Hockey results Friday 25 September 2026: AI predictions review

Friday 25 September 2026 delivered 23 hockey matches across the DEL, KHL, Liiga, National League and NHL, and the 10-model AI consensus finished the night with 15 correct predictions. It was a solid but unspectacular return, with several high-confidence calls going astray in the most dramatic fashion.

The biggest surprise came in the NHL, where the San Jose Sharks demolished the Anaheim Ducks 10-0. Every one of the 10 models had backed Anaheim to win, with an average confidence of 63%, making it the most emphatic miss of the day. The result underlined the unpredictability of early-season hockey and left the consensus with a stark reminder that even unanimous picks can unravel.

Where the AI got it right

The DEL provided four correct calls from six. Grizzly Wolfsburg vs Schwenninger prediction saw 80% of models back Schwenninger, and they delivered a 4-3 win. Bremerhaven vs Munchen prediction was equally straightforward, with Munchen winning 4-1 as 80% expected. Adler Mannheim vs Krefeld Pinguine prediction was a unanimous pick, and Mannheim cruised to a 4-1 victory. Straubing Tigers vs ERC Ingolstadt prediction was tighter, with only 60% backing Straubing, but they secured a 4-1 win. Kolner vs Eisbaren Berlin prediction also went to form, Eisbaren winning 6-5 in a thriller after 100% of models picked them.

In the KHL, CSKA Moscow's 5-0 thrashing of Lada was correctly foreseen by all 10 models. The Liiga yielded four correct calls from five, including JYP's 4-3 win at IFK Helsinki, Jukurit's 2-1 edge over Kiekko-Espoo, Ilves' 6-0 rout of KooKoo, and TPS Turku's 2-1 victory at Jokerit. The National League saw Zurich's 6-3 win at Ambri-Piotta go as expected, while in the NHL, St. Louis, Edmonton, Seattle and Vegas all justified the consensus.

Where it got it wrong

The misses were costly. In the DEL, Frankfurt Lowen were backed by 90% of models but fell 2-1 to Nurnberg Ice Tigers. The KHL produced two upsets: Khabarovsk beat Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3-1 despite 100% backing for Lokomotiv, and Tractor Chelyabinsk lost 4-3 to SKA St. Petersburg after 90% had picked Tractor. In the Liiga, Assat were unanimous picks but were thrashed 5-0 by SaiPa. The National League saw Bern, with 100% support, lose 3-2 to Ajoie.

The NHL accounted for four of the eight wrong calls. San Jose's 10-0 demolition of Anaheim was the standout, but Washington's 3-2 win over Boston, the New York Rangers' 6-1 rout of the Islanders, and Vancouver's 2-1 loss to Edmonton also defied the models. In each case, the consensus was strong, with 100% of models on the wrong side, highlighting the difficulty of predicting hockey outcomes even with advanced AI.

Models of the day

Four models shared the best performance: Mistral Medium 3.5, DeepSeek V4 Pro, Qwen 3.8 Max and Grok 4.6 each scored 15 of 23. At the other end, Gemini 3.8 Flash was the worst performer with 12 of 23 correct. GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Sonnet 5 and MiMo V2.5 Pro managed 14, while Kimi K3 and GLM 5.3 finished with 13.

Full results

• DEL: Frankfurt Lowen 1-2 Nurnberg Ice Tigers — consensus Frankfurt Lowen win (90%) WRONG
• DEL: Grizzly Wolfsburg 3-4 Schwenninger — consensus Schwenninger win (80%) RIGHT
• DEL: Bremerhaven 1-4 Munchen — consensus Munchen win (80%) RIGHT
• DEL: Adler Mannheim 4-1 Krefeld Pinguine — consensus Adler Mannheim win (100%) RIGHT
• DEL: Straubing Tigers 4-1 ERC Ingolstadt — consensus Straubing Tigers win (60%) RIGHT
• DEL: Kolner 5-6 Eisbaren Berlin — consensus Eisbaren Berlin win (100%) RIGHT
• KHL: Khabarovsk 3-1 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl — consensus Lokomotiv Yaroslavl win (100%) WRONG
• KHL: Tractor Chelyabinsk 3-4 SKA St. Petersburg — consensus Tractor Chelyabinsk win (90%) WRONG
• KHL: Lada 0-5 CSKA Moscow — consensus CSKA Moscow win (100%) RIGHT
• Liiga: IFK Helsinki 3-4 JYP — consensus JYP win (90%) RIGHT
• Liiga: Jukurit 2-1 Kiekko-Espoo — consensus Jukurit win (100%) RIGHT
• Liiga: Ilves 6-0 KooKoo — consensus Ilves win (70%) RIGHT
• Liiga: Assat 0-5 SaiPa — consensus Assat win (100%) WRONG
• Liiga: Jokerit 1-2 TPS Turku — consensus TPS Turku win (100%) RIGHT
• National League: Ambri-Piotta 3-6 Zurich — consensus Zurich win (100%) RIGHT
• National League: Bern 2-3 Ajoie — consensus Bern win (100%) WRONG
• NHL: St. Louis Blues 1-0 Chicago Blackhawks — consensus St. Louis Blues win (100%) RIGHT
• NHL: Vancouver Canucks 1-2 Edmonton Oilers — consensus Edmonton Oilers win (100%) RIGHT
• NHL: Seattle Kraken 4-3 Calgary Flames — consensus Seattle Kraken win (100%) RIGHT
• NHL: San Jose Sharks 10-0 Anaheim Ducks — consensus Anaheim Ducks win (100%) WRONG
• NHL: Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 Utah Mammoth — consensus Vegas Golden Knights win (100%) RIGHT
• NHL: Washington Capitals 3-2 Boston Bruins — consensus Boston Bruins win (100%) WRONG
• NHL: New York Islanders 1-6 New York Rangers — consensus New York Islanders win (100%) WRONG

For today's predictions and to see how the models fare, visit the hockey predictions page.

Next up: today's hockey predictions from the same panel, and the results archive with every graded call. Forecasts are informational only.