Get ready to face off for today’s Strands puzzle, No. 349, for Feb. 15. Yep, that’s a hint.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections  and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Let’s play hockey! Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one if you’re a fan of ice hockey, as I certainly am. (Still mad about the North Stars moving to Dallas.). If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. 

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Ice packs

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Five for fighting

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

• STED, LIGHT, LIGHTING, JEST, REAL, STEAL, MILD, WHILE, DING, TALE, TALES, STALE, METE, MEAD, STAND, WIGHT, TING, MALE.

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

• JETS, WILD, DEVILS, SHARKS, AVALANCHE, LIGHTNING

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is HOCKEYTEAM. To find it, start with the H that’s five rows over to the right, but on the very bottom row of letters. Wind over and up.

Toughest Strands puzzles

Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest in recent weeks.

#1: Dated slang, Jan. 21. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.

#2: Thar she blows! Jan.15. I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT. 

#3: Off the hook, Jan. 9. Similar to the Jan. 15 puzzle in that it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK