and in front of the same fans I did my first game. It’s going to be a special time.”
In 599 NHL games, Bratt has scored 161 goals and 322 assists. Over his nine seasons with the Devils, Bratt has become a key contributor.
Reflecting on Bratt’s journey since being drafted in the sixth round (162nd pick), head coach Sheldon Keefe offered his perspective on the forward’s career.
"When I've been asked about him and reflect on him and what I observe is a guy that works extremely hard, is extremely focused and disciplined," Keefe said. "How he prepares, how he seeks to improve, how he accepts coaching and information. In that sense, he's an easy guy to coach because he's all about getting better and all about helping the team."
This season, Bratt has appeared in 47 games, earning 36 points (11 G, 25 A). Keefe continued to highlight the left winger’s accomplishments.
“From where he was drafted to how quickly he got into the league to how he found ways to be successful despite being an undersized guy to being a premier player in the league," Keefe said. "Quite a story, great accomplishment for him. I feel like he's just getting started."
The puck will drop at 7 PM tonight.
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Some nights your goalie stands on his head and stuns an offense led by the most dangerous forward in the world, some afternoons you’re down 4-0 before the other team has gotten its 12th shot.
The Islanders lost 4-2 in Calgary despite outshooting and outchancing the Flames, though still making enough mistakes to do themselves in. They outshot the Flames in the first period 10-4, then gave up a second goal early in the second right after Jonathan Drouin missed a golden chance to tie it. The Flames added two more by the midway point to basically put the game out of reach.
After Yan Kuznetsov made it 4-0, J-G Pageau did answer with a sizzler just 32 seconds later to open a little daylight. The building was still announcing Kuznetsov’s goal, and few seemed to realize Pageau’s shot scored.
But overall, the Isles’ chances were rarely dangerous enough, even after pulling David Rittich (15 saves on 19 shots) for a sixth attacker with eight minutes left to go, a stretch that included a power play to skate 6-on-4.
On me for not expressing question correctly but I tried to ask Patrick Roy if he uses analytics or his gut more in determining when is the right time to pull a goalie for an extra skater. Don't think he got what I was asking: "I don't give a shit about analytics, to be honest."
Anders Lee added one consolation goal to reach the 300-goal milestone with three minutes left, while Dustin Wolf narrowly missed getting a goalie goal despite all that time and the fat lead to chase one.
Overall, it just wasn’t the Islanders’ day, and it felt like a bit of Albertan karmic payback after they stole the two points in Edmonton a day and a half prior (not that aggrieved Oilers nor pleased Flames fans would see it that way).
On this trip, the Islanders are stealing some games against better teams (Minnesota, Edmonton) and finding things difficult against weaker teams (Nashville, Winnipeg, Calgary), and that’s probably just and fitting for a team whose higher-risk approach often turns on whether they’re getting a great 60 minutes from their goalie.
Up Next
And the next weak team on the docket is Vancouver, where they’ll meet the Canucks late Monday night.
The Canucks are at the bottom of the league with just 37 points. Hell, they’re even worse than the Rangers…someone in British Columbia should write a strongly worded, poorly proofed letter.
The Philadelphia Flyers are continuing to struggle, as they lost to the New York Rangers by a 6-2 final score on Jan. 17. With this, the Flyers have now lost in each of their last six games.
Now, following their loss to the Rangers, the Flyers have announced some roster moves.
The Flyers have shared that they have placed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 14. In addition, the Flyers have called up blueliner Hunter McDonald from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Ristolainen has not played for the Flyers since their Jan. 12 matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In 13 games so far this season, the right-shot defenseman has recorded zero goals, three assists, 16 hits, 24 blocks, and a minus-3 rating.
McDonald, on the other hand, has spent all of this season down in the AHL with the Phantoms. In 33 games so far this season with the AHL club, the 6-foot-4 blueliner has posted five assists, 61 penalty minutes, and a plus-5 rating.
McDonald has yet to make his NHL debut, but he is now one step closer to doing so after landing this call-up from the Flyers.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Adam Klapka had a goal and an assist for his first multi-point game of the season as the Calgary Flames beat the New York Islanders 4-2 on Saturday.
Yegor Sharangovich, Justin Kirkland and Yan Kuznetsov also scored for Calgary, which has won three of its last four. Kevin Bahl had his first multi-point game since Dec. 5, 2023, finishing with two assists. Dustin Wolf had 28 stops and snapped his five-game losing streak.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee scored for New York, which is 2-2-1 with two games left in its seven-game trip, it’s longest of the season. David Rittich made 15 saves in the loss and slipped to 11-6-3.
Up 2-0 midway through the second period, the Flames doubled their lead when Kirkland and Kuznetsov scored two minutes apart.
In four games since sliding into Blake Coleman’s spot on a line with Mikael Backlund and Matt Coronato, Sharangovich has five points (two goals, three assists) for the Flames. Coleman (upper body) remains on injured reserve. While Backlund had his three-game point streak (2-3-5) snapped, Connor Zary extended his to a career-high five games.
Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson had an assist and became the seventh defenseman in Flames history to record five straight 20-assist seasons. He joins Al MacInnis, Gary Suter, Mark Giordano, TJ Brodie, Derek Morris, and Randy Manery.
Rittich, who broke into the NHL and played four seasons in Calgary, has yet to defeat his former team. In six games, he fell to 0-4-2. The 33-year-old Czech was playing his 250th NHL game and came in on a roll, going 8-3-3 with a .920 save percentage over his last 14 starts.
Up next
Islanders: At Vancouver on Monday in the sixth game of a seven-game trip.
CALGARY, Alberta — Go figure: after squeezing out a win in which they were badly outchanced in Edmonton, the Islanders went to Calgary, won the advanced stats competition and lost the game.
It might be overstating it, though, and more than a little, to say they were hard done by a 4-2 loss to the Flames. The Islanders were loose with the puck, got more sloppy as the game went on and far worse in their own zone than two days prior.
Despite the fact that they created chances, it told you something as well that by the end of the second period, Roy was experimenting with his top six, seemingly looking for some kind of spark.
By that point, the Islanders already trailed 4-1, having allowed a trio of goals in the second for the Flames to break the game open.
Adam Klapka boxed out Cal Ritchie at the net front to tip in Kevin Bahl’s shot 3:04 into the second, prompting Roy to start getting cautious with Ritchie’s minutes.
New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal (13) and Calgary Flames right wing Adam Klapka (43) battle for the puck during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Justin Kirkland and Yan Kuznetsov then struck just 1:59 apart at 9:50 and 11:49 of the period, respectively. Kirkland’s goal followed a two-on-one rush off Mat Barzal’s turnover where the Islanders were uniformly late getting back; Kuznetsov was the trailer of the rush, scoring from the point with traffic in front.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau got one back for the Islanders quickly after Kuznetsov made it 4-0, but the visitors’ best chance to get two points from this one had already come and gone in the first period, when the Islanders failed to capitalize with the ice tilting their way throughout.
Yegor Sharangovich’s first-period opener came against that tide, and after what might have been the only time in the first 20 minutes that the Islanders struggled to break the puck out. Calgary duly took advantage with Andersson feeding Sharangovich for a one-timer in the slot.
There wasn’t much of a push to speak of in the third period. Roy was reduced to emptying his net with eight minutes left in regulation, which resulted in a too-little, too-late goal from Anders Lee, who broke a nine-game scoring drought to score his 300th career goal.
Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf (32) makes a save against New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27) during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Islanders got a power play after that, perhaps raising the blood pressure on Calgary’s bench, but could do nothing with it.
Roy was unsure going into Saturday whether to keep his top six from the Edmonton game intact, ultimately deciding in favor. That didn’t last long, and though Ritchie is still showing timely flashes of skill — his assist on the game-winner in Edmonton for example — the young center is starting to show signs of hitting the rookie wall.
No one would blame Rittich for this one, but the Czech didn’t do much in his first start in three games, stopping just six of the first 10 shots he saw as the game grew out of hand.
The standings ramifications of losing a winnable game will be hard to swallow. With the Hurricanes set to play later on Saturday, the Islanders were in danger of falling seven points behind Carolina for first in the Metropolitan Division with a win.
They can see the light at the end of the tunnel of this trip now, with last-place Vancouver and Seattle the last two stops before a merciful flight home. To get back to Long Island — where the hope is that a healthy Bo Horvat will be waiting — better than .500 on the trip, they’ll have to win both.
