Recap of NHL from 5 February 2026

The Lightning won their fifth straight game, as well as their ninth straight at Benchmark International Arena, and did so after having all six of their goals scored by six different Olympians, while the Golden Knights benefitted from multi-point games from their own Olympic-bound skaters.

* The final day of NHL action until Feb. 25 featured more Olympians contribute to wins on a night the League reached 700 close games (contests decided by one or two-plus following an empty-net goal) – the most at this stage of a campaign in NHL history.

* The NHL Morning Skate will return on Monday with a special edition, “NHL Morning Skate from Milan,” that will feature coverage of NHL players throughout the duration of the Olympic hockey tournament. “#NHLStats: Live Updates from Milan” will cover every game, beginning Wednesday.

LIGHTNING, GOLDEN KNIGHTS OLYMPIANS FIND SCORING TOUCH AHEAD OF BREAK

The Lightning and Golden Knights skated to wins thanks to production from their respective players bound for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 in the final gameday ahead of the break.

* The Lightning scored early and often in the latest “Battle of Florida” and had all six of their goals scored by a different athlete heading to the Olympic Winter Games: Brandon Hagel (Team Canada), Zemgus Girgensons (Team Latvia), Jake Guentzel (Team USA), Erik Cernak (Team Slovakia), Pontus Holmberg (Team Sweden) and Oliver Bjorkstrand (Team Denmark). Tampa Bay extended its winning streak to five games, its home winning streak to nine games (excluding 2026 SS) and enter the break with a record of 17-1-1 since returning from the holiday break – top among all teams.

* Tampa Bay will have nine players heading to Milan – second to only Florida (10) – and have the most Olympic-bound countries represented on their roster (7). One of those players is Victor Hedman (0-1—1), who also found the score sheet in the Lightning’s final game before the Olympic break, and will head to Milan as one of two Norris Torphy winners on Team Sweden (also Erik Karlsson). In the history of the Norris Trophy, a player from Sweden has won the award 11 times, second only to Canada (49).

* All four of Vegas’ Olympic-bound forwards found the score sheet in the Golden Knights’ victory Tuesday, with Mark Stone (Team Canada) and Jack Eichel (Team USA) leading the way with multi-point performances. Stone (1-2—3) became the first Vegas player with 100 multi-point games after posting all three of his points in the first period and tied Jonathan Marchessault (5) for the most three-point periods in franchise history. Eichel (291 GP) became the fifth player in Golden Knights history to post 200 assists and became the fastest among that group to reach the mark, besting Stone (311 GP).

OTHER OLYMPIC-BOUND PLAYERS SHINE AHEAD OF OPENING CEREMONIES
A handful of players bound for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 found the score sheet in close games during the final night of NHL action until Feb. 25. The League’s 700 close games (contests decided by one or two-plus following an empty-net goal) are the most through this stage of a season in NHL history (908 GP), and 17 more than the next closest (683 in 2024-25).

* After the Flyers pulled even with just 1:14 remaining in regulation, Tim Stützle (Team Germany) found the back of the net in overtime to extend his goal streak to five games – the longest by a Senators player in over two years – to lift Ottawa to victory. Stützle registered his eighth career overtime winner and surpassed Mike Fisher for the second most in franchise history. He also eclipsed Marco Sturm and Christian Ehrhoff for the second-most overtime goals by a German player in NHL history behind only his soon-to-be Olympic teammate Leon Draisaitl (20).

* Nikolaj Ehlers (Team Denmark) collected an assist on one of Carolina’s two goals as the Hurricanes (36-15-6, 78 points) shut out the Rangers to keep pace with the first-place Lightning (37-14-4, 78 points) in the Eastern Conference standings. Ehlers tops the all-time NHL lists for goals, points and assists by Danish players (239-324—563 in 731 GP) after surpassing Frans Nielsen (167-306—473 in 925 GP) on the latter chart earlier in 2025-26.

* The Islanders and Devils traded second-period goals before Bo Horvat (Team Canada) scored a go-ahead tally with 3:27 remaining in regulation and assisted on an empty-net goal as New York swept its season series with New Jersey. Horvat, who scored the game winner for the second time in as many games, is one of four players on Team Canada’s roster seeking their first medal/championship with the country at a major international tournament (incl. OLY, WC, WJC, WCH/4N) alongside Macklin Celebrini (SJS), Nick Suzuki (MTL) and Tom Wilson (WSH).

OLYMPIC-BOUND GOALTENDERS HEAD TO ITALY ON WINNING NOTE
A pair of goaltenders slated to represent their respective countries at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 picked up wins on the final gameday before the Olympic break:

* Tom Wilson opened the scoring for Washington and his fellow Team Canada teammate Logan Thompson made 27 saves for his 50th win with the Capitals as they bested the Predators at Capital One Arena. Thompson (82 GP) became the second-fastest goaltender in franchise history to reach 50 career wins, behind only Braden Holtby (81 GP). Thompson (2023), along with Jordan Binnington (2019) and Darcy Kuemper (2022), will mark the first time Team Canada will roster three Stanley Cup-winning goaltenders at the Olympics.

* Arturs Silovs (Team Latvia) made 26 saves en route to his fourth straight road win and helped the Penguins (29-15-12, 70 points) improve to 5-0-1 in their past six road games. His international experience with Lativa includes the 2023 World Championships, where he backstopped the country to its only medal at a major tournament. He posted a 7-3-0 record while playing in all 10 of the team’s games – including six straight victories in his hometown of Riga to secure a spot in the semifinals. His 26-save effort against USA in the bronze medal game helped clinch an overtime victory. Silovs secured tournament MVP and Best Goaltender honors, as well as a spot on the All-Star Team.

NHL PLAYERS TO CARRY NATION’S FLAG IN OPENING CEREMONIES

The 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony for Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will take place Friday at 2 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock, CBC, CBC Gem). Three current NHL players have been named flag bearers for their country during the opening ceremony: Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (Team Germany), Bruins forward David Pastrnak (Team Czechia) and Jets forward Nino Niederreiter (Team Switzerland).

* In the previous five Olympics with NHL players, only Zdeno Chara (BOS, Team Slovakia) had carried a flag for his country while representing an NHL team when he did so at the 2014 Opening Ceremony in Sochi, Russia.

* Additionally, three other men’s hockey players with NHL experience will serve as flag bearer in the Opening Ceremonies, meaning half of the countries participating in the tournament will have a men’s hockey player as a flag bearer. The others in 2026: Tomas Tatar (Team Slovakia; 927 GP w/ DET, VGK, MTL, NJD, COL & SEA), Kaspars Daugavins (Team Latvia; 91 GP w/ OTT & BOS) and Mikko Lehtonen (Team Finland; 26 GP w/ CBJ & TOR).

ICYMI: ‘NHL My World’ – Players from eight different countries show fans what a day in their life is like and reflect on the importance of representing both their NHL club’s city and their hometowns around the world. Players featured include Zach Werenski (USA, CBJ), Mitch Marner (CAN, VGK), Martin Necas (CZE, COL), Sebastian Aho (FIN, CAR), Roman Josi (SUI, NSH), Tim Stützle (GER, OTT), Juraj Slafkovsky (SVK, MTL) and Leo Carlsson (SWE, ANA). Watch all eight episodes here.

OLYMPIC STATS UPDATED DAILY ON RECORDS.NHL.COM

The new “NHL at the Olympics” section of Records.NHL.com includes statistics, game-by-game results and recaps from each of the five prior Olympic Winter Games featuring NHL players (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014). In less than one week, after the first day of action in the men’s hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, links displaying Skater Statistics and Goaltender Statistics will be available and update daily at the completion of games.

* Many statistics from the site are amplified in the #NHLStats Packs for the Olympics, which include an overarching snapshot of all 12 rosters – plus country-by-country summaries.