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The Chicago Blackhawks visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at PPG Paints Arena with puck drop set for 7:00 PM ET on ESPN+. Chicago is 21-24-9 and searching for answers after letting a big lead slip in its last game. Pittsburgh is 26-14-11 and has been rolling since the break, but it’s not a clean setup with a couple key pieces missing. The Penguins are chasing a fifth straight win, yet they’ll have to do it without Bryan Rust, who starts a three-game suspension, and without Jack St. Ivany, who is expected to miss time after surgery. There’s also some uncertainty around Evgeni Malkin’s status after he was limited in practice work. That’s a lot of production

The Winnipeg Jets head to Benchmark International Arena to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN+. Winnipeg is 21-24-7 and trying to build something off a 4-3 win in New Jersey that at least looked like a team playing with some structure again. Tampa Bay is 33-14-4, sitting on top of the East, and it’s not a fluke. They’re getting elite goaltending, they’re finishing, and they’ve been closing games like a top seed should. The Jets are still in that awkward place where the effort is fine, but the results don’t stack consistently. They’ve got two wins in their last six (2-2-2), and that’s why this feels like a tall order.

The Nashville Predators head to Prudential Center to face the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN+. Nashville is 24-24-5 and drifting back toward the gray area of the standings after a strong stretch earlier in the season. New Jersey is 27-24-2 and dealing with the same problem, decent nights mixed with stretches that don’t look like playoff hockey. The trade deadline vibe is real here. New Jersey already moved Ondrej Palat in a deal that brought in Maxim Tsyplakov, and it’s hard to ignore what that says about direction. Nashville is dealing with its own noise, with veteran names popping up in rumors, and the on-ice inconsistency is feeding it. This game

The Utah Mammoth head to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at the Lenovo Center. Puck drop is 7:00 PM ET on ESPN+. Utah is 28-21-4 and closing out its last road game until March, which is a pretty unique scheduling angle. Carolina is 32-15-5 and sitting first in the Metro, and they’ve been playing like a team that expects to bank points before the Olympic break. Both teams are hot, which is why this one is interesting. Carolina is on a five-game points streak (4-0-1) and has been scoring in bunches, even if a big chunk of that came in one outlier game. Utah has won six of its last seven and is finding