Florida Panthers 3 - 2 Pittsburgh Penguins
The Florida Panthers secured a 3-2 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, thanks to Spencer Knight's 29 saves, at the Amerant Bank Arena. After losing three of their last four games, including a defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida saw goals from Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk. Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell scored in the shootout, with Knight stopping both Penguins attempts. Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell scored power-play goals for Pittsburgh, with Rakell's late equalizer coming with 40 seconds left in regulation. Crosby's goal marked his 30th against the Panthers, making them the sixth franchise he's achieved this feat against. The Penguins, despite their efforts, faced their fourth consecutive road loss, with Tristan Jarry making 31 saves and coach Mike Sullivan praising their competitive spirit.

Box Score, Gamecast

Chicago Blackhawks 4 - 2 Montreal Canadiens
The Chicago Blackhawks snapped a five-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, led by Nick Foligno's two goals and Arvid Soderblom's stellar 38 saves. The win was particularly meaningful for the Blackhawks after a disappointing performance in the Winter Classic. Tyler Bertuzzi and Patrick Maroon also scored, while Connor Bedard tallied an assist, extending his point streak and setting a career high. Notably, Foligno's comment underscored the team's intention to restore the franchise's pride on home ice. For Montreal, Cole Caufield and Emil Heineman found the net, and Mike Matheson added two assists, but Soderblom's outstanding goaltending made the difference. This game marked Colton Dach’s NHL debut, playing against his brother Kirby Dach, a former Blackhawk, adding a personal highlight to the matchup. Despite some notable absences for Montreal, including Patrik Laine due to flu-like symptoms and David Savard with an upper-body injury, the Canadiens put up a strong fight, showcasing Matheson's creative assist leading to Heineman's goal.

Box Score, Gamecast

St Louis Blues 4 - 0 Ottawa Senators
Saad scores natural hat trick, Blues shut out Senators ST. LOUIS -- Brandon Saad had a natural hat trick for the St. Louis Blues in a 4-0 win against the Ottawa Senators at Enterprise Center on Friday. “Ever since break, I started to feel better every game,” Saad said. “I felt like it was only a matter of time, so tonight felt good for sure.”

Brayden Schenn scored, and Jordan Binnington made 20 saves for his 18th NHL shutout for the Blues (19-17-4), who have won two straight and four of five, including a 6-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Discover NHL Winter Classic on Tuesday.

“[Blues coach Jim Montgomery] was saying, ‘Let’s focus on the game [Friday],” Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich said. “Everybody understands it’s an emotional night there and the game’s on New Year’s, family there, blah, blah, blah. You just have to be ready for the game. Ottawa’s a desperate team and they will come hard, and we have to be ready for them. We got two points today and everybody’s happy.” Anton Forsberg made 21 saves for the Senators (19-17-2), who lost at the Dallas Stars 4-2 on Thursday, their fourth loss in five games after a six-game winning streak. The Senators played the eighth of a season-long nine-game road trip (4-4-0).

“We were just slow to start and that’s it,” Ottawa defenseman Thomas Chabot said. “The chances we gave them were Grade A’s. In the NHL as a group, we would have wanted to play a lot better than that. But in the big picture, you look, we’ve been on the road for a long time and playing .500 hockey on the road isn’t bad. Obviously, it’s not what we want, but there’s some positives to that. At the end of the day, we’re excited to go home tonight.”

Schenn made it 1-0 at 7:26 of the first period, beating Forsberg on a breakaway with the backhand off a pass from Dylan Holloway.

Saad’s first goal in 20 games made it 2-0 at 15:50, also on a breakaway when the forward outraced Ottawa defenseman Nick Jensen to a puck and sliding a backhand through Forsberg’s legs.

“That is the best example that you can have, that there is another level of belief in himself in his confidence and also in what we’re trying to accomplish here as a team,” Montgomery said of Saad’s determination on the goal.

Saad said, “I was thinking forecheck at first and then I saw I got a slow start to get to it. Closer and closer I got to it, I felt like I could beat [Jensen] and obviously it worked out well.” Saad made it 3-0 at 14:15 of the second period off a rush, beating Forsberg through the pads from the left circle.

Chabot thought he had cut the deficit to 3-1 for the Senators with 33.4 seconds left in the second, but the Blues challenged the play for offside and video review determined that Ottawa forward Nick Cousins preceded the puck into the zone.

"Yeah, it was [a pretty easy call to make]," Montgomery said. "As soon as the puck went in, already they were saying, 'I think this was offside, hold on.' Ten seconds later, they confirmed it."

Saad completed his third NHL hat trick at 18:07 for the 4-0 final, keeping the puck on a 2-on-1 with Alexandre Texier.

“I told ‘Tex’ that I wanted that one pretty badly,” Saad said, “so I’m happy it went in.”

The Senators won’t play again until Tuesday when they complete the marathon road trip against the Detroit Red Wings. The trip was necessitated by the IIHF World Junior Championship being played in Ottawa.

“I’m not going to use that as an excuse,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “They get four out of their [top players], and we’ve got to find a way to get some more offense out of our group. We're playing a little defensively, but we've got to create more. It’ll be good to get back home after a trip like this, where, yes, out of the past eight games, you come out .500, but now back home for a little bit before heading back to Detroit. Yeah, it’ll be good to get a couple practices under our belt and get back on the road for another game.

NOTES: Saad didn’t have a point in his previous 10 games and in the 19 games prior, he had just two assists. … Blues defenseman Ryan Suter played 20:44 and was a plus-2 in his 1,484th NHL game, which tied him for 25th all-time with Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. … Holloway has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past five games.

Box Score, Gamecast

Edmonton Oilers 3 - 2 Anaheim Ducks
Leon Draisaitl's late goal secured a 3-2 victory for the Edmonton Oilers over the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place. Draisaitl, who extended his point streak to 13 games with 25 points, leads the NHL in goals, including game-winning goals, and scored with just 1:35 remaining by banking the puck in off the post. Darnell Nurse contributed a goal and an assist, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also found the back of the net for the Oilers, who have won two consecutive games. Despite goals from Brett Leason and Jackson LaCombe and a 23-save effort by Lukas Dostal, the Ducks' three-game winning streak ended. Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for the Oilers to help secure the win.

Box Score, Gamecast

Vancouver Canucks 0 - 3 Nashville Predators
Saros makes 27 saves, Predators shut out Canucks to end 3-game skid VANCOUVER -- Juuse Saros made 27 saves for the Nashville Predators in a 3-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Friday. It was the fourth shutout of the season for Saros, and his 27th in the NHL.

Steven Stamkos scored the winning goal for the Predators (12-20-7), who ended a three-game losing streak during which they were outscored 15-7. Gustav Nyquist and Colton Sissons each had a goal and assist into the empty net late in the third period.

Kevin Lankinen made 16 saves for the Canucks (18-12-8), who were playing back-to-back after a 4-3 shootout win at the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Vancouver has one regulation win in its past eight games (2-3-3) and hasn’t won consecutive games since Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, going 5-5-5 in that time.

Saros made his best saves off J.T. Miller on a breakaway wrist shot to the blocker side 3:20 into the first period, and robbed Conor Garland on a backdoor rebound in tight with the right pad 2:50 into the second period.

Stamkos gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 16:53 of the second period when he scored on a 3-on-2 rush, passing to Jonathan Marchessault in the high slot then one-timing the return pass past the blocker of Lankinen from the left face-off dot.

It was Stamkos 12th goal of the season and the 567th of his NHL career, moving past Patrick Marleau into sole possession of 24th on the all-time list.

Nyquist scored into an empty net at 18:16 of the third period to make it 2-0 and Sissons did the same at 19:29 for the 3-0 final.

Vancouver was 0-for-3 on the power play and failed to generate a shot on two chances with the man-advantage in the third period. Nashville was 0-for-2.

Box Score, Gamecast