NEW YORK (AP) — Roman Josi scored with 1:14 remaining in the game to lift the Nashville Predators past the New York Islanders 4-3 on Saturday night.
Filip Forsberg scored twice for Nashville, while Matthew Wood added a goal and an assist as the Predators snapped a three-game losing streak. Juuse Saros finished with 27 saves including a point-blank stop on Emil Heineman in the closing seconds.
On his winner, Josi skated into the Islanders zone, circled back and fired a shot over the glove of Ilya Sorokin that made him the first defenseman in franchise history with 200 career NHL goals.
Mathew Barzal finished with a goal and an assist for the Islanders. Matthew Schaefer and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored but the Islanders’ three-game winning streak came to an end. Sorokin made 38 saves.
The Islanders jumped to an early 2-0 lead when Barzal and Schaefer scored 4:27 apart within the first six minutes of the first period.
Forsberg got the Predators on the board with a power-play goal, and Wood capitalized on an Islanders miscue 2:54 later to tie the game at 2-all with 6:07 remaining in the first period.
Pageau put the Islanders back in front at 7:21 of the second period, burying his own rebound, but Forsberg answered again later in the frame with his second goal of the night to knot the score at 3.
Up next
Predators: Host St. Louis Blues on Monday night.
Islanders: Visit Washington Capitals on Monday night.
The Islanders allow a goal during their Jan. 31 loss to the Predators.
The Islanders played a terrific six minutes Saturday night.
Unfortunately for them, there were 54 minutes left after that.
And for all of Ilya Sorokin’s heroics in net, the Islanders’ netminder couldn’t overcome the team in front of him Saturday night, as the Predators defeated the Isles 4-3 on Roman Josi’s late winner, snapping the home side’s nascent three-game winning streak.
Ilya Sorokin allows a goal during the Islanders’ 4-3 loss to the Predators on Jan. 31, 2026 at UBS Arena. Robert Sabo for the NY Post
“We didn’t regain the momentum and the game we wanted to play the rest of the way,” captain Anders Lee said. “We had a tough night, no doubt about it.”
The game was tied at three entering the final 20 minutes, but the writing was on the wall after the Predators had played up ice for the entire second period — which coach Patrick Roy called “probably our worst period of the year” after the game.
The Islanders were managing the puck poorly, struggling to break out and to clear out the area in front of Sorokin’s crease, essentially leaving the goaltender to fend for himself.
Given how well Sorokin — who had 38 saves on 42 shots — has played lately, it’s perhaps unsurprising that playing in such a way didn’t immediately doom the Islanders.
Tony DeAngelo did not leave much to interpretation in the second period, though, when he told the team’s radio broadcast, “We’re horrible tonight. This is a really bad game for us.”
Ironically, DeAngelo appeared to break the tie just 1:10 into the third, but his shot that found the back of the net was immediately called off for goaltender interference. The Islanders, believing that Anthony Duclair had contacted Juuse Saros outside of the crease, challenged the call but lost.
Matthew Schaefer scores a goal during the Islanders’ home loss to the Predators. Robert Sabo for the NY Post
“I think Saros did a pretty good job to sell it,” Roy said. “Threw the blocker and everything. Might have an Oscar for that one.”
The Islanders’ play in the third was at least better than the second, insofar as they weren’t bleeding chances throughout. But they remained sloppy with the puck and finally, it cost them.
With the teams skating at four-on-four, Ryan Pulock accidentally skated the puck out of the zone while trying to go across the blue line and was caught offside — somehow not the only time the Islanders committed that mindless error on Saturday.
Following the ensuing faceoff, Josi’s snipe beat Sorokin with 1:45 to go in the game, handing the Predators a 4-3 lead they took to the bank.
The Islanders immediately felt the standings consequences of the loss, with the Penguins pulling two points ahead thanks to their win over the Rangers and the Capitals within four after beating the Hurricanes. Having frittered this one away, they were left to ponder the wreckage.
“I think we could’ve done a better job using the middle,” Pelech said. “Felt like a lot of times we get past one guy and we just couldn’t make the next play. They came hard, but at the same time, we gotta communicate more. We have to execute.”
The Islanders fight for the puck during their Jan. 31 loss to the Predators. Robert Sabo for the NY Post
At the start of the night, the Islanders had a juiced-up home crowd believing they’d march to an easy win.
Mathew Barzal opened the scoring just 89 seconds into the game with a bizarre-looking goal that saw him hit Anthony Duclair’s rebound out of the air before the puck caromed off the post, off Juuse Saros and in.
The Islanders looked poised to blow out the Predators a few minutes later after Matthew Schaefer followed up a few dominant shifts with his 15th goal of the season, a laser from the left circle to make it 2-0.
As quickly as the momentum had built, it dissipated. Filip Forsberg pulled Nashville within 2-1 with a power-play goal at the 9:59 mark and just under three minutes later, Matthew Wood made Schaefer pay for a turnover behind his own net with a one-timer to tie the game.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s goal off the rush at 7:21 of the second put the Islanders back in front, but it was only a brief reprieve. Forsberg’s second goal of the night, a shot from the left post that sputtered over the line, was the only blemish on Sorokin’s record in an otherwise flawless second period.
The goaltender was the only thing keeping the Islanders in the game in the second, stopping 22 shots over 20 minutes including a terrific save on Michael Bunting in front.
“We weren’t clearing pucks. We weren’t getting the blocks we wanted. They played a good offensive game in the zone tonight,” Lee sad. “Over 60 minutes, it wore on us. We weren’t able to break it.”
Karlsson notched his 700th assist on Rickard Rakell's power play goal that made it 4-1 in the third period, becoming the 12th defenseman in NHL history to accomplish that feat. He's also the eighth-fastest defenseman to reach that milestone.
700 assists for EK65 👏
Karlsson becomes the 12th defenseman in NHL history - and eighth fastest (1,132 GP) - to reach the milestone. pic.twitter.com/RWz4nBaiXt
Karlsson is also only the second Swedish defenseman to hit 700 assists, joining Nicklas Lidstrom, who finished is career with 878.
Karlsson only needs 13 more assists to pass Scott Stevens for the 11th most assists among all defensemen in NHL history. He needs 43 more to move into the top 10 all-time.
The Penguins held on to beat the Rangers 6-5 on Saturday and have won six in a row heading into Monday's game against the Ottawa Senators.
Dan Muse and Mike Sullivan have the Penguins and Rangers trending in different directions.
PITTSBURGH — There is something perversely ironic about the current state of the Rangers and Penguins, after the two clubs swapped coaches this past summer.
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Serving as an assistant under Peter Laviolette in New York the previous two seasons, Dan Muse was charged with getting an older Penguins team back on track while general manager Kyle Dubas retools a roster that is bracing for life after the Big Three of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
Muse and the Penguins were sitting in second place in the Metropolitan Division entering Saturday’s matchup with the Rangers.
The end of Pittsburgh’s three-season playoff drought is well within reach.
What a way to begin an NHL head coaching career.
Mike Sullivan reacts during the Rangers’ 6-5 road loss to the Penguins on Jan. 31, 2026 in Pittsburgh. AP
Mike Sullivan, who won two Stanley Cups and spent the past decade with the Penguins, was brought to New York to salvage the championship window.
A disagreement on the timeline back to success reportedly led to Sullivan’s departure from Pittsburgh, so joining a Rangers team that expected to be competitive was a preferable landing spot.
On the day the Penguins were celebrating the 10th anniversary of their 2016 Stanley Cup win, however, Sullivan came into PPG Paints Arena with the Rangers sitting in dead last in the Eastern Conference.
The start of his Rangers tenure certainly hasn’t gone the way he imagined, but the progress his former team has made hasn’t come as a shock.
“It doesn’t surprise me, because I think the core guys that have been here as long as they have, they’re a unique group,” Sullivan said Saturday, before the Rangers lost, 6-5, to the Penguins. “And although they are aging, there’s still elite-level play in their game. It’s driven by Sid, their captain. Does it surprise me? No, it doesn’t. I think they’ve done a great job as far as becoming a team, and some of the young guys they added, and some of the pieces they added along the way.
Dan Muse is pictured during the Penguins’ Jan. 29 game. AP
“When you look at the top line, they drive, they’re the heartbeat of the team and have been for a number of years. All the elements are in play. Their special teams have been really good. They’re getting saves. It’s a good recipe.”
The Rangers job now looks a lot different than it did just under four months ago.
It could be some time before the team starts experiencing consistent success again, and that’s not exactly what Sullivan signed up for.
He has already made it clear he is still coaching to win.
Sullivan is not a development coach, but he is a player’s coach.
Perhaps it could be beneficial for Sullivan to have this time to not only shape the organization’s youngsters into his system, but also foster the types of relationships that he has built his reputation on.
Considering the switch-up, there is understandably some doubt surrounding Sullivan’s fit for what’s ahead.
But he is the coach that president and general manager Chris Drury has wanted at the helm of his team.
One of the loudest criticisms of Sullivan’s tenure in Pittsburgh was his management of youth.
Though there really wasn’t much for him to work with back then.
An abundance of rookies have already infiltrated the Rangers lineup, some of whom Sullivan has entrusted more and more.
There is belief that Sullivan’s preexisting relationships with the Wilkes-Barre players who were promoted to the Penguins in 2016 played a major factor in the team’s ascension to Stanley Cup champions.
“We’ll explore our lineup for sure, and we’ll move people around,” Sullivan said when asked if he can experiment in ways he maybe wouldn’t have if the Rangers weren’t in their current situation. “We already have, and we’ll continue to do so based on what we see, and where we think we can put players in positions to be successful and give an opportunity to play to their strengths. That’s what we’re trying to do. Gabe Perreault is a perfect example right now, and the opportunity he’s getting in the position that he’s in. But he’s not the only one. There’s a number of them.
“We’re going to continue to try to get to know this group even more so than we know them now. We’ll continue to assess and we’ll continue to learn and grow together as a group, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Sullivan later added: “I’m going to do my best to meet those challenges to try to help this organization move forward.”
The New York Rangers’ 6-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon was emotional for Mike Sullivan.
As part of the ten-year anniversary celebration of the Penguins' 2016 Stanley Cup team, Sullivan attended an event with all of his former players on Friday night.
Ahead of Saturday afternoon’s matchup, the entire team was honored, including Sullivan, who received a standing ovation from the Pittsburgh fans.
“It's a proud moment for me, I was really happy to get a chance to see some of those guys that I was fortunate enough to win a Stanley Cup with,” Sullivan said. “That group of players deserves to be celebrated. They were a great team. We were certainly proud of them. It was a privilege to coach them, and so it was a bit of an emotional moment.”
Sullivan coached the Penguins for 10 seasons, winning two Stanley Cups in the process.
However, over Sullivan’s final three seasons in Pittsburgh, the team failed to reach the playoffs. After the 2024-25 campaign, Sullivan and the Penguins parted ways with a fresh start clearly needed from both sides.
Sullivan left a Penguins team that was seemingly retooling and looking to get younger around its core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, while he joined a Rangers team still hoping to remain competitive following a disappointing season.
Ironically, it’s the Penguins, coached by former Rangers assistant coach Dan Muse, that find themselves in a playoff spot with an impressive 28-14-11 record, as they’ve managed to flip the script upon the departure of Sullivan.
“It doesn't surprise me because I think those core guys that have been here as long as they have, they're a unique group,” Sullivan said of the Penguins' success. “Although they are aging, they're still elite-level play in their game. It's driven by Sid, their captain.
“And so does it surprise me? No, it doesn't. I think they've done a great job as far as becoming a team, and some of the young guys they added, and some of the pieces they added along the way. When you look at the top line, they are the heartbeat of the team, and have been for a number of years. All the elements are in play. Their special teams have been really good. They're getting saves. It's a good recipe.”
On the other side of the coin, the Rangers currently sit in last place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 22-28-6 record. Instead of competing, Sullivan is now forced to navigate through yet another retooling situation with little to no hope of making the playoffs.
“I’m fine, it's a different challenge,” Sullivan said about how he is navigating through the Rangers’ struggles. “We're going to keep digging in here. We're going to try to rally around one another and control what we can, and we're going to try to win the game right in front of us. It's a different situation. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you otherwise, but I think our guys have done a good job in just trying to compartmentalize their emotions. When the puck drops, they try to do their best to compete and play the game the right way.”
The contrast between the two teams was on full display on Saturday afternoon.
The Rangers dug themselves into a 2-0 deficit less than 10 minutes into the game and were down 5-1 heading into the final period.
Through the first 40 minutes of the contest, the game was controlled by the Penguins, specifically indicative of their 10-2 edge in shots in the second period.
Despite a strong and valiant push by the Rangers in the final frame that saw them cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 6-5, it was simply too little too late, and the Blueshirts were unable to overcome their early woes.
This loss was yet another reality check for Sullivan, watching the Penguins thrive in his absence, as it certainly couldn’t have been easy for him.
Jan 19, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (58) during the third period against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang will miss at least four weeks with a fractured foot.
The club announced the extent of the injury on Saturday before the surging Penguins faced the New York Rangers. Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said Letang, who is in his 20th season, injured the foot during a 6-2 victory over Chicago on Thursday.
Letang’s absence comes with the Penguins surging into the Olympic break. Pittsburgh is 6-0-2 in its last eight games to move into second place in the Metropolitan Division.
The 38-year-old Letang has three goals and 22 assists in 50 games this season for the Penguins. He is currently three points shy of 800 for his career.
Letang’s injury comes at a potentially fortuitous time for Pittsburgh with the NHL set to take an extended break for the 2026 Winter Games in Milan Cortina, which start next week. The Penguins not participating in the Olympics will be off from Feb. 6 to Feb. 25.
The San Jose Sharks are enduring a tough five-game road swing, finishing the Tour de Canada with back-to-back losses.
After falling to the Edmonton Oilers in overtime on Thursday, San Jose jumped out to two early leads against the Calgary Flames, only to have a late shorthanded goal by Joel Farabee swing the game in Calgary’s favor, giving the Flames a 3–2 victory at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
San Jose’s road trip continues with stops in Chicago and Colorado before the NHL takes an extended break for the Winter Olympics in Italy, marking the first time NHL players will participate since 2014.
The Sharks struck first when Will Smith converted a power-play tap-in at 3:11 of the first period, finishing a precise backdoor pass from Alexander Wennberg. Calgary responded later in the period when Morgan Frost jammed a loose puck past a scrambling San Jose defense while the Sharks were down two men.
San Jose regained the equalizer shortly after a power play that carried over from the first period expired. William Eklund drove to the net and poked a loose puck into the crease, where Adam Gaudette was waiting for a simple tap-in on the right side.
Calgary countered when Matvei Gridin, set up by a slick cross-ice feed from Frost, executed a fluid one-timer, beating Alex Nedeljkovic to his left.
The decisive moment came at 6:53 of the third period, when Farabee, shorthanded, swiped a backhand past Nedeljkovic to give the Flames their first lead and ultimately the win.
Nedeljkovic, who played very well and finished the night with 39 saves, briefly left the game with 3:15 remaining after taking a hard lower-body shot but returned following the injury scare. Despite his efforts between the pipes, the Sharks were a bit short.
Next Game
The Sharks have two games left on this road trip with the next one taking place on Monday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. local time.
The Calgary Flames snapped their five-game losing streak on Saturday afternoon, edging the San Jose Sharks 3–2 in a tightly contested matinee at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Special teams, timely scoring, and a heavy shot advantage powered Calgary to the victory as they controlled long stretches of play and capitalized when it mattered most.
San Jose struck first on the power play, as Will Smith finished off a cross-seam feed from Alexander Wennberg, snapping the puck past Dustin Wolf to open the scoring.
Calgary answered with a man-advantage goal of their own. Matt Coronato’s shot produced a rebound, and Morgan Frost wasted no time ripping it past Alex Nedeljkovic to tie the game. After twenty minutes, the teams headed to the room deadlocked 1–1.
The Sharks came out strong in the middle frame, applying sustained pressure. Wolf made a pair of stops, but a loose rebound bounced into traffic and Adam Gaudette pounced, burying his 13th of the season to restore San Jose’s lead.
Calgary pushed back and found the equalizer thanks to Matvei Gridin. Set up by Frost at the top of the circle, Gridin blasted a one-timer past Nedeljkovic for his second career NHL goal, pulling the Flames even at 2–2 heading into the third.
The deciding moment came courtesy of a fortunate bounce shorthanded. A puck caromed off the end boards and landed on Joel Farabee’s stick, and the Flames winger made no mistake, finishing it off to give Calgary its first lead of the game.
From there, the Flames leaned on their shot volume and defensive structure to close it out, securing the 3–2 win.
Joel Farabee’s game-winner marked his third shorthanded goal of the season, moving him into a tie for second-most in the NHL. Calgary now sits tied for the league lead with seven shorthanded goals as a team.
2. Special Teams Tilt the Ice
Both clubs scored on the power play, but Calgary’s shorthanded strike proved to be the difference. Winning the special-teams battle ultimately decided a one-goal game.
3. Shot Volume Tells the Story
The Flames poured 42 shots on goal compared to San Jose’s 25, consistently generating pressure and wearing down the Sharks over sixty minutes.
The Detroit Red Wings wanted to give the sellout crowd at Little Caesars Arena something to cheer for in what would be their final home game until early March, thanks to the upcoming Olympic break.
Their opponent on Saturday afternoon was the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche, who clearly had other plans.
The Avalanche looked every bit the top-ranked club in the League, handing the Red Wings a frustrating 5-0 setback in the first of a two-game home-and-home series that concludes on Monday evening in Denver.
It wasn't the way the Red Wings wanted to close out their three-game home stand, which yielded only a single point out of a possible six up for grabs. Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.
However, team captain Dylan Larkin explained that Monday evening will be an opportunity for his team to prove that Saturday's loss was an anomaly.
"We've got two really big games (left before the break)," Larkin explained afterward. "Every team is going through it, playing the same schedule. We've played a lot of hockey, and you get bumps and bruises, illnesses, you're going through it."
"It (the break) is coming at a good time, and I think it'll be huge for our team, but the beauty of this is that we get to play these guys again."
The Avalanche had experienced a few setbacks of their own in recent games, dropping contests to both the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens, both of whom are chasing Detroit in the tightly-packed Atlantic Division standings.
"They're the number one team in the League, but they're not the best team ever," Larkin said of the Avalanche. "It's not like we're playing against guys that can't be beat, so we have to go into their building with something to prove and start a big two-game swing for us."
While the Red Wings maintained their second-place status in the Atlantic, the teams behind them have crept even closer in their rear-view mirror.
As of Saturday, the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres each have 67 points, just three behind Detroit's 70 points, and they play one another later that evening, meaning one of them will be within a point of Detroit by night’s end.
Following Monday's rematch against the Avalanche, the Red Wings will face the Utah Mammoth in their second-ever trip to Delta Center in Salt Lake City, which will then be followed by the Olympic break.
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PITTSBURGH — The Rangers continue to slide into the Olympic break.
In their second-to-last contest before the NHL pauses for 19 days, the Blueshirts didn’t show up until the third period of what turned out to be their 14th loss — 6-5 at the hands of the Penguins — in their last 18 games Saturday evening.
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A reprieve can’t come soon enough for this Rangers team, which looked like it wanted to be anywhere but the PPG Paints Arena ice for 40 of 60 minutes.
“You score five goals and lose the game,” captain J.T. Miller said. “I guess the only positive today is that we didn’t quit, kept pushing, came down to the wire. When you have to score six times, it’s pretty hard to win the game. I like that we didn’t quit. That’s about it.”
Getting up for games has clearly been a struggle amid the organization’s public plans to retool the roster, but the lack of focus, execution and motivation early on in games has been a recurring issue since last season.
The fact that it’s only worsened amid a lost campaign paints a disconcerting picture for the foreseeable future.
Their current situation should not preclude the Rangers from skating with pride.
And yet opponents have feasted on their insecurities, costly mistakes and slow starts on a game-to-game basis.
The Penguins have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL since the end of December.
After members of the 2016 Stanley Cup-winning team were honored in a pregame ceremony, which included Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan and the currently injured Conor Sheary, the energy in the building was palpable from puck drop to the final whistle.
J.T. Miller’s shot is stopped by Stuart Skinner during the second period of the Rangers’ 6-5 road loss to the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Jan. 31, 2026. Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Entering the matinee matchup on a five-game win streak, Pittsburgh picked up where it left off and scored on two of its first four shots.
The multigoal lead was built just over six minutes into the contest, leaving the Rangers in what has been a familiar position this season: chasing from behind.
At a time when attention has shifted to the Rangers youth, the first period was concerning in more ways than one.
Noah Laba, who missed three games earlier this month with an upper-body injury, absorbed a hit in the corner and was slow to the bench.
After trying to skate it off during the TV timeout, Laba reached for his shoulder and headed to the locker room.
Despite returning for one shift in the second period, Laba was ruled out for the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury.
Pittsburgh players celebrate Noel Acciari’s goal during the first period of the Rangers’ road loss to the Penguins. NHLI via Getty Images
There was no immediate update on the 22-year-old after the game.
Injury aside, it was a particularly tough opening frame for Scott Morrow.
The Rangers rookie defenseman committed a costly turnover that led to the Penguins first of two goals from Anthony Mantha before getting called for a late penalty.
Matt Rempe was also on the ice for the first two Penguins goals.
On the second one, Penguins forward Blake Lizotte took the puck right off Rempe’s stick. After that, Sullivan only deployed Rempe for one more shift in the first period.
“Some of it is just the way the flow of the game goes and we’re looking for certain matchups,” Sullivan said. “I try to utilize him in the situations where I think sets him up for success. Those are some of the plays I’m talking about, about execution and decision making. Sometimes, you just got to gain a zone or gain a line. I thought we had opportunities — that was one of them — where we could have got the puck out.”
The Rangers didn’t get on the board until there were just over 1:30 remaining in the second period, but it came on the first of their two total shots in the middle frame.
Pittsburgh, however, scored twice in the span of 20 seconds less than two minutes into the third period.
Not even a four-goal showing over the final 20 minutes was enough for the Rangers to climb out of the hole they dug.
“You can’t. You just can’t. You can’t let up two goals in 20 seconds,” said Vincent Trocheck, who — along with Alexis Lafrenière — led the Rangers with three points (one goal and two assists). “We have to be paying more attention to detail. We were in the right spots a lot of times too, like we’re where we’re supposed to be. We’re just not executing our job. We just have to be better at that. It’s the same giving up six goals, giving up two in 20, you just can’t do it.”
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Mark Scheifele scored the go-ahead goal with 4:14 remaining, lifting the Winnipeg Jets to a 2-1 win over the sliding and short-handed Florida Panthers on Saturday.
Winnipeg was 1-18-2 in games where it trailed entering the third period going into the game, and was down 1-0 with 20 minutes left against the Panthers. But the Jets scored twice in a span of just over seven minutes to take command.
Cole Perfetti scored with 11:26 left to tie the game, then Scheifele got his 27th of the season for what became the game-winner.
Eric Comrie stopped 27 shots for the Jets, including one with 37.1 seconds left on a shot by Matthew Tkachuk. Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett got shots to the net after that as well for the Panthers, but neither got by Comrie and the Jets prevailed for just the third time in their last nine games.
Eetu Luostarinen got the goal for Florida, which has dropped three straight and ended the game eight points back of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers — who have been without Aleksander Barkov all season — played Saturday without Brad Marchand, who is day to day, along with Anton Lundell and Seth Jones, among others.
It was the first time this season that Florida took a lead into the third period and failed to get at least one point out of a game. The Panthers were 17-0-1 in such situations entering Saturday, the fifth-best record in the league.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots in the Florida net.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari scored two goals apiece, and the surging Pittsburgh Penguins held off the New York Rangers 6-5 on Saturday for their sixth straight victory.
Mantha and Acciari beat Jonathan Quick twice in a span of just over three minutes early in the first period to give the Penguins an early cushion. Mantha made it 3-0 with an easy tap-in in the second period. Acciari and Rickard Rakell scored 20 seconds apart early in the third to push Pittsburgh’s advantage to 5-1 on a night the franchise celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 2016 club that won the Stanley Cup.
Erik Karlsson became the 12th defenseman in NHL history to reach 700 career assists when he picked up the secondary helper on Rakell’s 10th goal of the season 1:20 into the final period. The other 11 defensemen to reach the 700-assist plateau are in the Hall of Fame.
Stuart Skinner improved to 8-1 in his last nine starts but nearly let a four-goal third period get away.
Alex Lafreniere scored twice for the Rangers. Vincent Trocheck, Vladislav Gavrikov and Will Cuylle all scored during a late rally, but it wasn’t enough for the Rangers to fall to 2-10 since goaltender Igor Shesterkin was lost indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
Until the late surge, New York coach Mike Sullivan — who guided the Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 during a decade-long run as head coach before trading Pittsburgh for New York last summer — watched his team spend most of the afternoon putting up little fight against the surprising Penguins.
Pittsburgh moved into second place by itself in the Metropolitan Division with the victory despite being without veteran defenseman Kris Letang, who will miss at least a month with a fractured left foot sustained in a win over Chicago on Thursday. The 20-year veteran was wearing a protective boot on the foot during a pregame ceremony honoring the 2016 club.
Up next
Rangers: Off until Thursday night, when they host Carolina in the final game before the Olympic break.
New York Islanders center Calum Ritchie (64) moves the puck down ice as Tampa Bay Lightning center Jake Guentzel (59) tries to defend during the third period at UBS Arena, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Elmont, NY.
It’s going to be a while before the Islanders next see Cal Ritchie.
Ritchie’s lower-body injury will keep him out through the Olympic break, coach Patrick Roy said Saturday before the Islanders faced the Predators at UBS Arena.
Including Saturday’s match, the Islanders have just four games left before the three-week break, which will see them return to practice a little over a week before resuming the season in Montreal on Feb. 26.
Roy said that Ritchie “tried” to skate on his own Friday but it did not go well, so for the time being, he will stay off the ice.
New York Islanders center Calum Ritchie (64) moves the puck down ice as Tampa Bay Lightning center Jake Guentzel (59) tries to defend during the third period at UBS Arena, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Elmont, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
It’s not clear when exactly Ritchie suffered the injury, as he played his last shift with under three minutes to go in last Saturday’s loss to the Sabres.
For the time being, however, the injury is allowing the Islanders to punt on what will be a tough lineup decision once the rookie centerman returns.
After adding Ondrej Palat via trade, and with Bo Horvat back healthy, it’s not entirely clear how the Islanders can make room for Ritchie in their lineup.
Max Shabanov, who had a spot for most of the season, has sat two of three games since the Isles traded for Palat, with his only playing time coming Thursday night when Casey Cizikas was out sick.
Ritchie, who has generally centered the second or third line, would need to either shift to the wing or the Islanders would need to shift someone else to the wing in order to accommodate him.
Calum Ritchie of the New York Islanders scores a goal as Luke Glendening of the New Jersey Devils tries to defend during the third period when the New York Islanders defeated the New Jersey on January 6, 2026 at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post
It’s not at all obvious which winger would sit either, at least as long as the fourth line of Marc Gatcomb, Cizikas and Kyle MacLean continues to play well.
Jonathan Drouin has gone a long period without scoring, but the Islanders clearly value the other aspects of his game enough that they are reluctant to make him a healthy scratch.
Depending how circumstances shake out when Ritchie is ready to come back, it wouldn’t be a shock if the Islanders ended up sending him back to AHL Bridgeport to avoid a situation where the 21-year-old is not getting playing time.
Cizikas was back in the lineup after missing Thursday’s win at the Rangers with illness.
Jonathan Drouin was a late scratch with illness.
That allowed Max Shabanov to stay in the lineup after skating as an extra in the morning.
Since Carson Soucy was traded to the Islanders, he’s taken the bulk of Matthew Schaefer’s penalty kill minutes.
Though the Islanders don’t have a hard target for Schaefer’s minutes, which average 24:02 per night, and Roy certainly has not hesitated to use him extensively, the head coach acknowledged that it would be a positive to lighten his workload on the PK.
“He’s 18 years old, playing over 25, 27 minutes. At some point it might affect his play,” Roy said. “It’s nice for him to come straight to his five-on-five, the power play.”
The Seattle Kraken will take on the Vegas Golden Knights on the road as they begin a road trip.
The Kraken have three games before the Olympic break, all of which are on the road.
The Kraken enter tonight’s game as winners of three straight, defeating the New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Tonight, they’ll put their 11-10-4 road record to the test against a Golden Knights team with a 12-7-7 home record.
The Golden Knights enter tonight’s game as losers of three straight, suffering a 7-1 defeat to the Ottawa Senators, before an overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens, and a 5-4 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars.
The Golden Knights currently hold the lead in the Pacific Division based on points percentage, as they are tied with the Edmonton Oilers at 64 points. The Kraken own third place in the Division based on points percentage, tied with the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings with 59 points and one point ahead of the San Jose Sharks.
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