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NBA Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers (17-10) at San Antonio Spurs (8-18)

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NBA Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers (17-10) at San Antonio Spurs (8-18)

The San Antonio Spurs will look to add to their modest winning streak and get some of their walking wounded back in the rotation when they square off with the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.

The Spurs (8-18) head home after a quick but successful road jaunt, druing which they defeated the Miami Heat 115-111 on Saturday to win their second straight game. San Antonio got two late jumpers from Devin Vassell and held on as the Heat missed two 3-point attempts in the closing seconds.

San Antonio was led by Keldon Johnson’s 21 points in the win and got a career-high 19 from Romeo Langford. Vassell, who had missed the Spurs’ previous contest due to a knee injury, contributed 18 points. Doug McDermott added 13 points and San Antonio shot 53.8 percent from the floor and forged a 46-32 rebounding advantage.

San Antonio’s recent success has taken away a bit of the sting from losing 11 straight contests. Starters Jeremy Sochan (quad) and Jakob Poeltl (knee) both missed their fifth straight games with injuries.

The Cavaliers (17-10) make their only trip into San Antonio after a 110-102 win at home over Oklahoma City on Saturday. Caris LeVert led Cleveland with 22 points in the victory, the team’s fourth in six games, and Evan Mobley scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, when he made all five of his shots.

Saturday’s game was the second of a home back-to-back for the Cavaliers, who lost to Sacramento on Friday because of a late-game swoon. Cleveland then coughed up a 17-point lead to Oklahoma City, which tied the game with just over seven minutes to play, but made the plays it needed down the stretch.

Mobley also had 12 rebounds in the win, with Jarrett Allen racking up 21 points and 11 rebounds and Darius Garland scoring 13 points. The Cavaliers were without Donovan Mitchell (lower right leg soreness) and Kevin Love (low back soreness) for the second consecutive game.

San Antonio has dropped three consecutive games to Cleveland in the all-time series and has not defeated the Cavaliers at home since March of 2019.

NBA Preview: Oklahoma City Thunder (11-15) at Dallas Mavericks (13-13)

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NBA Preview: Oklahoma City Thunder (11-15) at Dallas Mavericks (13-13)

The Dallas Mavericks have wanted to partner Luka Doncic and Kemba Walker to see if they can form a dynamic duo.

When the Mavericks take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday at Dallas, they might get the chance.

After signing with Dallas on Nov. 29, Walker finally made his debut in Saturday’s loss at Chicago, with eight points, five assists, two rebounds and a block in nearly 20 minutes.

The Mavericks pursued Walker in the 2019 offseason, but the four-time All-Star opted to sign with Boston instead. Walker has bounced around since, struggling to stay healthy.

Before Saturday’s game, Walker hadn’t played since Feb. 16, his final game with the Knicks before being benched.

He was traded to the Pistons on draft night and was waived in October, clearing the way for his signing with Dallas.

The Mavericks were without Doncic, who was dealing with a right quadricep strain, against the Bulls. Doncic is listed as probable for Monday’s game.

Dallas coach Jason Kidd said he planned to have Doncic and Walker on the court together at some point soon.

While Doncic is expected to return, Maxi Kleber is questionable after missing Saturday’s game with right foot soreness, while Josh Green will miss his second consecutive game with a right elbow sprain.

The Mavericks enter the opener of a three-game homestand having lost back-to-back games.

Monday’s game is the second of three meetings between the Thunder and Mavericks this season.

Oklahoma City won the first game 117-111 in overtime at Dallas on Oct. 29 despite Doncic’s 31-point, 16-rebound, 10-assist performance.

In that game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 38 points to lift the Thunder.

Gilgeous-Alexander attempted a season-low 13 field goals in Saturday’s loss at Cleveland, something Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault attributed to the differing ways defenses have approached his star guard of late.

The Cavaliers dictated the tempo Saturday, slowing down an Oklahoma City team that is fifth in the NBA in pace. The Mavericks are next-to-last in the league in pace, ahead of only Cleveland.

Monday’s game is the last of a season-long five-game road trip for the Thunder, who have dropped their last two after winning their previous two.

The Thunder’s Kenrich Williams will miss the game with a right knee sprain.

The last three meetings between the teams have been decided by six points or fewer, with two going into overtime.

NBA Preview: Brooklyn Nets (16-12) at Washington Wizards (11-16)

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NBA Preview: Brooklyn Nets (16-12) at Washington Wizards (11-16)

Things are going so well for the Brooklyn Nets that even with nine available players, they can eke out a win.

More players, including star Kevin Durant, are expected to be available on Monday when the Nets attempt to keep the good times rolling in their visit to the Washington Wizards.

Brooklyn is 7-1 in its past eight games, with six wins coming by single digits.

Cam Thomas came off the bench to score 21 of his career-high 33 points during Brooklyn’s 41-point fourth quarter in a 136-133 comeback victory over the host Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.

Thomas was able to capitalize on 29 minutes of play because of who did not suit up.

Durant was rested for the first time this season after scoring 34 points in a four-point win over Atlanta. Kyrie Irving sat out with an abductor injury and Brooklyn’s other three starters from Friday sat out on Saturday. Royce O’Neale missed the game due to personal reasons, Ben Simmons sat out after returning from missing four games with a calf injury and Joe Harris sat due to injury management on the heels of offseason surgery on his ankle.

Brooklyn also held out Seth Curry and T.J. Warren for injury management purposes, especially since Warren missed nearly two years recovering from foot injuries before his season debut Dec. 2. Nic Claxton also sat out a second straight game with a hamstring injury.

Patty Mills contributed 24 points on Saturday after sitting out seven straight games. Edmond Sumner added 21 points and Day’Ron Sharpe produced a double-double with 20 and 12 rebounds. Those outings allowed the Nets to erase a 14-point deficit midway through the third quarter and a nine-point deficit in the final seven-plus minutes.

After scoring its most points all season and securing 29 offensive rebounds, Brooklyn’s lineup likely will return to some semblance of normalcy.

The Wizards are hoping to deliver a better showing against Brooklyn, especially on their home court. Washington shot 36.1 percent in its 128-86 loss to the Nets on Nov. 4 and then missed 18 of 24 3-point tries in its 113-107 loss at Brooklyn on Nov. 30.

The loss in Brooklyn is part of Washington’s current 1-9 slide. The Wizards lost their sixth straight game on Saturday after allowing 19 3-pointers in a 114-107 loss to the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.

Kyle Kuzma scored 35 points and Kristaps Porzingis added 30 on Saturday. Porzingis, however, missed a tying 3-pointer with 17.1 seconds remaining before Washington committed a flagrant foul.

Like the Nets, Washington also was shorthanded as Bradley Beal missed a third straight game with a hamstring strain that may keep him out again Monday. Also missing were Will Barton (foot), Rui Hachimura (ankle), Monte Morris (groin) and Delon Wright (hamstring), who are not expected to play Monday.

NBA Preview: Miami Heat (12-15) at Indiana Pacers (14-13)

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NBA Preview: Miami Heat (12-15) at Indiana Pacers (14-13)

The Miami Heat open a four-game road swing on Monday when they travel to Indianapolis to face the high-scoring Indiana Pacers.

Indiana, ranked sixth in the NBA in scoring through games played Saturday with 115.9 points per game, had its second-highest output of the season on Saturday versus the Brooklyn Nets.

The Pacers’ 133 points were not enough in Saturday’s three-point loss, however, as Cam Thomas led four Nets scoring at least 20 points with his 33 off the bench.

Indiana’s offensive rebounding woes translated into a 37-12 disparity in second-chance points for Brooklyn, overshadowing a stellar individual performance from Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton scored a season-high 35 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the floor, including 7-of-8 from 3-point range, and dished nine assists.

He finished just one assist shy of his 10th double-double in the last 11 appearances. As it stands, Haliburton’s 11.0 assists per game lead the league.

Brooklyn’s offensive rebounds translating into second-chance points on Saturday compounded what has been a season-long difficulty for the Pacers. The 11.9 offensive rebounds they are surrendering per game ranked the third-most in the NBA through Saturday’s games.

Meanwhile, though the Pacers are 8-0 in games during which they score from 121 to 129 points this season, Saturday dropped them to 0-2 when scoring more than 129 points. The performance against Brooklyn underscored Indiana’s defensive struggles, giving up one of the league’s highest defensive averages at 116.7 points per game.

As the Pacers continue a four-game homestand on Monday, Miami will try to jump-start its sputtering offense against Indiana’s porous defense.

The Heat rank third-to-last in scoring at 108.6 points per game. Miami scored above its average its last time out, but that was not enough against a San Antonio squad sitting near the bottom of the NBA standings.

Saturday’s 115-111 loss was Miami’s third in its past four outings. In the other two — Dec. 5 at Memphis and Dec. 6 against Detroit — the Heat failed to break double-digits scoring.

Some of Miami’s inconsistency can be attributed to roster fluctuation. The Heat have dealt with a multitude of injuries, including Butler’s seven-game absence just a few weeks ago.

Butler returned to the lineup to score 25 points in an overtime win at Boston, the team with the NBA’s best record. But with Butler in the lineup and netting 30 points against San Antonio, Miami closed out a three-game homestand at just 1-2 with losses to teams dwelling at or near the bottom of their conferences’ cellars with the Pistons and Spurs.

NHL Preview: Boston Bruins (21-4-1) at Vegas Golden Knights (20-8-1)

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NHL Preview: Boston Bruins (21-4-1) at Vegas Golden Knights (20-8-1)

BOSTON BRUINS NOTES:

TONIGHT’S GAME

  • The Bruins visit the Golden Knights tonight in the 2nd and final game between these teams this season and Boston’s lone visit to T-Mobile Arena.
  • They are 21-4-1 overall this season and are 7-4-0 on the road … They are 10-1-1 vs. Western Conference opponents.
  • The Bruins conclude their 3-game road trip tonight in Vegas (1-1-0 … They next face a 5-game home stand, hosting NY Islanders on 12/13, Los Angeles on 12/15, Columbus on 12/17, Florida on 12/19, and Winnipeg on 12/22.

RECENT GAMES:

  • The Bruins had their 5-game point streak stopped at 4-0-1 with a 4-3 loss at Arizona on 12/11 following wins vs Carolina (3-2 OT on 11/25),
    Tampa Bay (3-1 on 11/29) and Colorado (5-1 on 12/3), a 4-3 shootout loss on 12/5 vs. Vegas and 4-0 win in Colorado on 12/7 … They are 11-2-1 in their last 14 games.
  • They had their 14-game home win streak, the longest from the start of a season in league history, stopped on 12/5 in a 4-3 shootout loss to Vegas … It was their longest home win streak overall since a 14-0-0 stretch in 2008-09.
  • Boston 3 vs Vegas 4/SO … The Bruins came back from an 0-3 deficit to even the game on goals by Brad Marchand (+ assist), David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall … Jeremy Swayman took the point in the shootout loss (1/5) … SOG: Bos 43, Vgs 24 … PP: 1/4 … PK: 0/3
  • Boston 4 at Colorado 0 … Taylor Hall had 2-1=3 totals, Trent Frederic had 1-1=2 totals, and Charlie Coyle added 2A … David Pastrnak had opened the scoring with his 18th of the season in just the 25th game … SOG: Bos 37, Col 23 … PP: 0/3 … PK: 1/4
  • Boston 3 at Arizona 4 … The Bruins had goals from David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle and Nick Foligno but lost on a last-minute Coyotes score … Jeremy Swayman had the loss in goal … SOG: Bos 46, Ari 16 … PP: 2/6 … PK: 0/4

INJURIES (Total man-games lost in 2022-23: 33)

  • None

BOSTON vs VEGAS, LIFETIME SERIES

  • The Bruins and Golden Knights are meeting for the tenth time in their histories with the Bruins having a 6-2-1 record and 26-22 scoring advantage in those games.
  • The Bruins are 3-1-0 lifetime in Vegas with a 13-10 scoring edge in those four contests.

NUMBERS
1 / 2: Boston’s rank in win percentage (.827) and fewest goals against per game (2.15) … They ranks 2nd overall in goals for per game (3.92).

1 / 5: Boston’s special teams ranking in the penalty-kill at 85.9% (14/95) and power play at 28.7% (29/101).

2: Season series completed – ARI (1-1-0, snapping a 19-gm win streak which was the longest by an opponent in club history), COL (2-0-0).

2: Player on the current roster new to the Bruins organization this season – A.J. Greer (free agent) and Pavel Zacha (trade).

4: Game-winning goals by Taylor Hall (tied for 3rd in the NHL), including three straight deciding goals from 10/20-25/2022 – deciding shootout goal vs. Anaheim on 10/20, OT goal vs. Minnesota on 10/22 and GWG vs. Dallas on 10/25.

4: Defenseman points in a game this season by Hampus Lindholm (1-3=4 vs PIT on 11/1) and Charlie McAvoy (4A vs CHI on 11/19).

4: Points by David Pastrnak (1-3=4 totals) on 10/12/2022 in Washington in the 2022-23 season opener … That is the most points in a Boston opener since Brad Marchand (2-3=5) and Pastrnak (2-2=4) in 10/13/2016.

8: Straight wins by Linus Ullmark from 10/12-11/3/2022 … It was a new career-best win streak and it also tied the longest win streak by a Boston goaltender from the start of a season (Tim Thomas, also 8-0-0 in 2010-11).

9: Game point streak by David Pastrnak from 11/7-25 with 6-7=13 totals in that span … That was his longest such stretch since a career-best 13-game stretch in 2019-20.

9: Players on the Bruins current roster who played college hockey – Connor Clifton, Charlie Coyle, Derek Forbort, Trent Frederic, AJ Greer, Matt Grzelcyk, Charlie McAvoy, Craig Smith and Jeremy Swayman.

10: Former first round draft picks on the current roster – Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, Derek Forbert, Trent Frederic, Taylor Hall, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha and Jakub Zboril

14: Straight home wins to open this season, which is the longest such streak in NHL history … That also tied as Boston’s longest home win streak overall since a 14-game stretch in 2008-09.

43: Points by the Bruins after 26 games this season at 21-4-1 … That is the 2nd-best mark after 26 games in team history, besting only the 22-4-0 mark in 1929-30.

+46: Boston’s league-leading goal differential, including an NHL-best 3rd period goal differential at 40-15 and +25.

391-25-20: Boston’s record since 2011-12 in games in which they have had a 2-goal lead in a game … That extends to 256-2-6 over that span when they have led by 3 goals

552: Consecutive Bruins games (regular season & playoffs) currently sold out at TD Garden … Their last non-sellout game was on 12/2/2009 when a Wednesday game vs. TB drew 16,553

FUN FACTS

  • The Bruins currently have 22 players on their roster … 10 were drafted by the team, 4 were acquired in trade and 8 were signed as free agents.
  • The Bruins play 16 matinees this season (local start time 4:00 pm or earlier) … They have a 2-0-0 record in afternoon games so far.
  • The Bruins play 14 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 3-0-0 in the 1st game of those sets and are 2-1-0 in the 2nd games so far.
  • The Bruins are playing game 5 of a 14-game December schedule tonight (8 hm/6 rd, 2-1-1) … They will play 14 games in January (5 hm/9 rd), 10 in February (3 hm/7 rd), 15 in March (9 hm/6 rd) and 7 in April (3 hm/4 rd) … They went 8-1-0 in October and 11-2-0 in December.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
Nov. 2: Keith Kinkaid recalled from Providence/AHL.
Nov. 7: Jakub Lauko returned to Providence/AHL.
Nov. 9: Mike Reilly placed on waivers for assignment to Providence/AHL (assigned Nov. 10).
Nov. 16: Keith Kinkaid returned to Providence/AHL.
Nov. 28: Anton Stralman placed on waivers (cleared 11/29).

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS NOTES:

GOLDEN KNIGHTS UPCOMING GAMES
Golden Knights 2022-23 Record: 20-8-1, 41 points (8-6-0 at Home, 12-2-1 on Road)

DATE OPPONENT TELEVISION RADIO SPANISH RADIO
Dec. 11 vs. Boston Bruins AT&T SportsNet Fox Sports 98.9 FM/1340 AM Deportes 1460 AM
Dec. 13 at Winnipeg Jets AT&T SportsNet Fox Sports 98.9 FM/1340 AM None
Dec. 15 at Chicago Blackhawks AT&T SportsNet Fox Sports 98.9 FM/1340 AM None
Dec. 17 vs. New York Islanders AT&T SportsNet Fox Sports 98.9 FM/1340 AM Deportes 1460 AM
Dec. 19 vs. Buffalo Sabres AT&T SportsNet Fox Sports 98.9 FM/1340 AM Deportes 1460 AM

GOLDEN KNIGHTS LAST GAME RECAP
December 9 – Vegas Golden Knights 2, Philadelphia Flyers 1 OT
The Vegas Golden Knights (20-8-1) hit the 20-win mark as they picked up a 2-1 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers (9-13-6) on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena. William Carrier netted the game’s first goal as the Golden Knights carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. In the second, Scott Laughton snuck a shot through to tie the game at 1-1. After a scoreless third, Jonathan Marchessault picked off a pass and burst in on goal to bury the game-winning goal in overtime for a 2-1 final.

LAST GAME BY THE NUMBERS

  • Marchessault has goals in four straight games for the first time in his career
  • Carrier matches his career high of goals in a single season (9)
  • Adin Hill stopped 27 of 28 shots, good for a .964 save percentage, logging his second consective win
  • Vegas improves to 20-8-1 and 8-6-0 at home

Four for Marchessault
Jonathan Marchessault has tallied a goal in four consecutive games for the Golden Knights. This is the first time of his career that Marchessault has had a four-game goal streak. Marchessault’s goal was his 25th game-winning goal as a Golden Knight, the most of any Vegas player in the history of the franchise. The forward is now tied as the second highest goal scorer with Stone and Smith with 12 goals this season, just one short of Eichel’s team leading 13.

Carrier-ing the 4th
William Carrier has scored nine goals in 29 games for Vegas, matching his career high of goals scored in a season. The forward had his first multi-goal game of his career on November 21 in Vancouver and followed it up with another goal on November 23.

Cotter the Kid
Paul Cotter has recorded 19 hits in four games, leading all Golden Knights in that time. Cotter recorded a career high of six hits in a victory over the Boston Bruins on Dec. 5, when he also scored two goals. Cotter then matched his best on Wednesday, logging another six hits against the New York Rangers.

Solo Efforts
In Vegas’ game against Philadelphia, all goals in the contest were unassisted. This is the first time in franchise history that all goals in a
Golden Knights game were solo efforts, not counting 1-0 shootout wins.

First Things First
Carrier’s goal in the first period against Philadelphia marked the 19th time Vegas has scored first in a game and for the third time in four games. The Golden Knights have scored 10 times in the first five minutes of the first period through 29 games, most recently when Cotter netted the puck 1:36 into the first period against Boston on Dec. 5. The Golden Knights are outscoring opponents 34-15 in the opening frame and lead the NHL in first-period goals. Vegas is 16-3-0 when it scores first and 11-3-0 when leading after the first period.

Hey Shea!
Shea Theodore has recorded 10 points in Vegas’ last 11 games (1-9—10) and ranks eighth amongst defensemen in the league in points this season (22). Theodore has five multi-point games, second to Alex Pietrangelo (six) for the most multi-point games by a Golden Knights defenseman this season.

Easy Steph-y
Chandler Stephenson has 22 points in Vegas’ 29 games, as well as three game-winning goals. Stephenson’s 63.5 faceoff win percentage ranks second in the NHL among all qualified skaters. Stephenson has recorded a point in five straight games twice this season including seven assists during his most recent point streak.

Rookie of the Month
Logan Thompson has been strong in net for the Golden Knights and was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for the month of November after going 8-2-0 with a 2.88 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in 10 starts. In his last three starts, Thompson has faced 127 shots, making 115 saves, good for a .905 save percentage. On Vegas’ most recent road trip, Thompson defended the Golden Knights in two shootouts, allowing only one shootout goal and making 40+ saves in back-to-back starts. Thompson has stopped 86.2% of shootout attempts faced in his career (25-of-29); only Boston’s Linus Ullmark has a better shootout save percentage among active NHL goaltenders who have faced at least 20 attempts in their career. Thompson is second in the league in wins (13) behind Ullmark (15).

Jack of all Trades
Despite having missed two games for the Golden Knights, Jack Eichel continues to lead Vegas in points 13-16—29. Eichel has points in 14 of the last 19 games for Vegas (10-12—22), including seven multiple-point efforts. His +17 rating is third among all NHL forwards (sixth overall).

Martinez Block Party
Golden Knights defenseman Alec Martinez leads the NHL with 115 blocked shots in 29 games and is the first player in the league to reach the century mark this season. Martinez has led the team in blocked shots in 20 of 29 games.

O from the D
Vegas defensemen have accounted for an NHL-leading 58 assists and 67 points, which trail only San Jose’s blueliners. Shea Theodore (T-8th, 22 points) and Alex Pietrangelo (T-9th, 21 points) are among the top 10 defensemen in scoring league-wide, making Vegas the only team with two defensemen in the top 17.

The Shorty King
Reilly Smith netted his third shorthanded goal of the season against St. Louis on November 12. Smith leads the league with three shorties and Vegas is tied for first as the team with four shorthanded goals. His 11 shorthanded goals since joining Vegas in 2017-18 are the most in franchise history.

Spreading the Wealth
Six Golden Knights have recorded 20 or more points this season, the most of any team in the league. Jack Eichel leads the club with 29 points, followed by, Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson and Shea Theodore with 22 points each.

Golden Knights Point Leaders

  1. Jack Eichel – 29 (13G, 16A)
  2. Jonathan Marchessault – 22 (12G, 10A)
    Chandler Stephenson – 22 (6G, 16A)
    Shea Theodore – 22 (4G, 18A)
  3. Mark Stone – 21 (9G, 12A)
    Alex Pietrangelo – 21 (3G, 18A)
  4. Reilly Smith – 18 (12G, 6A)
    William Karlsson – 18 (6G, 12A)
  5. Nicolas Roy – 13 (5G, 8A)

Hot Streaks
Jonathan Marchessault – 4 game goal streak (4-0—4)

Against the Bruins
Vegas’ contest with Boston on Sunday is the second of two meetings this season. The Golden Knights own a 2-5-1 record against the Bruins, and split their series in 2021-22. In their last meeting, Vegas won 4-3 in a shootout win against the Boston on Monday night at TD Garden. Vegas used goals from Paul Cotter and Jonathan Marchessault to take a 2-0 lead just 5:04 into the contest. Cotter opened the middle period with his second goal of the game just 51 seconds after the drop of the puck. Boston battled back as Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak gave the Bruins life heading into the third. Taylor Hall scored a power-play goal to tie the game at 3-3 and the teams went beyond regulation to find a winner. After a scoreless overtime, the teams went empty through four rounds of the shootout. Logan Thompson shut down Charlie Coyle in the fifth round to set up Reilly Smith’s winning goal to give Vegas the 4-3 triumph. Mark Stone owns 20 points (8-12—20) in 21 meetings against the Bruins in his career.

2022-23 Season BOS Series: 1-0-0 (Home: 0-0-0, Road: 1-0-0)
Dec. 5 – at Boston (Vegas 4, Boston 3 SO)
Dec. 11 – at Vegas
2021-22 Season BOS Series: 1-1-0 (Home: 1-0-0, Road: 0-1-0)
Dec. 14 – at Boston (Vegas 4, Boston 1)
Mar. 3 – at Vegas (Vegas 2, Boston 5)

NHL Preview: Washington Capitals (13-12-4) at Winnipeg Jets (18-7-1)

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NHL Preview: Washington Capitals (13-12-4) at Winnipeg Jets (18-7-1)

WASHINGTON CAPITALS NOTES:

LAST GAME
Washington 4, Seattle Kraken 1
December 9, 2022 * Capital One Arena * Washington, D.C.
Shots: WSH: 38; SEA: 26
Power Plays: WSH: 1/4; SEA: 0/2
Three Stars: 1. Lindgren (WSH), 2. Johansson (WSH), 3. Larsson (SEA)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Loaned forward Connor McMichael to AHL Hershey, 11/20

INJURIES/ILLNESSES
Nicklas Backstrom: 10/12-12/9 (29 games)
Carl Hagelin: 10/12-12/9 (29 games)
Tom Wilson: 10/12-12/9 (29 games)
Connor Brown: 10/20/22-12/9/22 (25 games)
Beck Malenstyn: 11/3/22-12/9/22 (18 games)
Dmitry Orlov: 11/7/22-12/9/22 (16 games)
Martin Fehervary: 12/5/22-12/9/22 (3 games)
Darcy Kuemper: 12/5/22-12/9/22 (3 games)
T.J. Oshie: 10/31/22-11/19/22 (11 games)
John Carlson: 10/31/22-11/9/22 (6 games)
Man Games Lost: 169

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Dec. 13, 9 p.m. ET at Chicago (ESPN, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)
Dec. 15, 7 p.m. ET vs. Dallas (NBCSW, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)
Dec. 17, 7 p.m. ET vs. Toronto (NBCSW, NHLN, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)
Dec. 19, 7 p.m. ET vs. Detroit (NBCSW, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)
Dec. 22, 7 p.m. ET at Ottawa (NBCSW, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)

TONIGHT’S GAME
The Capitals visit the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday at Canada Life Centre for the first of two meetings between the teams this season. Washington is 21-19-2-6 all-time versus the Winnipeg/Atlanta franchise and have a record of 17-6-4 against the Jets since their relocation in 2011-12. In addition, the Capitals are 8-2-2 in their last 12 games against Winnipeg. Washington swept the season series with the Jets in 2021-22, outscoring Winnipeg 9-5 in two games. Alex Ovechkin has recorded 94 points (50g, 44a) in 69 career games against Winnipeg/Atlanta, tied for the most goals he has scored against a single franchise (Tampa Bay: 50) and marking the second most points he has against a single opponent (Carolina: 99).

AWAY vs. WINNIPEG JETS (Since 2011-12)
Record Goals For Goals Against Streak
7-5-2 34 31 1 WSH win (12/17/21)

CAPITALS vs. JETS/THRASHERS ALL-TIME (Career Totals)
Games Goals Assists Points
Ovechkin (69) Ovechkin (50) Ovechkin (44) Ovechkin (94)
Backstrom (49) Backstrom (18) Backstrom (30) Backstrom (48)
Carlson (33) Eller (7) Johansson (17) Johansson (21)

POINT STREAKS
Evgeny Kuznetsov – 4 game point streak (0g, 5a), 4 game assist streak (5a)
Alex Ovechkin – 2 game point streak (3g, 1a), 2 game goal streak (3g)
John Carlson – 2 game point streak (0g, 3a), 2 game assist streak (3a)
Anthony Mantha – 2 game point streak (1g, 2a), 2 game assist streak (2a)

TOP CAPS FACTS
Approaching 800

  • Alex Ovechkin scored an empty net goal on Friday vs. Seattle, marking his 796th career goal. It also marked Ovechkin’s 500th career even strength goal and he became the fourth player in NHL history to reach the mark (Wayne Gretzky: 617; Gordie Howe: 566; Jaromir Jagr: 538).
  • Ovechkin is four goals shy of becoming the third player in NHL history to score 800 career goals and six goals shy of passing Gordie Howe (801) for second on the NHL’s all-time goals list.
  • Ovechkin (currently at 160 GP) can require the fewest games between milestone goals No. 700 and No. 800 and become the first to make the jump in fewer than 200 contests (Wayne Gretzky: 231 GP from Jan. 3, 1991 to March 20, 1994; Gordie Howe: 256 GP from Dec. 4, 1968 to Feb. 29, 1980).*
  • After reaching the 700-goal milestone on Feb. 22, 2020, against the Devils, the Capitals’ captain has found the back of the net 96 times since – an average of 0.61 goals-per-game over that span, matching his overall career average (0.61 G/GP). Gretzky’s goals-per-game rate from No. 700 to No. 800 was 0.44, while Howe’s was 0.39.*
  • Ovechkin ranks first in NHL history in power play goals (291) and overtime goals (25), second in game-winning goals (124) and multigoal games (161), and fourth in even strength goals (500).
  • Ovechkin is one game-opening goal shy of passing Jaromir Jagr (135) for the most in NHL history.
  • Ovechkin has recorded 29 points (16g, 13a) in 29 games this season, which leads the Capitals. Ovechkin has recorded 15 points (8g, 7a) in his last 11 games, which includes seven multi-point efforts during that span.
  • Ovechkin’s 16 goals this season rank tied for eighth in the NHL, through games played Dec. 9. Ovechkin (37-years-old) is one of two players over the age of 29 to rank in the top-10 in NHL goal scoring (Sidney Crosby, 35-years-old: 15 goals).
  • Ovechkin is on pace to score 45 goals this season. Should Ovechkin reach the 40-goal mark, it would mark his 13th career 40-goal season, passing Gretzky (12) for the most in NHL history.
    *Information from NHL Stats’ “The Road to 800” stats pack

Chuck Stops Here

  • Charlie Lindgren stopped 25 of 26 shots faced on Friday vs. Seattle, earning his third consecutive win.
  • In his last three starts, Lindgren is 3-0-0 with a 1.34 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage.
  • During the three-game stretch, which began on Dec. 5 at Edmonton, Lindgren has not surrendered a goal when the Capitals have led (a total of 50:13 of game time), per Natural Stat Trick.
  • Over his last three starts, Lindgren has stopped all 40 shots faced in the third period.
  • Lindgren’s three-game win streak marks the second longest of his NHL career. Last season with the St. Louis Blues, Lindgren won five-straight games, going 5-0-0 with a 1.22 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage.
  • The Capitals have earned at least one point in seven of the nine games Lindgren has started this season (5-2-2).
  • This season, Lindgren has a record of 5-3-2 with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage.

900 For Tiger

  • Lars Eller is expected o play in his 900th career game on Sunday at Winnipeg.
  • Eller has played 457 of his 899 career games with Washington (also 435 GP w/ MTL, 7 GP w/ STL).
  • In 899 career games, Eller has recorded 359 points (158g, 201a).
  • Among Denmark-born players in NHL history, Eller ranks second in games played (Frans Nielsen: 925), third in goals (Nielsen: 167;

Nikolaj Ehlers: 164), third in assists (Nielsen: 306; Mikkel Boedker: 209) and third in points (Nielsen: 473; Ehlers: 361).

  • Eller has won 57.3 percent of his faceoffs since Nov. 1, which ranks 10th in the NHL during that span (min. 225 faceoffs taken).
  • Eller has recorded four points (2g, 2a) in his last six games and has 11 points (5g, 6a) in 29 games this season. Turning a Corner
  • The Capitals have won three-straight games entering Sunday’s tilt with Winnipeg, which marks their longest win streak of the season.
  • The Capitals are 6-2-1 and have earned 13 points in their last nine games, which is tied for the third-most points in the NHL since Nov. 23.
  • Since Nov. 23, the Capitals rank second in the NHL in goals against per game (2.22), third in penalty kill percentage (87.0%) and 12th in power play percentage (27.6%).
  • Over their last nine games, 18 of the 19 skaters that have played for Washington have recorded a point, led by Alex Ovechkin’s 12 points (7g, 5a).

400 For Dowder

  • Nic Dowd played in his 400th career game on Friday vs. Seattle.
  • Dowd has played 269 of his 400 career games with Washington (also 91 GP w/ LAK, 40 GP w/ VAN).
  • In 400 career games, Dowd has recorded 110 points (49g, 61a).
  • Among active forwards that were drafted in the seventh round of the NHL Draft, Dowd ranks eighth in games played (399) and 13th in points (110) and plus/minus rating (+12).
  • This season, Dowd has recorded eight points (4g, 4a) in 29 games.
  • Dowd ranks first among Capitals forwards in shorthanded time on ice per game (2:11) and fourth on the team in hits (68). In addition, Dowd leads the Capitals and ranks tied for sixth in the NHL with 15 drawn penalties.

Clutch Carly

  • John Carlson recorded an assist on Friday vs. Seattle, his second-straight game with an assist.
  • Carlson recorded his assist in the third period. Carlson has recorded 11 (6g, 5a) of his 17 points (8g, 9a) this season in the third period
    of games.
  • Seven of Carlson’s eight goals have come when the Capitals have trailed, with two being game-tying goals in games the Capitals won (Oct. 17 vs. VAN; Oct. 22 vs. LAK).
  • Carlson’s eight goals this season rank tied for third among NHL defensemen.
  • Carlson has recorded 10 points (6g, 4a) in his last 12 games.

Kuz Control

  • Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded an assist on Friday vs. Seattle, extending his assist streak to four games (5a).
  • With his assist on Friday, Kuznetsov tied Calle Johansson (361) for the seventh-most assists in franchise history. Kuznetsov passed Bengt Gustafsson (359) for the eighth-most assists in franchise history on Wednesday at Philadelphia.
  • Kuznetsov leads the Capitals with 18 assists in 28 games this season.
  • Kuznetsov is on pace for 52 assists this season. Should he maintain his scoring pace, it would mark Kuznetsov’s fifth career 50-assist season.
  • Among Washington’s top-10 assists leaders all-time, Kuznetsov’s 0.58 assists per game rate ranks second, trailing only Nicklas Backstrom (0.71 A/GP).
  • Since entering the NHL during the 2013-14 season, Kuznetsov has recorded 1.52 assists per 60 minutes at five-on-five. That’s the
    fifth-highest rate in the NHL during that span (Connor McDavid: 1.77; Artemi Panarin: 1.69; Ryan Getzlaf: 1.54; Johnny Gaudreau:
    1.53).
    Special Teams
  • The Capitals have killed off 58 of 69 power plays (84.1 percent) over their last 24 games, dating back to Oct. 22. During that span, Washington’s 84.1 penalty kill percentage ranks third in the NHL.
  • Through games played Dec. 9, the Capitals’ 80.7 penalty kill percentage ranks ninth in the NHL.
  • Washington has drawn 128 penalties this season – the third most in the NHL – and their +22 net penalty differential ranks first in the NHL.
  • The Capitals have had 103 power play opportunities this season, which are the second most in the NHL.
  • Washington has scored a power play goal in eight of their last nine games, dating back to Nov. 23 (eight goals on 29 opportunities = 27.6%).
  • The Capitals have scored a power play goal in five-straight games, marking their longest stretch of consecutive games with at least one power play goal since the 2020-21 season (five games: Jan. 24 – Feb. 1, 2021).

At The Dot

  • The Capitals won 25 of 44 faceoffs (56.8%) on Friday vs. Seattle, marking the fifth-straight game in which Washington has won the majority of the faceoffs.
  • Since Nov. 1, the Capitals have won 52.6 percent of their faceoffs, which is the eighth-highest win percentage in the NHL during that span.
  • Since Nov. 1, all four of the Capitals’ centers have a faceoff win percentage above 50 percent (Lars Eller: 57.3 percent; Evgeny Kuznetsov: 52.6 percent; Dylan Strome: 52.3 percent; Nic Dowd: 52.4 percent).

Did You Know?

  • The Capitals are 13-1-1 when scoring three or more goals this season.
  • Washington’s 756 hits this season are the seventh most in the NHL, through games played Dec. 9.
  • The Capitals rank sixth in the NHL in blocked shots (443), through games played Dec. 9

WINNIPEG JETS NOTES:

Scene Setter
Following a couple wins on the road, the Jets are back at Canada Life Centre for a three-game homestand, which starts on Sunday against the Washington Capitals. The Jets extended their winning streak to four games with a 5-2 win in St. Louis on Thursday and 3-1 victory in Chicago on Friday. Winnipeg’s homestand also includes the Vegas Golden Knights coming to Canada Life Centre on Tuesday and the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

Last Game
Winnipeg Jets 3
Chicago Blackhawks 1
Jets Scorers: Perfetti (6), Wheeler (9), Lowry (6)
Blackhawks Scorer: Raddysh (8)
Jets Goaltender: David Rittich (22 sv, 1 ga)
Blackhawks Goaltender: Arvid Soderblom (29 sv, 3 ga)
Jets PP: 1-for-4
Jets PK: 3-for-3
Recap: The Jets scored once in each period to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Friday Night. Blake Wheeler scored on the power play in the second period for the eventual game-winning goal and led the Jets with six shots. Josh Morrissey had two assists for his fifth multi-assist game of the season. David Rittich made 22 saves for his fourth win in six starts this season.

Franchise Best Start
The Jets have won 18 games in the first 26 games of a season for the first time in franchise history… It’s two better than the 16 games the team won in the first 26 games in four consecutive seasons from 2017-2021… Winnipeg’s plus-23 goal differential is also the best in franchise history through 26 games and fourth in the NHL this season.

Reach For the Top
The Jets have climbed to fourth in the NHL with a .712 points percentage, which also ranks first in the Central Division and Western Conference… Winnipeg’s best points percentage in franchise history was in 2017-18 when the team finished at .695… The franchise has finished
a season with a points percentage better than .600 four times.

Goals, Goals, Goals
The Jets have scored five goals or more in six of their past eight games… Since Nov. 25, Winnipeg has been the NHL’s highest scoring team with 36 goals in eight games… The Jets have tallied five goals or more in eight games this season.

String ‘Em Together
With Friday’s win, Winnipeg is 10-6-1 in games following a win this season… After winning three consecutive games on four occasions this season, the Jets have won four games in a row for the first time this season… The Jets had a pair of four-game winning streaks last season, including their final four games of the season… The last time Winnipeg won five consecutive games was from Dec. 9-16/18.

Longest Jets Winning Streaks Since Relocation
Streak Streak Started Streak Ended G GA Diff
7 2017-03-26 2017-04-08 25 16 9
6 2018-03-15 2018-03-27 23 15 8
5 2018-12-09 2018-12-16 27 15 12
5 2018-03-31 2018-04-07 20 12 8
5 2015-03-14 2015-03-23 15 5 10
5 2015-01-13 2015-01-21 21 8 13
5 2013-04-06 2013-04-18 22 10 12

Facing Eastward
This is Winnipeg’s eighth game against an Eastern Conference opponent this season, having gone 4-3-0 so far… The Jets are in the midst of playing five of 10 games against an Eastern Conference team… Pierre-Luc Dubois has a team leading 11 points (4G, 7A) in seven games against the Eastern Conference this season.

Busy Time of Year
Winnipeg plays 16 games in 30 days from Dec. 2-31… The stretch includes three back-to-backs… The Jets only consecutive days off in December are from Dec. 24-26 for the Christmas break… The Jets only played eight games in December last season due to COVID-related postponements, going 4-3-1.

PK Prowess
The Jets are 17-for-18 (94.4%) on the penalty kill in their past six games and haven’t allowed a power play goal against in eight of their past 12 contests… Winnipeg is third in the NHL this season with a penalty kill clicking at 84.5%… The Jets have played 118:54 on the penalty kill this season, which is fourth fewest in the NHL… The last time the Jets had a penalty kill better than 82% was in 2013-14 when they finished the season at 83.2%… The franchise record for penalty kill percentage in a season is 85.2%, which occurred in Atlanta during the 2003-04 season.

On The Power Play
The Jets are 20-for-85 (23.5%) on the power play through the first 26 games of the season… Winnipeg is 9-for-24 (37.5%) with the extra man in the past seven games, having scored a power play goal in seven consecutive contests… Of the nine goals scored during the seven-game power play goal streak, Blake Wheeler has three, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Mark Scheifele have two, and Kyle Connor and Nate Schmidt have one… The franchise record for consecutive power play goals is 11 games (Oct. 14-Nov. 9/18)… The Jets have scored 15 of their 20 power play goals in their past 16 games, going 15-for-50 (30.0%)… Josh Morrissey has assisted six of the nine goals… Dubois (5G, 6A), Connor (2G, 9A), and Morrissey (1G, 10A) lead the Jets with 11 points on the power play this season.

Home Comforts
The Jets are 10-3-0 at Canada Life Centre to start the season, becoming the third team in the NHL to win 10 games at home this season… Winnipeg has won 14 of their past 18 home games dating back to last season… The 24 goals Winnipeg has allowed on home ice this season is the second fewest in the NHL… The Jets are outscoring their opponents 3.3-1.8 at home this season and have scored at least four goals in eight of their 13 games at Canada Life Centre this season… Pierre-Luc Dubois (6G, 11A) and Kyle Connor (7G, 10A) lead the team with 17 points in 13 home games… Connor Hellebuyck has been stellar on home ice this season, going 9-2-0 with a 1.36 goals-against average, .956 save percentage and three shutouts… Winnipeg is 239-152-36 all-time at Canada Life Centre and have posted a .500 record or better at home in six consecutive seasons.

On the Road
With four consecutive wins away from Canada Life Centre, the Jets are 8-4-1 on the road this season… Winnipeg hasn’t lost consecutive games in regulation on the road this season… Defenceman Josh Morrissey (1G, 15A) leads the Jets in scoring on the road with 16 points, while Pierre-Luc Dubois has a team leading seven goals… Winnipeg’s first 15 road games are against Western Conference teams… The Jets were 16-17-8 on the road last season.

Mo Consistency
Josh Morrissey leads the team in scoring with 30 points (5G, 25A) in 26 games… He is one assist from matching the career best 26 assists he had in 2019-20, which he did 65 games… Morrissey is the fastest defenceman in franchise history to reach 25 assists and 30 points in a season… He has a point in 24 of his 26 games this season and hasn’t gone consecutive games without a point… Morrissey is tied for third in the NHL among defencemen in scoring, while his 25 assists rank tied for first among NHL defencemen… Morrissey is on pace for 79 assists and 95 points this season… He had a career best 12 goals and 37 points in 79 games last season… Morrissey is on pace to become the first defenceman to lead the team in scoring in franchise history… The franchise record for points by a defenceman in a season is 56, which Dustin Byfuglien did in 2013-14… Byfuglien (4 times), Toby Enstrom (twice), and Jacob Trouba (once) are the only defencemen in franchise history to post 50 points or more in a season.

Super Six
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has won six consecutive starts… He has a 2.00 goals-against average and .942 save percentage in the six games… It’s the second longest winning streak of his career, three behind the nine consecutive games he won from Mar. 15-Apr. 7/18… Tuesday’s game against Florida marked the sixth time this season he faced 40 shots or more in a game, improving his record to 5-0-1 with a 2.14 goals-against average and .949 save percentage this season when facing at least 40 shots.

In Tandem
Connor Hellebuyck and David Rittich have combined for a .922 save percentage this season, which ranks second in the NHL in team save percentage… The Jets are one of three teams in the NHL with a team save percentage better than .920… Rittich stopped 22 of 23 shots on Friday against Chicago for a .957 save percentage, which is his best in a game this season.

600
Mark Scheifele had his third two-assist game of the season on Thursday to reach 600 career points, which includes 245 goals… Scheifele is the third player in franchise history to reach 600 points and he’s five goals shy of joining Kovalchuk (328) and Blake Wheeler (254) as the only players in franchise history to reach 250 goals.

The Rookie
Cole Perfetti is third in NHL rookie scoring with 18 points (6G, 12A) in 26 games… Perfetti could become the fifth rookie in franchise history to post 50 points in a season, previously done by Dany Heatley (67 – 2001-02), Patrik Laine (64 – 2016-17), Kyle Connor (57 – 2017-18), and Ilya Kovalchuk (51 – 2001-02).

10 in 10
During the past 10 games, the Jets have five players averaging a point per game or better… Pierre-Luc Dubois (6G, 9A) and Blake Wheeler (5G, 10A) each lead the team with 15 points in the 10 games, while Josh Morrissey has 14 points (4G, 10A)… Kyle Connor has 13 points, including being tied with Dubois with a team best six goals, while Cole Perfetti has 10 points (5G, 4A).

Extra Time
The Jets are 6-1 in overtime this season… Winnipeg’s seven OT games are tied for the second most in the NHL this season and the Jets are the only team with six wins in overtime… Five of Winnipeg’s six OT winners have come in the first two minutes of the extra session… Mark Scheifele holds the franchise record with 12 OT winning goals… The six wins is one better than the five overtime wins Winnipeg had last season in 12 games decided in OT… During the past three seasons, Winnipeg is 17-9 in games decided in overtime.

Goal-Games
Seven of Winnipeg’s past nine games have been decided by three goals or more… The Jets have notched five of their past six wins by at least three goals… Winnipeg’s previous four wins came by one goal… Fifteen of Winnipeg’s 26 games this season have been decided by three goals or more, with the Jets going 9-6.

Zeros
The Jets have registered three shutouts this season, which is tied for first in the NHL… Winnipeg’s first two shutouts were by 4-0 scores (Oct. 24 vs. STL and Nov. 5 vs. CHI), while the Nov. 29 5-0 shutout against Colorado gives the Jets all three shutout wins by at least four goals… The Jets had five shutouts last season, which is two shy of the franchise record.

Jets vs. WSH Notes
Season Series
The Jets and Capitals play twice this season, with both games happening in December… Winnipeg plays in Washington on Dec. 23.

Recent History
The Jets lost both games to the Capitals last season and are 5-4-4 in the past 13 meetings… The home team has won eight of the past nine games between the two squads… Winnipeg hasn’t won consecutive games against Washington since 2013.

In Winnipeg
The Jets are 5-2-0 in the past seven games against the Caps at Canada Life Centre, which includes a pair of shutouts.

Player Notes
Blake Wheeler leads the Jets in career scoring against Washington with 19 points (5G, 14A) in 37 games.. Mark Scheifele has 14 points (8G, 6A) in 16 games against the Capitals, including nine points (5G, 4A) in his past seven games… Connor Hellebuyck is 4-3-2 in nine career starts against Washington with a 2.19 goals-against average and .929 save percentage.

Jets vs. WSH Past 10 Games
Date Opp Res G GA S PPO PPG PIM SA PPOA PPGA PIMA
11/01/2016 Was L 2 3 45 4 0 0.0 8 27 3 0
11/03/2016 @Was OTL 3 4 27 2 0 0.0 12 32 5 1
02/13/2018 Was W 4 3 44 3 0 0.0 4 27 2 0
03/12/2018 @Was OTL 2 3 28 3 0 0.0 8 43 4 1
11/14/2018 Was W 3 1 24 3 1 33.3 6 28 3 0
03/10/2019 @Was L 1 3 34 5 0 0.0 4 18 2 0
02/25/2020 @Was SOL 3 4 33 3 0 0.0 7 37 1 0
02/27/2020 Was W 3 0 32 3 0 0.0 6 34 3 0
12/17/2021 Was L 2 5 42 3 1 33.3 4 39 2 0
01/18/2022 @Was OTL 3 4 33 4 1 25.0 4 31 2 0

Winnipeg Jets Recent Transactions
Date Transaction
Dec. 7 Reassigned F – Dominic Toninato to the Manitoba Moose (AHL)
Dec. 8 Activated D – Logan Stanley from injured reserve

NHL Preview: Philadelphia Flyers (9-13-6) at Arizona Coyotes (8-13-4)

NHL Editor
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0
NHL Preview: Philadelphia Flyers (9-13-6) at Arizona Coyotes (8-13-4)

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS NOTES:

UPCOMING GAMES
DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME BROADCAST INFO.
Tue., Dec. 13 Colorado Avalanche Ball Arena 9 p.m. NBCSP, 93.3 WMMR
Thur., Dec. 15 New Jersey Devils Prudential Center 7 p.m. NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic
Sat., Dec. 17 New York Rangers Wells Fargo Center 7 p.m. NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic

CURRENT INJURIES
PLAYER INJURY DATES GAMES MISSED
Wade Allison IR-oblique muscle strain, hip pointer 11/13-present 14
Cam Atkinson upper body 9/25-present 28
Sean Couturier IR-back 9/19-present 28
Ryan Ellis LTIR-groin/hip/back 10/11-present 28
Tanner Laczynski IR-lower body 12/7-present 2
2022-23 TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 161

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
12/8 – Recalled D Cam York from Lehigh Valley and reassigned D Egor Zamula to the Phantoms (AHL)
12/6 – Placed F Tanner Laczynski on Injured Reserve
12/2 – Assigned F Kieffer Bellows to Lehigh Valley

FLYERS VS. COYOTES: HEAD-TO-HEAD
FLYERS COYOTES
50-30-5 ALL-TIME RECORD 33-46-6
29-12-2 HOME 19-20-3
21-18-3 ROAD 14-26-3
3-2-0 LAST 5 MEETINGS 2-2-1
5-3-2 LAST 10 MEETINGS 5-3-2
305 GOALS SCORED 251
16.3% POWER PLAY 16.9%
83.1% PENALTY KILL 83.7%
Braun: 12 pts (1-11=12) in 40 GP
Hayes: 10 pts (4-6=10) in 13 GP
van Riemsdyk: 10 pts (6-4=10) in 17 GP
TEAM SCORING LEADERS Ritchie: 11 pts (4-7=11) in 14 GP
Keller: 8 pts (2-6=8) in 8 GP
Bjugstad: 8 pts (3-5=8) in 21 GP
Hart: 1-1-0, 2.36 GAA, .927 SV%, 1 SO in 2 GP
Sandstrom: Has not faced ARI
TEAM GOALTENDERS Vejmelka: 0-2-0, 3.59 GAA, .896 SV% in 2 GP
Ingram: Has not faced PHI

TEAM NOTES
QUICK HITS

  • Philadelphia plays 21 games in 40 days from Nov. 8-Dec. 17 – tied for the most games played among other NHL teams in that span (STL).
  • Friday’s contest marked the second game of the season the Flyers were not awarded a power-play opportunity this season (also, Nov. 10 at CBJ). The Flyers own four power-play goals in the last four games. The team ranks third in the NHL with a 44.4 PP% since Dec. 3 and T-7th in PPG.
  • Philadelphia has allowed the opposing team to score first in 21 of its 28 games this season. The Flyers rank T-1st in the NHL with seven wins when trailing first in a game. The Flyers are 2-3-2 when scoring first.
  • Philadelphia recorded a franchise-best 59 hits Nov. 12 vs. OTT. The 59 hits are tied for the ninth-most in a regular season game in NHL history.
  • The Flyers lead the NHL with 869 hits and rank second with 521 blocked shots.
  • Philadelphia ranks eighth in the NHL in team rookie scoring percentage (10.4) and 10th in team rookie points (19).
  • The rookies have netted a combined eight goals to rank T-4th among NHL team rookie goal percentage (12.1) and T-7th in rookie goals.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

  • Philadelphia continues its four-game road trip Sunday – tied for its longest road trip of the season (also, Feb. 16-21 & April 2-8).
  • Nine of the Flyers’ 11 games from Dec. 9-Jan. 2 will be on the road.
  • Philadelphia is 3-5-5 on the road this season and has earned a point in five of its last eight road games (1-3-4).
  • The Flyers face a Western Conference opponent in three straight contests, Dec. 9-13, and is 1-0-1 on the road against a Western Conference team (10/22 at NSH, 3-1, 12/9 at VGK, 2-1 OTL).

‘TIS THE SEASON

  • The Flyers play 14 contests during the month of December, tied for their second-most in a month this season.
  • Philadelphia will play six games at home and eight on the road, including the start to five road games in a row, Dec. 22-Jan. 2, that will be split up by the NHL Holiday Break, Dec. 24-26.
  • Philadelphia owns a 353-224-82-31 all-time record for games played in the month of December – its second-most wins in a single month.
  • The Flyers rank second in NHL history with a .593 winning percentage during the month of December (VGK – .738 in 61 all-time games) and rank seventh with 353 December wins.
  • The December schedule also features Philadelphia’s 21st all-time game held on New Year’s Eve, it’s 20th on the road, when the Flyers visit the Kings on Dec. 31. Philadelphia is 9-7-2-2 all-time in New Year’s Eve contests, 8-7-2-2 on the road.

KONNECT FOUR

  • Travis Konecny four points (3-1=4) in the last five games, including two power-play points (1-1=2).
  • He owns 17 points (6-11=17) in his last 16 games, including four multi-point contests and a seven-game point streak (3-7=10), Nov. 2-15.
  • He leads the team in goals (10), ranks T-1st in game-winning goals (2) and second in assists (13), points (23), shots (68) and multi-point games (7) this season.
  • He tallied three goals in a season-high three-game goal streak, Dec. 1-5.
  • The forward recorded his first career shorthanded assist/point vs. VAN (10/15).
  • The 25-year-old netted two goals Oct. 13 vs. NJ for his 11th career multi-goal game. Per NHL Stats, he became the second player in Flyers history to have two-or-more multi-goal games in a season opener (Bill Barber, 3x, 10/9/80, 10/9/81 & 10/7/82).
  • He ranks second in Flyers history in GWG (18), third in goals (120), fourth in scoring (294) and assists (174) and fifth in PPG (23) since entering the NHL in 2016-17.

LUCKY NUMBER 13

  • Kevin Hayes owns four points (1-3=4) in the last four games.
  • He owns nine points (4-5=9) in the last eight games.
  • He owns 18 points (8-10=18) in the last 18 games, including a season-high six-game point streak (Nov. 12-21).
  • The 30-year-old leads the team in assists (19), PPA (8), PPP (10) and points (28) and ranks second in goals (8) this season.
  • The forward collected three PPP (1-2=3) in a three-game PPP streak, Dec. 3-7 – matching his career high PPP streak, set Oct. 13-18 (3a) this season.
  • He collected back-to-back multi-point games (2-2=4), Nov. 26-29, for the sixth time in his career and leads the team with eight multi-point games this season.
  • He collected eight points (1-7=8) in a career-high five-game season-opening point streak, Oct. 13-22.
  • He tallied his 200th career assist Oct. 19 at FLA.

SANNY ON A ROLL

  • Travis Sanheim has five points (2-3=5) in the last six games, including a season-high four-game point streak, Nov. 29-Dec. 5.
  • He owns seven points (2-5=7) in the last nine games and nine points (3-6=9) in the last 11 contests.
  • He netted his first career shorthanded goal Nov. 29 vs. NYI to become the 41st defenseman in Flyers history to record
    a SHG.
  • The blueliner ranks T-1st on the team in assists (6), second in scoring (9) and T-2nd in goals (3) since Nov. 19 and ranks T-2nd among NHL defensemen in even-strength points (8), ranks T-4th in goals and T-10th in points in that span.
  • The 26-year-old signed an eight-year, $50 million contract extension ($6.25 AAV) on Oct. 13.

IVAN THE GREAT

  • Ivan Provorov has four assists in the last nine contests.
  • He recorded his 200th career NHL point (assist) Nov. 26 at NYI to become the seventh defenseman in Flyers history to reach the 200-plus point milestone.
  • He ranks T-4th in team history for goals by a defenseman with Shayne Gostisbehere (60).
  • The blueliner ranks third on the team in assists (11), T-4th in shots (58) and fifth in scoring (12) and hits (51) this season.
  • The 25-year-old leads the Flyers and ranks T-2nd in the NHL with 74 blocked shots.
  • The Russian native’s 10 blocked shots on Oct. 13 tied the franchise record for most in a game for the third time: Andrew MacDonald (3/11/16); Provorov (11/2/17 & 10/13/22).

WHOLE LOT OF HART

  • Carter Hart stopped 32-of-34 shots through overtime Friday at VGK to move to a 2-3-1 record in his last six starts.
  • Dec. 5th’s contest was Hart’s 70th career victory to become the 11th goaltender in Flyers history to reach 70-plus wins (NHL Stats).
  • The backstop has seen 30-plus shots in 13 of his 21 games this season – he is 7-1-5 in those contests.
  • He ranks third among NHL goaltenders in shots against (655) and saves (598) this season.
  • He opened the season on an eight-game point streak (6-0-2) to become the fourth goaltender in team history to have started a season on an eight-game plus point streak: Pete Peeters (22-0-5 in 1979-80), Bob Froese (9-0-1 in 1982-83) and Dominic Roussel (8-0-0 in 1993-94). (NHL Stats)
  • He made a career-high 48 shots and tied his career high with 51 shots faced vs. FLA on Oct. 27.
  • He recorded a career-high season-opening five-game win streak.
  • Per NHL Stats, he became the seventh goaltender in Flyers history to win each of his first five games of a season and first since Ron Hextall (5-0-0 in 1995-96). The longest such stretch in franchise history is eight straight games, achieved by Dominic Roussel (1993-94) and Bob Froese (1982-83).
  • The 24-year-old’s 48 saves tied for the eighth-most by a Flyers goaltender while his 51 shots faced T-10th. Per NHL Stats, his 48 saves mark the highest single game save total by a Flyers goaltenders since Steve Mason on March 22, 2016 (51 at CBJ).
  • Outside of Philadelphia, he only has one NHL team he has not earned a win against: St. Louis.

ICE ICE BABY

  • Tony DeAngelo tallied a power-play assist Wednesday vs. WSH to tie his longest point streak of the season at four games (1-3=4). He also owns a power-play point (1-1=2) in each of his last two games.
  • He leads team defensemen with 14 points (4-10=14) in 26 games this season.
  • He ranks 17th in the NHL in average TOI/game (24:19).
  • He ranks third on the team in PPP (8), fourth in points,T-4th in assists and T-5th in goals.
  • He recorded a career-high 31:03 TOI Nov. 19 at MTL to become the sixth defenseman in Flyers history to skate 31-plus minutes in two-or-more games, also: Matt Carle (2), Eric Desjardins (9), Derian Hatcher (2), Kim Johnsson (4) and Chris Pronger (3).
  • He recorded five points (1-4=5) in a four-game point streak, Oct. 13-19.
  • Per NHL Stats, he became the fifth defenseman in Flyers history to start a season on a point streak of at least four games: Behn Wilson (7 games in 1981-82), Chris Pronger (5 games in 2011-12), Gary Galley (four games in 1993-94) and Mark Howe (four games in 1988-89 & 1984-85).

CZECH HIM OUT

  • Lukas Sedlak has five points (2-3=5) in the last seven contests.
  • He registered two assists Nov. 29 vs. NYI, including his first career shorthanded assist.
  • He recorded back-to-back multi-point games for the first time in his career (1-3=4), Nov. 26-29, and has three multipoint games on the eason.
  • The forward has eight points (3-5=8) with the Flyers since being claimed on waivers from Colorado on Oct. 19.
  • The Czech Republic native’s five assists are his second-most in a season (6 in 2016-17) and his eight points are tied for his second-most in a season (13 in 2016-17, 8 in 2017-18).

ARIZONA COYOTES NOTES:

3 HARD LAPS
• Arizona is fresh off a 4-3 home win over Boston on Friday, which was ARI’s first home game since 11/3
• Matias Maccelli (2-17-19 in 23 GP) comes into tonight leading all rookies in assists this season and is two points off the rookie lead (SEA’s Matty Beniers)
• The d-pairing of Shayne Gostisbehere and Jakob Chychrun have combined for 5-13-18 in 8 gms since 11/23, with Gostisbehere’s 10 pts tied for second among NHL d-men in that span (Morrissey, 12; Heiskanen, 10; Hronek, 10)

LAST GAME
Coyotes 4, Bruins 3 – December 9, 2022 – Mullett Arena
ARI Goals: Brown (3), Crouse (11, 12), Schmaltz (4)
BOS Goals: Pastrnak (19), Coyle (7), Foligno (5)
ARI Goalie: Vejmelka (W) – 43 svs on 46 shots
BOS Goalie: Swayman (L) – 12 svs on 16 shots
PP: 0-4 PK: 4-6

Notes: Arizona snapped a 19-game losing streak against the Bruins…Lawson Crouse (2-1-3) recorded his 5th career multi-goal game and 20th career multi-point game. His second tally came as the game-winning goal with 13.5 seconds remaining in regulation…The go-ahead goal by Crouse – officially at 19:46 into the third period – is the T7th-latest go-ahead goal in Coyotes/Jets franchise history…Jakob Chychrun earned the secondary assist on Crouse’s first goal for his 150th career point. He’s the 13th defenseman in Coyotes/Jets franchise history to reach the benchmark with the club…Chychrun also is now on a season-high 4-game point streak…Karel Vejmelka tallied 43 saves for his fifth career 40+ save win, the ninth netminder in Coyotes/Jets history to record that many with the franchise…The 43 stops mark the most Vejmelka has recorded in a victory this season…Nick Schmaltz scored his fourth goal of the season and first since 11/27…Josh Brown opened the scoring 23 seconds into the first period, his third goal of the season to tie his personal best (2019-20 w/FLA)…Brown’s goal clocked in at 0:23 into the first period, tied for the fastest by a Coyote to open a game this season (Crouse, 11/8 at Buffalo)…Matias Maccelli chipped in two assists, including a helper on the GWG…Shayne Gostisbehere also recorded two assists to push his point streak to four games (2-4-6 in that span) for a season-high…Clayton Keller earned an assist to maintain his teamlead in points on the campaign (7-16-23 in 25 GP)…Arizona threw a season-high 39 hits MAN GAMES LOST (Name/Roster Status/Injury Type/Games Missed/Last Game Played)

Total man games lost: 63 games
Jakob Chychrun (16), Nick Schmaltz (15), Zack Kassian (9), Connor Timmins (9), Andrew Ladd (6), Josh Brown (3), Ben McCartney (3), Juuso Valimaki (1), Lawson Crouse (1)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
-11/23 – Activated F Zack Kassian off IR
-11/23 – Acquired F Curtis Douglas from Toronto in exchange for D Conor Timmins
-11/21 – Placed F Zack Kassian on IR (retroactive to 11/1)
-11/21 – Activated D Jakob Chychrun off IR
-11/21 – Activated F Nick Schmaltz off IR

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
DATE TIME
(AZ)

OPPONENT VENUE TV RADIO
Tue, Dec 13 8:30pm at SJ SAP Center Bally Sports Arizona
Extra
ESPN 620
Fri, Dec 16 7:30pm vs NYI Mullett Arena Bally Sports Arizona 98.7 FM
Sat, Dec 17 7pm vs BUF Mullett Arena Bally Sports Arizona
Extra
ESPN 620

YOTES & FLYERS
-Tonight is the first of two ARI-PHI meetings this season. The other one is scheduled for 1/5 in Philly
-The last time the Yotes and Flyers played was exactly one year ago (5-3, L)
-Nick Schmaltz registered 1-1-2 and Lawson Crouse scored in the most recent ARI-PHI meeting
-Arizona is 4-2-1 in the last seven home matchups with the Flyers
-Nick Ritchie is expected to face the Flyers for the first time as a member of the Coyotes. The forward leads current Yotes in career goals (4) and assists (7) vs PHI, and tallied an assist the last time he faced them (11/10/21 w/TOR)
-Clayton Keller enters tonight exactly a point per game in his career vs PHI (2-6-8 in 8 GP)…It’s one of seven NHL teams he averages at least a point per game against in his career (DET, MTL, NYR, OTT, SEA, TBL)

-Coyotes franchise vs Flyers:
• All-Time: 33-46-2-4
• Home: 19-20-2-1
• Road: 14-26-0-3
• L10: 5-3-2
• STRK: L2

SCORING NOTABLES AGAINST THE FLYERS
Nick Ritchie…4-7-11…14 career GP
Clayton Keller…2-6-8…8 career GP
Troy Stecher…0-4-4…8 career GP
Travis Boyd…1-3-4…6 career GP
Career Leaders
Goals (Ritchie, 4)… Assists (Ritchie, 7)…Points (Ritchie, 11)
Career Leaders Among Defensemen
Goals (None)…Assists (Stecher, 4)…Points (Stecher, 4)

KELLER INSTINCT
-Clayton Keller enters tonight among Arizona leaders in goals (7, 2nd), assists (16, 2nd) and points (23, 1st) in 2022- 23
-He picked up an assist on Friday and has registered a helper in two of his last three games
-Keller’s assist on Wednesday was his 175th career helper. He’s the third player in Coyotes/Jets franchise history to tally 175+ assists before turning 25 years old, trailing only Dale Hawerchuk (440 assists) and Dave Babych (248 assists)
-Keller’s 23 pts thru ARI’s first 25 GP are the most a Coyotes player has tallied in the team’s first 25 gms since Shane Doan (12-12-24 in 25 GP) in 2008-09
-The winger enters tonight just below a point-per-game this season (7-16-23 in 25 GP), a mark overall he’s been well clear of since 11/18/21… Keller has registered 32-48-80 in 76 GP since then, with his 1.05 points per game in that span ranking 6th among RW (Min. 50 GP)

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
-Shayne Gostisbehere ranks in the NHL defensemen’s top-10 in goals (6, T-7th) and top-15 in points (20, T-15th)
-Friday was Gostisbehere’s second multi-point game in his last three outings
-The blueliner has recorded 10 pts (2-8-10) in his last 8 GP after starting the year with 10 pts (4-6-10) in his first 17 GP

  • The two helpers on Friday gave Gostisbehere 20 points in 2022-23 (6-14-20), his third consecutive 20-point season
    -Since the franchise relocated to Arizona (1996-97), Gostisbehere is the only defensemen to record 20+ pts within the team’s first 25 games of a season. Phil Housley (3x), Dave Babych (3x), Dave Ellett (2x), Fredrik Olausson and Moe Mantha all did it in the Original Jets era
    -The second-year Coyote reached 20 goals and 50 assists with Arizona within the last two showings. Below is a list of the fewest games needed by a Coyotes/Jets defenseman to reach those two milestones with the franchise (NHL debut or otherwise):

20 goals
Phil Housley – 64 games
Shayne Gostisbehere – 106 games
Ed Jovanovski – 112 games
Randy Carlyle – 114 games
Dave Babych – 117 games
50 assists
Phil Housley – 73 games
Dave Babych – 86 games
Mario Marois – 95 games
Randy Carlyle – 97 games
Oleg Tverdovsky – 104 games
Shayne Gostisbehere – 107 games
Ed Jovanovski – 112 games
Moe Mantha – 112 games

ROOKIE MAKING HIS MARK
-Matias Maccelli (2-17-19 in 23 GP) comes into tonight among NHL rookie leaders in multiple statistical categories
-Ranks among NHL rookie leaders in assists (1st), points (2nd), points per game (1st, 0.83; [min 15 GP]) power-play assists (7, 2nd) and power-play points (8, 2nd)
-Maccelli has collected 9 pts (1-8-9) in his last 7 GP
-Earned his third multi-assist game of the season with a pair of helpers on Friday. That also shares the highest total among rookies…Among that cohort, Maccelli is the only rookie selected outside of the first round (Power, Guhle, Guenther, Beniers)
-Maccelli was the first rookie to 10 pts this season and has a chance to become the second rookie to 20 pts if he can find the scoresheet tonight

LAYING DOWN THE LAW
-Lawson Crouse registered two goals and an assist on Friday, including the game-winning goal at 59:46 into the third period -All five of Crouse’s multi-goal games have come since the start of 2021-22
-Crouse’s three points marked a season-high and pushed his season stat line to 12-3-15 in 24 GP. The 12 tallies are already the third-most he’s registered in a campaign (15, 2019-20; 20, 2021-22)
-The pair of goals extended Crouse’s home point streak to four games, tallying five markers in that run. That’s the longest home goal streak by a Coyotes player since Clayton Keller scored in 5 straight contests from 2/2/22-2/23/22
-The 12 goals on the campaign put Crouse on roughly a 40-goal pace for an 81-game season (the most games he can play this season)
-The game-winner on Friday is tied for the seventh latest go-ahead goal in Coyotes/Jets franchise history and is tied with Keith Tkachuk (1/3/98) for the second-latest since the franchise relocated

NHL Preview: Seattle Kraken (15-8-3) at Florida Panthers (13-11-4)

NHL Editor
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0
NHL Preview: Seattle Kraken (15-8-3) at Florida Panthers (13-11-4)

SEATTLE KRAKEN NOTES:

LAST GAME
Seattle 1 at Washington 4
Goals: Larsson
Goalie: Grubauer (34/36)
PP: 0/2 PK: 3/4 Shots: Seattle 26 – Washington 38

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 73)
Chris Driedger (ACL; IR) – 26 games – month-to-month
Joonas Donskoi (upper body; IR) – 26 games – day-to-day
Jaden Schwartz (upper body) – 1 game – day-to-day

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
Dec. 5, 2022: Recalled F Shane Wright from Coachella Valley (AHL)
Dec. 6, 2022: Loaned F Shane Wright to Team Canada for the IIHF World Junior Championship

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Dec. 13: Seattle at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m. PT
Thursday, Dec. 15: Seattle at Carolina, 4 p.m. PT
Sunday, Dec. 18: Winnipeg at Seattle, 5 p.m. PT
Tuesday, Dec. 20: St. Louis at Seattle, 7 p.m. PT
Thursday, Dec. 22: Seattle at Vancouver, 7 p.m. PT

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Tonight’s game marks the second and final meeting between Seattle and Florida this season, as well as the second of a four-game Eastern Conference road trip that will continue in Tampa Bay on Tuesday and conclude in Carolina on Thursday.
• Entering play Saturday, the Kraken were tied for eighth in the NHL with a .635 points percentage this season.
• Justin Schultz has totaled 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his last 10 games, dating back to Nov. 17 vs. the Rangers.
• The Kraken were one of three teams (Arizona, Florida) this season to have four different defensemen score at least three goals entering play Saturday. Jamie Oleksiak (four), Vince Dunn (four), Adam Larsson (three) and Justin Schultz (three) have all scored at least three times for the Kraken this year.
• Martin Jones’ next win will surpass his 2021-22 season total (12), despite playing in only 19 games so far this season.
• Jones’ 12 wins were tied for the fifth-most in the NHL this season entering play Saturday.
• The Kraken are outshooting their opponents 623-549 at five-on-five this season. Their 53.2 percent shot share was good for sixth in the NHL entering play Saturday according to Natural Stat Trick.

CAT NIP
• Andre Burakovsky has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his last 10 games against Florida dating back to Jan. 28, 2015. He has recorded four multi-point efforts during that span.
• Vince Dunn and Yanni Gourde both scored their first NHL goals against the Panthers – Dunn on Oct. 12, 2017 and Gourde on March 11, 2017
• Jordan Eberle has five points (two goals, three assists) in his last four games against the Panthers.
• Alex Wennberg has six assists in his last six games against Florida.

ROAD WARRIORS
• The Kraken have posted an 8-2-1 record while playing on the road this season and are one of only three teams (New Jersey, Vegas) to have two or fewer one regulation losses on the road this year.
• The Kraken’s eight road wins are just three wins shy of matching their total from last season (11) despite only playing in 11 road games so far this year.
• Despite playing the second-fewest games on the road this season (11), the Kraken were tied for fifth in the NHL in regulation wins on the road (seven) and ranked third in road points percentage (.773) entering play Saturday.
• The team’s 4.18 goals-per-game played on the road led the NHL entering play Saturday. They join the Buffalo Sabres (4.09), New Jersey Devils (4.08) and the Vegas Golden Knights (4.00) to be averaging four or more goals per game on the road this season.
• Matty Beniers (1.00) and Daniel Sprong (1.00) are both playing at a point-per-game pace on the road this season. Beniers is the Kraken’s leading scorer when playing on the road this season, totaling 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 11 games played.
• Adam Larsson enters tonight’s game riding a career-best, four-game road point streak. He has totaled five points (one goal, four assists) in those four games dating back to Nov. 25 at Vegas.
• Yanni Gourde (two goals, five assists) and Alex Wennberg (four goals, three assists) have each recorded seven points in their last seven games played on the road dating back to Nov. 1 at Calgary.
• Justin Schultz has six assists in his last six road games.

FAMILIAR FOES
• Seattle’s roster houses three players that formerly played for the Florida Panthers: Chris Driedger, Jared McCann and Alex Wennberg.
• Chris Driedger played for the Panthers for two seasons (2019-20 and 2020-21) before he was selected by the Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. During those two years, he posted a 21-8-4 record with a .931 save percentage, 2.07 goals-against average and four shutouts.
• Jared McCann played for Florida for parts of three seasons (2016-17 to 2018-19), totaling 53 points (18 goals, 35 assists) in 143 regular-season games.
• Alex Wennberg played for the Panthers during the 2020-21 season, recording 29 points (17 goals, 12 assists) and setting a career high in goals.
• Additionally, assistant coach Dave Lowry played for Florida from 1997-98 to 1999-00.
• Assistant coach Paul McFarland held the same role for the Panthers from 2017-18 to 2018-19.

CHEERS TO BENIERS
• Matty Beniers leads all NHL rookies this season in goals (10) and points (21), and his 11 assists were tied for fourth entering play Saturday.
• Beniers’ 10 goals are ranked second on Seattle’s roster, and his 11 assists and 21 points are good for fifth (tied) and third, respectively.
• He enters tonight’s game having totaled 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his last nine games played, dating back to Nov. 19 vs. Los Angeles. According to NHL Stats, it’s the first time a rookie has had at least 12 points over a nine-game span since Minnesota’s Matt Boldy did so from March 31 to April 22, 2022.
• Beniers scored the game-winning goal in the Kraken’s game on Dec. 1, a 3-2 overtime win against the Washington Capitals. It was the first overtime goal of his career and his second game-winning goal of the season (Last: Nov. 1 at Calgary).
• Beniers’ overtime goal came seven seconds into overtime, the fastest overtime goal in franchise history. According to NHL Stats, it was also the fastest goal by a rookie from the start of a regular-season overtime in NHL history. Walter Jackson (0:08 on March 7, 1933) held the previous record.
• Entering play Thursday, Beniers is one of two rookies (Fabian Zetterlund) to score an overtime goal this season and is one of three rookies (Pontus Holmberg, Shane Pinto) to score two game-winning goals this year.
• Entering play Saturday, Beniers was the only rookie this season to have two three-point games, doing so on Nov. 23 vs. San Jose and on Nov. 27 at Anaheim.
• Beniers is also averaging 17:18 of ice time per game this season, which is the second-most among rookie forwards (Noah Cates; 18:03) and ranks fourth among Kraken forwards.
• The 20-year-old is currently on pace to finish the season with 32 goals, 35 assists and 66 points. 32 goals would be the most by a rookie since Patrik Laine and Auston Matthews had 36 and 40 goals, respectively, during their rookie season in 2016-17.

EBS AND FLOW
• Jordan Eberle enters tonight’s game having recorded 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in his last 18 games played dating back to Oct. 27 vs. Vancouver.
• His 22 points and 16 assists this season are both the second-most on Seattle’s roster, trailing Andre Burakovsky in both categories for the team lead.
• Among players from the 2008 NHL Draft class, Eberle ranked third in scoring this season entering play Saturday, trailing only San Jose’s Erik Karlsson (37 points) and Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos (32 points).
• Eberle’s 617 career points also ranked third among 2008 draftees, again trailing Stamkos (1,004) and Karlsson (697).
• Eberle was originally selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round (22nd overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft. He is one of 23 players from the ’08 class that are still playing in the NHL, a list that includes Kraken teammate Justin Schultz.
• The 32-year-old is currently on pace to finish the season with 19 goals, 50 assists and 69 points. 50 assists would be the most of his career, surpassing his current career high of 42 that he set in 2011-12 while playing for the Oilers.
• It would mark the first time in his career that he would reach the 50-assist plateau.
• 69 points would be the second-most of his career, seven points shy of his career-best 76 points that he had in 2011- 12.
• Eberle leads all Kraken skaters in career goals (268), assists (349), points (617) and games played (884).

ON THE DL
• This season defensemen Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson have played 426:07 together during five-on-five, starting every game of the season on a pair together.
o Only Los Angeles’ Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson (498:42) and Vegas’ Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore (439:24) have spent more time together at five-on-five according to Natural Stat Trick.
• According to Natural Stat Trick, the Kraken have scored 26 five-on-five goals when Dunn and Larsson are on the ice together. Only New Jersey’s Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler have been on the ice for more of their team’s five-on-five goals (28).
• The pair’s plus-12 goal differential at five-on-five is tied with Vegas’ McNabb and Theodore for the second-most in the league among defensive pairs this season according to Natural Stat Trick. They trail New Jersey’s Hamilton and Seigenthaler (plus16).
• Additionally, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Dunn/Larsson pairing ranks eighth in the NHL with 18.9 expected goals.
• Dunn is pacing to finish the year with 13 goals, 37 assists and 50 points, all of which would surpass his current career bests (12 goals, 28 assists, 35 points).

BENNY AND THE VETS
• Since Nov. 13 vs. Winnipeg, forwards Matty Beniers, Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann have played on a line together, totaling 116:16 of ice time at five-on-five together during that span.
• According to Natural Stat Trick, since Nov. 13 when that line is on the ice during five-on-five play, the Kraken are outscoring their opponents 10-2, outshooting them 59-50 and have 57 scoring chances to their opponents’ 41.
• One of Beniers, Eberle or McCann have scored in 10 of the last 11 games the Kraken have played dating back to Nov. 13.

YOU’RE A BURK
• Andre Burakovsky enters tonight’s game leading the Kraken with 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) this season. It is the first time in his career that he has played a point-per-game pace through his first 26 games of the season.
• Burakovsky has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his last eight games played dating back to Nov. 23 vs. Winnipeg.
• According to NHL Stats, Burakovsky ranks fourth in scoring among veteran players who are in their first season with a new team. He trails Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk (37 points), Los Angeles’ Kevin Fiala (30 points) and Columbus’ Johnny Gaudreau (28 points).
• The nine-year vet is currently on pace to finish the season with 28 goals, 54 assists and 82 points, all of which would set career highs for the forward.
• According to Natural Stat Trick, Burakovsky has a 54.1 percent Corsi rating this season, which ranks fourth among Kraken skaters that have played in at least two games.

SETTING THE PACE
• With 26 games played this year, the Kraken are roughly 32 percent of the way through their second season. Heading into tonight’s matchup with the Capitals, eight of the 19 veteran skaters on the Kraken’s active roster are on pace to surpass their career highs in scoring.
• Will Borgen, Andre Burakovsky, Vince Dunn, Morgan Geekie and Daniel Sprong are all on pace to set new career highs in goals, assists and points.
• Borgen has already tied his career high with two goals this season.
• Karson Kuhlman is on pace to tie each of his career bests in goals (three), assists (seven) and points (10).
• Adam Larsson (nine), Jared McCann (41) and Jamie Oleksiak (14) are all on pace to finish the 2022-23 season with a new career high in goals.
• If the pace holds, it would mark the first time in his career that McCann would surpassed the 40-goal threshold.
• Oliver Bjorkstrand (32), Jordan Eberle (50), Justin Schultz (41), Carson Soucy (13) and Brandon Tanev (22) are all pacing to finish the year with new career highs in assists.
• Jared McCann (58), Jamie Oleksiak (25) and Brandon Tanev (35) are all playing at a pace to surpass their career highs in points.
• Adam Larsson is pacing to finish the season with 25 points, which would tie his career best.

IT’S NOT OVER ‘TIL IT’S OVER
• The Kraken have won four overtime games this season: Nov. 17 vs. NY Rangers, Nov. 19 vs. Los Angeles, Nov. 29 at Los Angeles and Dec. 1 vs. Washington.
• Entering play Saturday, only the Winnipeg Jets (six) and the Tampa Bay Lightning (five) had won more overtime games this season.
• Last year the Kraken won only one overtime game – Jan. 27, 2022 at Pittsburgh (Larsson). The team was 1-5 in 3-on3 overtime last season.
• Four different players have scored in overtime for the Kraken this season: Matty Beniers, Andre Burakovsky, Jordan Eberle and Justin Schutlz. Entering play Saturday, only the Winnipeg Jets (five) have had more players score an overtime goal.

SECOND TIME AROUND
• The Kraken enter tonight’s game with an 15-8-3 record, which is good for a .635 points percentage and 33 points.
• The team won their 15th game of the season on Dec. 1 vs. Washington, their 23rd game played of the season. Last year, it took the Kraken 46 games and 113 days from the start of the season to reach 15 wins, earning their 15th win of the season on Feb. 2, 2022, a 3-0 win at the New York Islanders, the first shutout in franchise history.
• It also took the Kraken 46 games to reach 33 points last season. This year, the Kraken earned their 33rd point of the season in their 23rd game played, a 3-2 OT win against the Capitals on Dec.1.
• Saturday, Dec. 10 marked the 60th day of the 2022-23 NHL season, roughly 32 percent of the way through. Compared to the first 60 days of the 2021-22 regular season, the Kraken have won six more games, earned 12 more points and have improved their points percentage by 0.246.
• The Kraken’s 0.246 points percentage improvement from the first 60 days of the 2021-22 season to the first 60 days of the 2022-23 season ranks third the NHL, trailing only the New Jersey Devils (0.315) and Montreal Canadiens (0.279).
• Their six extra wins are the fifth-best mark in the league. Only the New Jersey Devils (plus-11), New York Islanders (plus-10), Boston Bruins (plus-seven) and Montreal Canadiens (plus-seven) have a better year-over-year win improvement.
• The team’s 12 more points through the first 60 days of the 2022-23 season are also the fifth-best points improvement, trailing the New Jersey Devils (18), New York Islanders (15), Boston Bruins (13) and Montreal Canadiens (13).
• The Kraken have been at or above a .500 points percentage the entire 2022-23 season. They did not achieve that mark past the first three games of the 2021-22 season.
• The team’s 15 wins this season have come against the Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings (3), Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins (2), San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals. Eight of those 12 teams made the playoffs last season.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY
• The Kraken have posted an 12-4-1 record in their last 17 games played dating back to Oct. 29 vs. Pittsburgh. Their .735 points percentage during that span ranked fifth in the NHL entering play Saturday and their 12 wins and 25 points were both tied for seventh.
• The Kraken are averaging 3.59 goals per game since Oct. 29, which ranked eighth in the NHL entering play Saturday.
• The team is outscoring its opponents 61-50 in its last 17 games played dating back to Oct. 29. Seattle’s plus-11 goal differential ranked seventh in the NHL during that span entering play Saturday.
• Seattle is currently ranked second in the Pacific Division with 33 points in 26 games played. They trail only the Vegas Golden Knights (41 points) for the division lead.
• The Kraken have a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games played. Entering play Saturday, they were one of nine teams in the NHL to win at least seven of their last 10 games.

STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE
• Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times dove deep into the Vince Dunn/Adam Larsson defensive pairing, explaining their success on the ice and their friendship off it.
• Matty Beniers joined John Buccigross on ESPN’s The Point on Dec. 2 to talk about his overtime goal against the Capitals, the team’s depth and more.
• Philipp Grubauer called into the Chuck and Buck show on KJR on Dec. 2 to talk about the Kraken’s overtime win the previous night against his old team.
• Jorden Eberle called into the Brock and Salk show on ESPN 710 to talk about the team’s overtime victory, what’s changed for the Kraken this season and his chemistry with his line mates.
• Kraken Head Coach Dave Hakstol, General Manager Ron Francis and CEO Tod Leiweke joined Ian Furness on KJR on Nov. 30 to talk all things Kraken and the team’s success in its second season.
• On Nov. 30, Kraken broadcaster Alison Lukan joined the Bump and Stacy Show live on ESPN 710 to breakdown the Kraken’s winning streak.
• Jared McCann joined the Bump and Stacy show on Nov. 22 to talk about what has changed for the Kraken this year and the goals they set this offseason.
• On Nov. 22, Justin Schultz called in live to NHL Network radio with Steve Kouleas and Mike McKenna to talk about his overtime winner against New York and the team’s success as of late.

KRAKEN REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Larsson (69), Borgen (64), Tanev (61)
Blocked Shots: Larsson (58), Oleksiak (38), Borgen (31)
Shots: Burakovsky (69), Bjorkstrand (65), Schwartz (54)

KRAKEN’S RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK]
1-10: 4-4-2 (10), 33/34, 10/37, 22/33
11-20: 8-1-1 (17), 37/22, 5/30, 23/29
21-30: 3-3-0 (6), 21/27, 5/15, 12/24

OVERTIME RESULTS (4-3)
Oct. 12, 2022 at Anaheim: Terry
Oct. 19, 2022 vs. St. Louis: Faulk
Nov. 13, 2022 vs. Winnipeg: Scheifele
Nov. 17, 2022 vs. NY Rangers: Schultz
Nov. 19, 2022 vs. Los Angeles: Eberle
Nov. 29, 2022 at Los Angeles: Burakovsky
Dec. 1, 2022 vs. Washington: Beniers

FLORIDA PANTHERS NOTES:

BAPTIST HEALTH INJURY REPORT

  • F Anthony Duclair | Games Missed: 28
  • F Anton Lundell | Games Missed: 4
  • D Radko Gudas | Games Missed: 3
  • F Patric Hornqvist | Games Missed: 3
  • G Spencer Knight | Games Missed: 2
    Total Man Games Lost Due to Injury: 67

LAST GAME
Panthers 1, Lightning 4 – Dec. 10 – Amalie Arena
FLA Goals: Dalpe (2)
TBL Goals: Maroon (1), Point (14), Sergachev (5), Stamkos (15)
FLA Goalie: Bobrovsky (L) – 34 Saves
TBL Goalie: Vasilevskiy (W) – 24 Saves
FLA Shots: 25
TBL Shots: 38
Notes: Eric Staal notched an assist for the second consecutive game…Josh Mahura posted an assist for his second point in as many games (1-1-2)…Zac Dalpe scored his second goal since being recalled by Florida on Dec. 5 from Charlotte (AHL)…Brandon Montour skated in his 400th NHL game…Florida’s 30 hits were tied for their most in a game this season…Colin White logged a game-high five hits…Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 10 shots he faced while Florida was shorthanded…FLA PP: 0-4, FLA PK: 4-4

RECENT TRANSACTIONS:

  • Dec. 8: G Alex Lyon recalled from Charlotte (AHL) | F Aleksi Heponiemi loaned to Charlotte (AHL)
  • Dec. 5: F Zac Dalpe and D Matt Kiersted recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
  • Dec. 4: F Patric Hornqvist placed on LTIR | F Chris Tierney recalled from Charlotte (AHL) on an emergency basis

PANTHERS vs. KRAKEN
ALL-TIME vs. SEA: 1-2-0
ALL-TIME HOME vs. SEA: 0-1-0
2022-23 vs. SEA: 1-0-0

CATS STATS

  • Josh Mahura leads Florida with a plus-17 rating this season. All seven of his points (3-4-7) have come at even strength.
  • Eric Staal has produced four assists (0-4-4) over his last five games.
  • Since being recalled by Florida on Dec. 5, Zac Dalpe has scored two goals (2-0-2).

CATS AND KRAKEN
The Panthers face off against the Kraken for the second and final time this season following Florida’s 5-1 win at Climate Pledge Arena on Dec. 3, the Panthers first-ever win against the Kraken. In the game, Sam Bennett (0-3-3), Matthew Tkachuk (1-1-2) and Carter Verhaeghe (2-0-2) all produced multiple points, and 11 total Panthers skaters recorded at least one point. Spencer Knight stopped 35 of 36 Kraken shots on goal. Tkachuk has amassed six goals and 10 points (6-4-10) over five career games against the Kraken, while Aaron Ekblad (0-3-3) and Bennett (0-3-3) have each notched three assists over three games against Seattle.

‘TIS THE SEASON
Florida owns a 3-2-0 record so far in December, averaging 3.6 goals per game and 33.4 shots on goal per game. Their 18 goals scored his month ranks ninth-most among clubs with at least four games played through Dec. 10. 19 different Panthers skaters have recorded a point over Florida’s five December contests, including 15 different skaters with at least two points. Matthew Tkachuk leads Florida with eight points (3-5-8) so far this month.

NEW CATS IN TOWN
The Panthers have 27 goals and 78 points (27-51-78) from players who did not play a game for the club last season. Vancouver and Detroit are the only teams with more goals from new players, and Detroit is the only such club with more points from new skaters. In total, 21 different Panthers skaters have scored at least one goal in 2022-23.

PUCKS ON NET
The Panthers, who led the NHL in shots on goal in each of the past two seasons, once again pace the League with 1,072 SOG, the only team with over 1,000 thus far in 2022-23.

CHUCKIE’S CHEESE
Matthew Tkachuk posted his team-leading 13th multi-point game (1-1-2) Dec. 8 vs. DET, extending his point streak to four games (3- 5-8), his third point streak of at least four games in 2022-23. Tkachuk’s team-leading 37 points (13-24-37) through his first 25 games in 2022-23 were both the most by any Panthers skater through their first 25 games with the franchise and the most by any Panthers skater through their first 25 games of a season in franchise history. His 37 points are also the most of any player on a new team this season. The Scottsdale, Ariz. Native also paces the Cats in assists (24), PIMs (41), points per game (1.42), even-strength goals (11- tied with Carter Verhaeghe), even-strength points (25), power-play points (12) and shots on goal (103). He also leads Florida in assists (12) and points (18) at home this season. At five-on-five play, his 63.1% shot attempts percentage is the fourth highest of any NHL skater with at least 25 games played this season, and is the highest of any Panthers skater with at least 25 games played since the NHL began tracking the statistic in 2009-10

Most Points by a Panthers Skater Through first 25 Games with the Franchise

  1. Matthew Tkachuk 2022-23 37 Points (13-24-37)
  2. Pavel Bure 1998-99 to 1999-00 30 Points (21-9-30)
  3. Kris Versteeg 2011-12 28 Points (12-16-18)

Most Points by a Panthers Skater Through First 25 Games of a Season

  1. Matthew Tkachuk 2022-23 37 Points (13-24-37)
  2. Pavel Bure 1999-00 34 Points (21-13-34)
  3. Jonathan Huberdeau 2019-20 31 Points (10-21-31)

BARKOV COUNTY
Panthers Captain Aleksander Barkov notched one assist Dec. 8 vs. DET after missing Florida’s past six contests. He has registered 19 points (4-15-19) over 21 games in 2022-23, leading Florida with a 59.7 faceoff win percentage. His five multi-assist games are tied with Matthew Tkachuk for the most on Florida this season. Barkov sits at 66 career power-play goals, tied with Scott Mellanby for the most in Panthers history. Over his past six games played, Barkov has produced eight points (2-6-8). Barkov is also three even-strength goals away from surpassing Jonathan Huberdeau (150) for the franchise record.

EK’S GON’ GIVE IT TO YA
Aaron Ekblad notched his 202nd NHL assist to surpass Keith Yandle for second-most by a defenseman in franchise history and sixth-most by a Panthers skater Dec 8 vs. DET. He logged his 611th career blocked shot Dec. 6 at WPG, surpassing Dmitry Kulikov for the most blocked shots in franchise history (since the NHL began tracking in 2005-06). Ekblad logged his 200th NHL assist Nov. 29 at CGY to cap his point streak at five games (3-4-7 from Nov. 20-29), tied for the longest by a Panthers skater this season. He was the third blueliner to reach 200 assists with Florida. Ekblad notched his 199th career assist Nov. 28 at EDM for his 300th NHL point (101-198- 299). He was the first Panthers defenseman to reach the mark with Florida and the first blueliner from the 2014 draft class to post 300 points. He scored his 100th career goal Nov. 23 vs. BOS and produced a season-high three points (1-2-3). The Windsor, Ontario native is three games shy of surpassing Robert Svehla (573) for most games played by a defenseman in club history.

All-Time Games Played, Panthers History

  1. Jonathan Huberdeau (F) 671 GP
  2. Stephen Weiss (F) 654 GP
  3. Aleksander Barkov (F) 617 GP
  4. Radek Dvorak 613 GP
  5. Robert Svehla (D) 573 GP
  6. Roberto Luongo (G) 572 GP
  7. Aaron Ekblad (D) 571 GP

MR. CARTER
Forward Carter Verhaeghe posted at least one point (3-2-5) in four of his past five games, and he skated in his 200th NHL game Dec. 8 vs. DET. He tallied his fourth power-play goal of the season and matched his career high with eight shots on goal Dec. 6 at WPG. Verhaeghe produced his team-leading fifth multi-goal game Dec. 3 at SEA. His goals came :26 seconds apart, tied for the third-fastest two goals scored by one player in franchise history. He paces Florida in goals (15) and is tied for the club lead in even-strength goals (11) and he has produced 24 points (15-9-24) over 28 games in 2022-23, which ranks second on the team. He posted a point in four straight games from Nov. 3-9 (4-3-7). Over his past 20 games, Verhaeghe has amassed 12 goals and 19 points (12-7-19). The Toronto, Ontario native’s eight total multi-point games and 18 even-strength points each rank tied for second-most on Florida with Sam Bennett.

BENNY AND THE CATS
Forward Sam Bennett has logged six points (2-4-6) over his past five games. He matched his career high with three assists Dec. 3 at SEA, and he logged his second multi-goal game of the season (2-0-2) Dec. 1 at VAN. He has amassed 17 points (6-11-17) over his past 16 contests. He also produced three assists while skating in his 500th NHL game Nov. 17 vs. DAL. Bennett’s five third-period tallies are tied for the team lead with Matthew Tkachuk. He has registered eight multi-point games this season, tied with Carter Verhaeghe for second-most on the team. The Holland Landing, Ontario native’s 86 shots on goal are third-most on Florida and his 71 hits lead Florida forwards.

‘HART OF GOLD
Forward Sam Reinhart notched an assist Dec. 8 vs. DET and posted a season-high seven shots on goal. He produced at least one point in five consecutive games (2-5-7) from Nov. 23-Dec. 1, tied for the longest point streak on Florida this season. He scored a powerplay goal in three consecutive games from Nov. 15-19, behind only Anthony Duclair and Evgenii Dadonov (4 games each) for the longest PPG streak in franchise history. Reinhart’s five power-play tallies are the most on Florida this season, and he has logged seven power-play points. He recorded his first two goals of the season Nov. 6 at ANA and led Florida with seven shots on goal in the game. He has produced 14 points (7-7-14) over his past 17 games. The West Vancouver, B.C. native scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout against James Reimer Nov. 3 at SJS.

OH WHAT A KNIGHT
Goaltender Spencer Knight earned at least one point in six consecutive decisions (3-0-3) from Nov. 19-Dec. 1. He has surrendered five goals over his past three starts since Dec. 1 for a .940 save percentage and 2.12 goals against average, the third-best SV% among goaltenders over that span (Dec. 1-Dec. 6). Knight appeared in his 50th NHL game Dec. 3 at SEA and earning his 30th NHL win Dec. 1 at VAN. His 49 games were the fewest games required to reach the 30-win mark with Florida in franchise history. Knight stopped all 40 Carolina shots he faced Nov. 9 vs. CAR to earn his third career shutout. The 21-year-old native of Darien, Conn., owns a 31-13-6 record over his first 50 NHL games.

MONTOUR OF DUTY
Brandon Montour skated in his 400th NHL game Dec. 10 at TBL. He has produced 22 points (5-17-21) through his first 26 games of 2022-23, including assists in two of his past four outings. With his assist Nov. 28 at EDM, he surpassed Aaron Ekblad (22 GP, 2021-22) for the fewest games to reach the 20-point mark in a season among Panthers blueliners in club history. Montour has notched an assist in seven of his past 13 games (0-7-7), and he has amassed 14 points (1-13-14) over his past 16 games. The Brantford, Ontario native leads Florida blueliners in assists and points. Montour’s seven points from Nov. 6-9 tied Bryan McCabe (1-6-7, March 3-6, 2010) for the most points in a two-game span by a Panthers defenseman in club history. He matched his career high with four points (1-3-4) Nov. 6 at ANA, also tying the franchise record for single-game points by a defenseman. He became the eighth blueliner in club history to post four points in a regular season game, and he skated a career-high 30:41 total time on ice Nov. 3 at SJS.

JUST THE TWO OF GUS
Defenseman Gustav Forsling scored a goal in consecutive games from Dec. 1-3 and he has produced three points (2-1-3) over his past six contests. He registered his 10th career multi-assist game (0-2-2) Nov. 26 vs. STL. All 10 of his multi-assist performances have come with Florida. Forsling has amassed 18 points (4-14-18) over 27 games in 2022-23, including 14 even-strength points which are the most among Panthers defensemen. Forsling notched an assist in five straight games (0-6-6) from Nov. 12-20, the longest assist/point streak of his career. He also posted a four-game assist/point streak earlier this season (1-4-5, 4GP Oct. 15-21). He logged a career-high seven shots on goal Nov. 1 at ARI. His 84 total shots this season are the most among Panthers blueliners.

WHAT ABOUT BOB?
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 33 of 35 shots from Dec. 6-8 for a .943 save percentage. He stopped 19 of 20 against DET on Dec. 8, and turned aside 14 of 15 WPG shots Dec. 6, including all 13 he faced at even strength. He stopped a season-high 41 shots for a .953 save percentage Nov. 15 vs. WSH. His 41 saves were his most since stopping 42 shots against Jan. 11 vs. VAN. Bobrovsky appeared in his 600th NHL game Nov. 5 at LAK, becoming the 53rd goaltender in league history to reach the mark. His 339 career wins are the most through a goaltender’s first 600 appearances in NHL history.

SUPER STAAL BROS.
Eric and Marc Staal have combined for seven assists over Florida’s past six games. Marc led Florida with a plus-three rating and four blocked shots Dec. 8 vs. DET, and Eric recorded a season-high six shots on goal Dec. 6 at WPG. The Thunder Bay, Ontario natives have combined for 2,361 total NHL games and 1,256 points.

THE LOMBERGHINI
Ryan Lomberg has produced a point two of his past five games (1-1-2). The 27-year-old native of Richmond Hill, Ontario has produced six points (3-3-6) in 2022-23, and he ranks second among Florida forwards in hits (36).

GOTTA GO TO MO’
Nov. 15 vs. WSH marked Paul Maurice’s 1,700th game as an NHL head coach, becoming the fourth in League history to reach the mark. He earned his 783rd win as an NHL head coach Nov. 9 vs. CAR, surpassing legendary bench boss Al Arbour for sixth-most in League history. He is one of three coaches to earn at least 300 wins with two different franchises. He is 12 wins away from achieving his 800th NHL win as a head coach.

NHL Preview: Los Angeles Kings (15-11-4) at Columbus Blue Jackets (9-15-2)

NHL Editor
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NHL Preview: Los Angeles Kings (15-11-4) at Columbus Blue Jackets (9-15-2)

LOS ANGELES KINGS NOTES:

DEC. 11 vs. COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS – 6:00 PM ET (3:00 p.m. PT) // Venue: Nationwide Arena // TV: Bally Sports West //
Radio: iHeartRadio
-The LA Kings visit the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first of two meetings between the clubs this season (March 16).
-Tonight’s game marks the fourth game of the Kings’ six-game road trip (5-2 W, Dec. 6 at OTT; 5-0 L, Dec. 8 at TOR; 4-2 W, Dec. 10 at MTL; Dec. 13 at BUF; Dec. 15 at BOS).

WARM-UPS
1) Tonight is the second game of the Kings’ fourth set of back-to-backs this season (5-4 W, Oct. 17 at DET and 4-3 W, Oct. 18 at NSH // 5-1 W, Oct. 31 at STL and 5-2 L Nov. 1 at DAL // 4-1 L, Nov. 18 at VAN and 3-2 OTL, Nov. 19 at SEA). Prior to this set in Montreal and Columbus, the Kings are 3-2-1 in back-to-backs (2-1 in first game, 1-1-1 in second game).

2) The Kings swept the season series against Columbus last year, outscoring the Blue Jackets 6-4.

3) With their win last night in Montreal, the LA Kings improved to 11-1-0 (.917%) when leading after two periods of play this season.

4) Pheonix Copley stopped 20 of 22 shots tonight for his second win in his second career start for the LA Kings last night against the Canadiens. Per NHL PR, Copley is the first goaltender to earn wins in each of his first two appearances with the Kings since Jhonas Enroth from Oct. 22 to Nov. 12, 2015 (3-0-0).

5) Kings captain Anze Kopitar sits at 22,999 career faceoffs taken, while Jonathan Quick has 17,999 career saves entering tonight.

vs. COLUMBUS ALL-TIME:
All-Time Record: 36-21-1-5
Home: 21-10-1-0
Away: 15-11-0-5
OT: 6-6 (1 tie)
Shootout: 2-1
2021-22: 2-0-0
2022-23: 0-0-0

FRANCHISE LEADERS vs. COLUMBUS
Anze Kopitar* – 41 GP, 36 PTS (17-19=36)
Dustin Brown – 45 GP, 30 PTS (11-19=30)
Drew Doughty* – 34 GP, 28 PTS (6-22=28)
Alex Frolov – 27 GP, 21 PTS (9-12=21)
Jeff Carter – 17 GP, 17 PTS (11-6=17)
Ziggy Palffy – 10 GP, 17 PTS (9-8=17)
*-denotes active roster player

LAST MEETING vs. COLUMBUS: April 16, 2022 – LAK 2 vs. CBJ 1
Venue: Crypto.com Arena
LAK Goals: Brown (9), Danault (24)
CBJ Goals: Kuraly (13)
Goalies: LAK: Quick (W, 21 saves, 22 shots) CBJ: Merzlikins (L, 36 saves, 38 shots)
LAK PP: 0-for-3
LAK PK: 2-for-2

THE NEXT THREE:
Tues., Dec. 13 | at Buffalo Sabres | 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT) | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
o Alex Iafallo returns to his home state to play the Sabres for the ninth time in his career. Iafallo grew up in Eden, N.Y., 20 miles south of Buffalo. In eight career games against Buffalo, Iafallo has six points (1-5=6).

Thurs., Dec. 15 | at Boston Bruins | 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT) | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
o The Kings have won three of their last four games in Boston (3-0-1) and earned points in five of their last six trips to Boston (4-1-1).

Sat., Dec. 17 | vs. San Jose Sharks | 7:30 p.m. PT | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
o Kevin Fiala has a five-game point streak (3-7=10) against the Sharks, tied for the third-longest active streak versus San Jose in the league.

INJURY & MGL REPORT
Player, Games Missed, Date(s), Status
F Alex Iafallo, 23 games, Oct. 18 – Dec. 3 (lower-body)
F Brendan Lemieux, 13 games, Nov. 14 – Pres. (lower-body)
F Quinton Byfield, 6 games, Oct. 27 – Nov. 5 (illness)
F Viktor Arvidsson, 2 games, Oct. 13 (illness); Oct. 25 (illness)
D Sean Durzi, 2 games, Nov. 19 – Nov. 22. (lower-body)
F Gabriel Vilardi, 1 game, Nov. 27 (lower-body)
2022-23 Total Regular-Season Man-Games Lost: 47

RECENT TRANSACTIONS (as of 12/11/22)
Dec. 1 – Tobias Bjornfot (D) and Samuel Fagemo (F) recalled from Ontario (AHL), Rasmus Kupari (F) and Jordan Spence (D) loaned to Ontario.
Dec. 1 – Tyler Madden (F) recalled from Ontario (AHL).
Dec. 2 – Tyler Madden (F) loaned to Ontario (AHL).
Dec. 3 – Aidan Dudas (F) recalled form Ontario (AHL).
Dec. 4 – Aidan Dudas (F) loaned to Ontario (AHL).
Dec. 7 – Brandt Clarke (D) loaned to Team Canada (IIHF).

LA KINGS TEAM NOTES:
ROAD WARRIOR
LA Kings captain Anze Kopitar opened the scoring last night in Montreal with his eighth goal of the season. In doing so, Kopitar tied Dave Taylor (198-298=496) for the second-most all-time road points in franchise history. Marcel Dionne (262-345=607) occupies first place:

Most road points in LA Kings history
Player GP Points
Marcel Dionne 458 607 (262-345=607)
Anze Kopitar 620 496 (175-321=496)
Dave Taylor 550 496 (198-298=496)
Luc Robitaille 537 485 (235-250=485)
Wayne Gretzky 270 404 (103-301=404)
Among active skaters, Kopitar’s 496 road points ranks sixth:

Most road points among active skaters
Player GP Points
Alex Ovechkin 656 695 (405-290=695)
Sidney Crosby 571 645 (244-401=645)
Patrick Kane 565 568 (211-357=568)
Evgeni Malkin 502 518 (204-314=518)
Eric Staal 653 511 (216-295=511)
Anze Kopitar 620 496 (175-321=496)
Nicklas Backstrom 532 493 (130-363=493)

PENALTY KILLIN’ IT
The LA Kings enter tonight having killed 17 of their last 19 penalties against Columbus, dating back to March 1, 2018. During that time, the Kings found the back of the net in three of those shorthanded occasions. LA has killed 216 of their 245 penalties against Columbus all-time. Only New Jersey (88.9%) has a better penalty killing percentage against Columbus all-time than the Kings (min. GP: 5):

Best PK% against Columbus all-time (min. GP: 5)
Team GP PK%
New Jersey Devils 45 88.8% (127-for-143)
LA Kings 63 88.2% (216-for-245)
Vegas Golden Knights 9 87.5% (21-for-24)
Colorado Avalanche 65 87.5% (202-for-231)
Detroit Red Wings 108 86.8% (381-for-439)

RESPECT YOUR EDLERS
Defenseman Alex Edler scored his first goal of the season last night in Montreal, which also marked his 11th career game-winning goal and sixth point (1-5=6) on the year. Since signing with the Kings in 2021, Edler has tallied four goals, 21 assists and 25 points in 67 games with a plus-14 rating. In 992 career NHL games, Edler has amassed 434 points (103-331=434). With eight more games, Edler can become the 12th active defenseman to skate in 1,000 career NHL games, the second defenseman from the 2004 NHL Draft class (Alex Goligoski, 1,010 GP), seventh overall skater from his draft class and 16th Swedish-born player in league history to reach such mark. Edler skates into Nationwide Arena with the seventh-most points among Swedish-born defensemen in league history:

Most points by Swedish-born defensemen in league history
Player GP PTS
Nicklas Lindstrom 1,564 1,142 (264-878=1,142)
Borje Salming 1,148 787 (150-637=787)
Erik Karlsson 868 697 (165-532=697)
Viktor Hedman 923 615 (135-480=615)
Frederik Olausson 1,022 581 (147-434=581)
Calle Johansson 1,109 535 (119-416=535)
Alex Edler 992 434 (103-331=434)
Niklas Kronwall 953 432 (83-349=432)

FACEOFF KING
Anze Kopitar found consistency in the face-off circle this season centering the club’s top line – especially at even-strength. Kopitar won seven of his 11 faceoffs last night in Montreal for a faceoff winning percentage (FOW%) of 63.6%. Kopitar has established an EV FOW% of 53% or higher in his last 12 games dating back to Nov. 16. Of those 12 games, six had an EV FOW% of 60% or higher. Kopitar’s even-strength FOW% of 61.4% on the season ranks second in the league (min. EV FO’s: 325), while his overall FOW% of 59.7% sits fourth (min. FO’s: 400):

Highest EV Faceoff winning % among all skaters (min. EV Faceoffs: 325)
Player GP EV FO’s EV FOW%
Jonathan Toews (CHI) 25 344 65.1%
Anze Kopitar (LAK) 30 417 61.4%
Patrice Bergeron (BOS) 26 394 60.4%
John Tavares (TOR) 29 378 60.1%
William Karlsson (VGK) 29 340 57.7%

At 22,999 career faceoffs, Kopitar is one shy of becoming the fourth player in league history to take at least 23,000 faceoffs:
Most faceoffs taken in NHL history
Player GP Faceoffs (FO’s won)
Joe Thornton 1,714 25,539 (13,408)
Patrice Bergeron 1,242 25,102 (14,501)
Sidney Crosby 1,136 24,726 (12,891)
Anze Kopitar 1,240 22,999 (12,189)
Jonathan Toews 1,039 20,447 (11,700)

Most Wins by a U.S.-born Goaltender
Player Wins
Ryan Miller 391
John Vanbiesbrouck 374
Tom Barrasso 369
Jonathan Quick 367
Craig Anderson 313

24TH ALL-TIME FOR TODD
LA Kings HC Todd McLellan won his 543rd game as an NHL head coach last night in Montreal, surpassing Billy Reay for the 24thmost wins by a head coach in league history:

Most wins by a Head Coach in league history
Ranks Coach Games Coaches Wins

20 Jacques Lemaire 1,262 617

21 Jacques Martin 1,294 613

22 Bruce Boudreau* 1,068 611

23 Marc Crawford 1,169 556

24 Todd McLellan* 1,044 543

25 Billy Reay 1,102 542

*-denotes actively serving as head coach in NHL

McLellan stands behind the Kings bench tonight with 109 wins, the seventh-most by a head coach in franchise history:
Most wins by a Head Coach in LA Kings history
Ranks Coach Games Coaches Wins

1 Darry Sutter 425 225

2 Andy Murray 480 215

3 Bob Pulford 396 178

4 Terry Murray 275 139

5 Larry Robinson 328 122

6 Tom Webster 240 115

7 Todd McLellan 238 109

8 Bob Berry 240 107

FOLLOW THE LEADER
Forward Kevin Fiala increased his team-leading point total to 31 (9-22=32) last night against the Canadiens. Fiala’s 22 assists are tied for 14th-most in the league among forwards and sits seven behind Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (29) for the league lead. Of Fiala’s 31 points, 22 have come at even-strength. Since the beginning of last season, Fiala’s has collected 89 even-strength points, which is tied seventh-most in the league during that time with Tampa’s Steven Stamkos:

Most even-strength points since 2021-22
Player GP EV Points
Johnny Gaudreau 108 113
Connor McDavid 108 104
Matthew Tkachuk 108 100
Auston Matthews 102 99
Kirill Kaprizov 108 94
Leon Draisaitl 108 92
Kevin Fiala 112 89
Steven Stamkos 108 89

ONE FROM 100
Forward Adrian Kempe sits one goals shy of his 100th career goal. With his next goal, Kempe will become the 13th skater from the 2014 NHL Draft class to reach 100 career NHL goals. Since his NHL debut on Feb. 16, 2017, Kempe’s 99 goals are tied for second on the team during that time:

Most goals by an LA King since Feb. 16, 2017
Player GP Goals
Anze Kopitar* 427 124
Adrian Kempe* 420 99
Dustin Brown 359 99
Alex Iafallo* 368 73
Tyler Toffoli 249 62
*denotes active on LA Kings

WHO WANTS MOORE SHOTS?
Trevor Moore led the LA kings in shots last night with five, one shy of tying his season high of six set twice (Oct. 15 at MIN, Dec. 6 at OTT). Moore has put up a team-leading 19 shots on goal since Dec. 1 and 45 in the last month, dating back to Nov. 11. Moore currently leads the team in shots with 96 through his 30 games played this season. Of his 96 shots this season, 59 have come on the road which ranks eighth in the league and sits three shy of third-most:

Most shots on the road this season among all skaters
Player GP Shots
Alex Ovechkin 16 76
Nathan MacKinnon 14 71
Brady Tkachuk 13 62
Auston Matthews 14 62
Mika Zibanejad 14 62
Martin Necas 18 60
Matthew Tkachuk 15 60
Trevor Moore* 16 59
Jack Eichel 14 58

Moore is currently on pace to surpass his previous career high of 202 set in the 2021-22 season with a shots-per-game pace of 3.20, the highest of his career:
Trevor Moore’s shots-per-game throughout career
Season GP Shots Shots/GP
2022-23 30 96 3.20
2021-22 81 202 2.49
2020-21 56 88 1.57
2019-20 15 19 1.27

2022-23 REGULAR-SEASON SPECIAL TEAMS BREAKDOWN
Power Play // Penalty Kill
Overall: 26-106, 24.5% // 72-99, 72.7%
5-on-4: 26-105, 24.8% // 70-96, 72.9%
5-on-3: 0-1, 00.0% // 2-2, 100.0%
4-on-3: 0-1, 00.0% // 1-2, 50.0%

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS NOTES:

Dec. 11, 2022 Game No. 27 (9-15-2, 20 pts.)
vs. Los Angeles Kings (14-11-4, 32 pts.), Nationwide Arena Home Game No. 19 (7-10-1, 15 pts.)
The Blue Jackets Press Box website, which includes game notes, stats, releases and video/audio clips as well as the 2022-23 Media Guide can be accessed at bluejackets.com/pressbox. Follow @BlueJacketsPR on Twitter for comprehensive information and updates on the team.

THE LAST GAME: DEC. 9, 2022 – CBJ 3 vs. CGY 1
CBJ Goal Scorers: Laine (7), Robinson (3), EN – Kuraly (7)
CGY Goal Scorers: Stone (3)
Goalies: CBJ – Korpisalo (12/12; 20:00), Merzlikins (19/20; 40:00); CGY – Markstrom (24/26; 55:02)
CBJ PP: 0/7; PK: 5/5 | Shots: CBJ: 27 / CGY: 32
3 Stars: 1. Laine, CBJ; 2. Robinson, CBJ; 3. Merzlikins, CBJ
Noteworthy: CBJ snapped 3-game losing streak… CGY snapped CBJ shutout bid with 2:34 remaining… Laine extended points streak to 3-straight games (3-1-4) with a goal 1:02 into the contest… Robinson scored his 7th career game-winning goal… Roslovic registered an assist for a 2nd consecutive game and for 4th time in last 5 contests (0-4-4)… Chinakhov tallied an assist for his 2nd-straight game (0-2-2)… Jenner recorded an assist for his 2nd consecutive game (0-2-2)… Merzlikins picked up win after entering game for Korpisalo who left with lower body injury after 1st.

OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT
Danforth (torn labrum); Placed on Injured Reserve (Oct. 25); 6 months (20 games)
Boqvist (broken foot); Placed on Injured Reserve (Oct. 26); 6 weeks (18 games)
Voracek (upper body); Placed on Injured Reserve (Nov. 4); out indefinitely (15 games)
Blankenburg (ankle); Placed on IR (Nov. 10); 6-8 weeks (13 games)
Werenski (torn labrum); Placed on IR (retro to Nov. 10); Expected to miss rest of regular season (13 games)
Bean (shoulder); Placed on IR (retro to Nov. 15); out indefinitely (12 games)
Korpisalo (lower body); Placed on IR (retro to Dec. 9); 1-2 weeks
TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 148

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Dec. 10 Placed Korpisalo on Injured Reserve and added Greaves to roster on emergency recall from Cleveland (AHL)
Dec. 5 Recalled Marchenko from Cleveland (AHL) and assigned Fix-Wolansky to Cleveland (AHL)
Dec. 1 Activated Laine and Merzlikins off IR and assigned Tarasov to Cleveland (AHL)
Dec. 1 Signed 2022 2nd round pick Luca Del Bel Belluz and 2021 5th round pick James Malatesta to 3-year entry level contracts
Nov. 29 Assigned Sweezey to Cleveland (AHL)
Nov. 28 Recalled Berni from Cleveland (AHL) and assigned Gaunce to AHL club.
Nov. 25 Signed 2022 third round pick Jordan Dumais to three-year entry level contract
Nov. 24 Recalled Meyer from Cleveland (AHL) and assigned Bemstrom to Cleveland (AHL)
Nov. 20 Placed Merzlikins on Injured Reserve retroactive to Nov. 15 and recalled Fix-Wolansky from Cleveland (AHL)

TONIGHT’S GAME BROADCAST INFO
6:00pm ET | Bally Sports Ohio | 97.1 The Fan
AGAINST THE KINGS
2022-23 Series: 0-0-0 (0-0-0 vs. LAK)
2021-22 Series: 0-1-1 (0-0-1 vs. LAK)
All-Time Series: 26-30-1-6 (16-11-0-4 vs. LAK)
Last 10 (Overall | Home): 4-4-2 | 5-3-2
All-Time GF/GA: 150/186
All-Time SF/SA: 1,670/1,983
All-Time PP: 29-of-245
All-Time PK: 210-of-258

THE LAST GAME: APR. 16, 2022 – CBJ 1 at LAK 2
CBJ Goal Scorers: Kuraly (13)
LAK Goal Scorers: Brown (9), Danault (24)
Goalies: CBJ – Merzlikins (36/38; 58:38); LAK – Quick (21/22; 60:00)
CBJ PP: 0/2; PK: 3/3 | Shots: CBJ: 22 / LAK: 38
3 Stars: 1. Danault, LAK; 2. Quick, LAK; 3. Brown, LAK
Noteworthy: CBJ fell in both games of season series (0-1-1)… LAK scored 1:41 and 7:02 into the game while CBJ made it a 1-goal game 53 seconds into the 2nd… Nyquist (assist) stretched assists streak to 3-straight games (0-5-5).

SEASON SERIES LEFT: Mar. 16 at LAK
Columbus Blue Jackets: Media Notes
CBJ/LAK CONNECTIONS
CBJ: Legace started NHL career with club, going 2-9-2 with a 2.60 GAA and .911 SV% in 17 GP (1998-99)… /// LAK: Walker played at
Bowling Green.

NOTED (Team Highlights vs. LAK)
CBJ have registered points in 4 of the last 5 games of the series (3-1-1) since 12/13/18… CBJ have recorded points in three-straight home contests (2-0-1) and five of the last six at Nationwide Arena in the series (3-1-2)… LAK’s 2-1 home win in most recent meeting snapped a stretch of the winning team 13-straight games of the winning team registering three or more goals (including SO goals)… CBJ have recorded PPG in 5 of the last 8 home games of the series (5-of-19; 26.3 pct.) and killed off 16-of-17 Kings power play chances over the same span (94.1 pct.)… Winning team has scored 4+ goals in 6 of the last 8 (including SO goals)… Most goals scored vs. LAK: 7 (2/8/06)… Most goals allowed at LAK: 8 (11/13/05).

NOTED (Player Highlights vs. LAK)
Boqvist skated in his NHL debut on 11/2/19 at LAK… Gaudreau notched his 1st career hat trick on 12/22/14 at LAK (Quick)… Nyquist skated in his 300th career game on 1/5/17 at LAK.

PLAYER NOTABLES vs. LAK
•Gaudreau – 10-21-31 in 28 career GP, including points in five-straight games played overall (3-5-8) and points in eight of his last nine home contests (3-8-11)
•Kuraly – 1-2-3 in 7 career GP, including scoring all of his points in two games in the 2021-22 series
•Laine – 5-2-7 in 13 career GP, including points in each of his last two home outings (2-1-3)
•Nyquist – 4-8-12 in 20 career GP, including assists in three of his last four outings (1-4-5)

BLUE JACKETS NOTES
HIT THE ROAD, (BLUE) JACK(ETS)
The Blue Jackets snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 6-6-2 in the last 14 games overall following a 3-1 victory over the Flames on Friday. The club plays the final contest of a three-game homestand tomorrow before hitting the road for three contests (Dec. 13 at FLA, Dec. 15 at TBL and Dec. 17 at BOS). Columbus plays six-of-eight contests on the road from December 13-29. The Blue Jackets play 15 games in the month of December with two sets of back-to-back games (Dec. 6 at PIT/Dec. 7 vs. BUF; Dec. 19 vs. DAL/Dec. 20 at PHI).

A PAIR OF NHL DEBUTS
Right wing Kirill Marchenko, who was recalled from the American Hockey League’s Cleveland Monsters last Monday, and defenseman Tim Berni, who was recalled from Cleveland on November 28, both made their NHL debuts on Tuesday at Pittsburgh. Marchenko was selected by the club in the second round, 49th overall, at the 2018 NHL Draft while Berni was selected in the sixth round, 159th overall in the same draft. It’s only the sixth instance in franchise history that two players from the same draft made their NHL debut in the same game and the first instance that was not in a season opener. Marchenko played in the KHL from 2017-22 before making the move to North America this season. He ranked second among AHL rookies in points and power play goals (tied), fourth-T in assists and fifth-T in goals at the time of his recall on Monday with 8-11-19 and four PPG in 16 games this season and recorded points in 14 of his 16 outings. Berni has posted 4-15-19 with 54 PIM in 87 career AHL games with the Monsters since making his North American pro debut in 2021-22. The 22-year-old blueliner has collected 1-3-4, 10 PIM, 14 shots and a +1 plus/minus rating in 15 contests with Cleveland in 2022-23. Defensemen Marcus Bjork and David Jiricek have also made their NHL debuts with the Blue Jackets this season.

FROM THE BLUELINE
CBJ blueliners have collected 2-3-5 in the last five games and 13-29-42 in 26 games this season to rank 12-T in the NHL in goals. Vladislav Gavrikov, who has tallied an assist in three of the last six games (0-3-3), notched his second career overtime winner and fifth career game-winning goal on Nov. 15 vs. the Flyers, finishing with 1-1-2, while also skating in a career-high 28:40 TOI (previous 28:20 on Apr. 22, 2022 vs. OTT). He became the fifth different defenseman in NHL history to score each of his first two or more goals of a season in overtime and is also one off the franchise record for overtime goals by a defenseman in a single season (3; Seth Jones, 2016-17 & 2018-19). Defenseman Erik Gudbranson scored his first goal with the club on Dec. 2 at Winnipeg, picking up his 100th career point in the process (28-72-100 in 665 games). He ranks third on the Blue Jackets in hits (48) and blocked shots (41) and has collected 1-5-6 and 17 penalty minutes in his first 25 contests with Columbus this season.

ROOKIE REPORT
The club currently has eight rookies on the roster with forwards Liam Foudy, Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko and Carson Meyer along with defensemen Tim Berni, Nick Blankenburg (injured), Marcus Bjork and Jake Christiansen. They have combined for 10-16-26 in 26 games in 2022-23. CBJ rank fifth-T among NHL team rookies in points and sixth in goals. Johnson ranks fourth-T among NHL rookies in goals, seventh in points-per-game (.57; min. 15 GP) and eighth-T in points with 6-7-13 in 23 games. He has registered 3-4-7 in his last 12 outings and 6-6-12 in his past 20 contests played. Bjork,has collected points in two of his last four games (1-1-2) and has 2-4-6 in his first 13 NHL games. He ranks second among NHL rookie defensemen in points-per-game (.46; min. 5 GP). The blueliner tallied points in his first two NHL games after scoring his first career goal in his NHL debut on Nov. 12 at NY Islanders and picking up his first career assist on Nov. 15 vs. Philadelphia. He is the first blueliner and seventh player overall in franchise history to score in his debut.

CAPTAIN BOONE JENNER
Boone Jenner has collected points in five of his last six games (1-5-6) after picking up an assist against Calgary on Friday and has now registered 8-8-16 in his last 16 contests since Nov. 4. He finished the month of November with 8-3-11 in 11 contests, which was the third-most goals in the month in franchise history (tied). The forward ranks 12-T in the NHL in goals scored at home this season with 9-9-18 in 18 outings. He also ranks sixth in the NHL in faceoff wins (313-of-556 faceoffs; 56.3 pct.). The 29-year-old, who was selected 37th overall at the 2011 NHL Draft, is the longest-tenured Blue Jacket in his 10th season with the club, including his second as the team’s captain. The forward skated in his 600th career game on Nov. 4 vs. Colorado, becoming just the third player to reach the milestone with the franchise. With his second goal on Nov.15 vs. Philadelphia, Jenner notched his 150th career goal with the Blue Jackets and became the third player to reach the milestone with the franchise, joining Rick Nash (289) and Cam Atkinson (213). He also ranks fifth on the franchise’s all-time list in points (304).

RK PLAYER TOTAL GP SEASONS WITH CBJ

  1. Rick Nash 674 2002-12 (9 seasons)
  2. Cam Atkinson 627 2011-21 (10 seasons)
  3. Boone Jenner 615 2013-current (10 seasons)
  4. Nick Foligno 599 2012-21 (9 seasons)
  5. David Savard 597 2011-21 (10 seasons)

HERE’S JOHNNY!
Left wing Johnny Gaudreau had his season-high six-game points streak (2-8-10) snapped on Friday. The streak included three-straight multi-point efforts from Nov. 25-Dec. 2. He has now collected 4-15-19 in his last 14 contests. The forward tied the franchise record for assists in the month of November with 3-11-14 in 11 outings (Andrew Cassels in November 2002). The six-time All-Star leads the club in goals (tied), assists and points with 9-19-28 in 26 games while recording points in 18 of his contests. The winger has done most of his damage at home with 8-14-22 in 18 outings, ranking ninth in the NHL in points. He played in his 320th consecutive game on Wednesday, the third-longest active iron man streak in the NHL and trailing only Phil Kessel (1,011) and Brent Burns (706). The Salem, New Jersey native, who signed a seven-year contract with Columbus in July, was selected by the Flames in the fourth round, 104th overall, at the 2011 NHL Draft and ranked fifth on the franchise’s all-time list in assists, points and game-winning goals following his first nine NHL campaigns from 2013-22 with 210-399-609, 41 GWG in 602 contests, including a career-high 40-75-115 in 82 games last season when he earned First Team All-NHL honors.

TOUGH TO REPLACE Z
Defenseman Zach Werenski recorded his first multi-point game of the season with 1-1-2 in a win over Philadelphia on Nov. 10 to extend his points-streak to three-straight games (1-3-4) before leaving the with an upper body injury. Unfortunately, that was the last CBJ will likely see the club’s top defenseman this regular season as it was announced Friday that he suffered a separated shoulder and torn labrum and likely to miss six months. He led the club’s blueliners in goals, assists and points at the time of the injury with 3-5-8 in 13 games. The two-time NHL All-Star blueliner set single-season career highs in assists, points and time on ice and posted the third-most assists (tied) and points by a defenseman in a single season in franchise history with 11-37-48 and 25:40 TOI in 68 games in 2021-22.

NHL Preview: Colorado Avalanche (13-10-2) at St. Louis Blues (12-15-0)

NHL Editor
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0
NHL Preview: Colorado Avalanche (13-10-2) at St. Louis Blues (12-15-0)

COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:

UPCOMING GAMES
Date Opponent Time (MT) TV Radio
Sun, Dec. 11 at St. Louis 1 p.m. ESPN 92.5
Tue, Dec. 13 PHILADELPHIA 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5
Thu, Dec 15 BUFFALO 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5
Sat, Dec. 17 NASHVILLE 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5
Mon, Dec. 19 NY ISLANDERS 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5
Wed, Dec. 21 MONTREAL 6 p.m. Altitude 92.5

LAST GAME – Dec. 9 (NY Rangers 2, Colorado 1 in shootout)
For the second time in two meetings the Avalanche and Rangers went to a shootout but this time the Rangers prevailed, 2- 1, on Friday night at Ball Arena … Alexandar Georgiev (28 saves) and Igor Shesterkin (42 saves) each allowed only one goal through regulation and overtime but the Rangers converted twice in the shootout to earn the win … Mikko Rantanen scored in regulation for Colorado and Braden Schneider lit the lamp for New York … The game featured only two penalties and none until the third period.
SF: 42 SA: 29 PP: 0-1 PK: 0-1

TODAY’S GAME
COLORADO at ST. LOUIS
1:08 p.m. MT / 2:08 p.m. CT
ESPN / 92.5
TV: Steve Levy (play-by-play), Ray Ferraro (analyst), Emily Kaplan (reporter)
Radio: Conor McGahey
The Colorado Avalanche takes on the St. Louis Blues in a Sunday afternoon matinee at Enterprise Center … This is Colorado’s only road game from Dec. 6-22, as the club is in a stretch that finds them playing seven of eight and 10 of 13 at home … The Avs will play every other day from Nov. 29 until the holiday break: 13 games in 25 days.

AVALANCHE & BLUES
This afternoon’s meeting is the second of four games between the Avalanche and Blues in 2022-23 and the first of two in St. Louis … The Blues won the first matchup 3-2 on Nov. 14 in Denver … These Central Division rivals faced off three times last season, with Colorado winning two of those matchups … They went on to meet in the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a series the Avalanche won in six games.

SCHEDULE vs. BLUES
Nov. 14 vs. STL (L, 2-3)
Dec. 11 @ STL
Jan. 28 vs. STL
Feb. 18 @ STL

RECORD VS. BLUES
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME SINCE 1995-96 PLAYOFFS
Overall: 0-1-0 Overall: 2-1-0 Overall: 70-68-18 Overall: 56-43-13 Series (record): 3 series (3-0)
Home: 0-1-0 Home: 1-1-0 Home: 44-26-10 Home: 34-17-7 Record Overall: 13-3-0
Road: 0-0-0 Road: 1-0-0 Road: 26-42-8 Road: 22-26-6

DAYDREAM BELIEVER
Today is the first of nine afternoon games for the Avalanche this season … The schedule originally called for 10 daytime contests but the Nov 25th game in Nashville was postponed due to a water main break at Bridgestone Arena … The Avs finished 5-1-0 in day games last year, 3-0-0 at home and 2-1-0 on the road … Colorado is 13-3-1 in day contests since the start of the 2019-20 campaign.

REVERSE RETRO JERSEY
The Avalanche will wear their adidas Reverse Retro 2022 ADIZERO jerseys for the second time today in St. Louis … The club debuted the jerseys in the Nov. 26th victory over the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena … The 2022 Colorado Avalanche Reverse Retro uniform pays tribute to its home state by incorporating colors of the Colorado flag while reintroducing the original jersey design donned in the 1995 inaugural season … The Avs will wear the RR jersey four times this season: Nov. 26 vs. Dallas, Dec. 11 at St. Louis, Dec. 29 vs. Los Angeles and Jan. 2 vs. Vegas

CROWDED DRESSING ROOM
The Avalanche have used 35 players this season (33 skaters, two goalies), the most of any team in the NHL … Colorado used 39 players in each of the last two seasons, which tied the Avalanche record (since relocating) also set in 2010-11, 2003-04 and 1998-99 … Colorado’s injury list is now at 138 and climbing which puts them unofficially fourth in the league behind Washington (163), Philadelphia (161) and Columbus (149).

MOST PLAYERS USED, 2022-23
35 ….. Colorado
34 ……Columbus
32 ……Toronto

THAT’S THE POWER OF LOVE
As of Saturday, the Avalanche ranked second in the NHL in power-play percentage at 30% (27-90) … Yesterday marked the first time Colorado did not boast the NHL’s top power play since Oct. 15, a stretch of 55 days in the top spot … The Avalanche are 12-5-1 when scoring a PPG this year, 1-5-1 when failing to do so … Colorado tallied a power-play goal in a season-high eight consecutive games from Oct. 29–Nov. 26 … The Avalanche’s power play scored at a 32.8% clip during the 2022 playoffs, the highest rate on record (since 1977-78) by an NHL team that played at least 20 games … During the 2021-22 regular season, Colorado finished seventh in power-play percentage (24.0%) and led all teams in power-play goals (67).

ALL HAIL CALE
Cale Makar appeared in his 200th career NHL game on Dec. 3 at Boston … His 203 career points at the time were the most by a defenseman through 200 games in NHL history, eclipsing the previous mark of 195 by Sergei Zubov … Among defensemen who appeared in at least 200 games during their career, only Makar (1.00), Bobby Orr (1.39) and Paul Coffey (1.09) averaged at least a point-per-game … Cale recorded his 200th career point on Nov. 21 in Dallas, reaching the milestone faster than any defenseman in NHL history (195th game) … Makar is tied for sixth among NHL blueliners in scoring this season with 24 points (6g/18a) in 24 contests … He leads the entire NHL in ice time, averaging 26:55 minutes per game.

POINTS BY DEFENSEMAN
THROUGH 200 GAMES
203 Cale Makar
195 Sergei Zubov
193 Phil Housley
191 Brian Leetch
190 Denis Potvin

POINTS/GAME AVERAGE, DEFENSEMAN
MINIMUM 200 GAMES PLAYED
PT/GP Player PTS GP
1.39 Bobby Orr 915 657
1.09 Paul Coffey 1531 1409
1.00 Cale Makar 204 203
0.99 Denis Potvin 1052 1060

FASTEST DEFENSEMEN TO 200 POINTS
NHL HISTORY
195 GP Cale Makar COL
207 GP Sergei Zubov NYR, PIT
211 GP Brian Leetch NYR
212 GP Phil Housley BUF
212 GP Denis Potvin NYI
216 GP Mark Howe HFD, PHI
216 GP Bobby Orr BOS

HOME COOKING
Mikko Rantanen has 24 points (12g/12a) in 11 home games, the highest points-per-game average (2.18) in the NHL … He has two or more points in seven of his 11 home outings, including five 3-point efforts and three 4-point nights.

SONG SUNG BLUE(LINE)
Colorado’s defensemen have combined for 63 points (12g/51a) this year, which ranks among the NHL’s top 10 teams … The Avs defense produced 64 goals last season, a franchise record and the most by any team since the 1992-93 Capitals (94) … The Avalanche’s blueline also lead all teams in points with a franchise-record 238, the most since the 1995-96 Red Wings had 240 … Colorado’s defensemen finished with 69 points (18g/51a) during the playoffs, the most by any blueline in a four-round postseason since the 1984-85 Oilers (77).

ONE MONTH AT A TIME
Colorado finished 8-3-0 in November, the 23rd consecutive month that the Avs have posted a .500 or better record in …. And 21 of those 23 months featured a winning record.

FINNISH FIREWORKS
Led by Nathan MacKinnon’s seven combined points (0g/7a) and Mikko Rantanen’s hat trick in the opener, the Avalanche swept the two-game NHL Global Series from the Blue Jackets in early November, out-scoring Columbus 11-4 … Colorado’s six goals in the 6-3 opening win set an NHL record for a single game outside of North America while the 11 combined goals were also the most over a two-game overseas series … Rantanen’s hat trick was just the third outside of North America in history, while MacKinnon’s four helpers that first night set a record for the most assists in a single game outside of North America … Alexandar Georgiev started and won both games, allowing four goals 71 shots (2.02 GAA, .944 Sv%) … His two victories already equal the record for career wins in games played overseas … MacKinnon’s seven assists and eight career points (he had one goal in the 2017 Global Series in Sweden) are both records for games played outside North America.

MOST GOALS, GAME, OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA
6 – Colorado, 2022 Global Series vs. Columbus (Nov. 4, 2022)
5 – Colorado, 2022 Global Series vs. Columbus (Nov. 5, 2022)
5 – Tampa Bay, 2019 Global Series vs. Buffalo (Nov. 9, 2019)
5 – New Jersey, 2018 Global Series vs. Edmonton (Oct. 6, 2018)
5 – Phoenix, 2010 Premiere Series vs. Boston (Oct. 9, 2010)
5 – St. Louis, 2009 Premiere Series vs. Detroit (Oct. 3, 2009)
5 – Calgary, GAME ONe Japan ’98 at San Jose (Oct. 10, 1998)

CAREER POINTS IN GAMES PLAYED CAREER ASSISTS IN GAMES PLAYED
OUTSIDE OF NORTH AMERICA OUTSIDE OF NORTH AMERICA
8 – Nathan MacKinnon (1g/7a) 7 – Nathan MacKinnon
7 – Patrick Kane (3g/4a) 5 – Dustin Byfuglien
7 – Dustin Byfuglien (2g/5a) 5 – Blake Wheeler

HAT TRICKS IN GAMES OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA
3 goals – Mikko Rantanen (COL), Nov 4, 2022 vs. Columbus (2022 Global Series)
3 goals – Patrik Laine (WPG), Nov. 1, 2018 at Florida (2018 Global Series)
3 goals – Theo Fleury (CGY), Oct. 10, 1998 at San Jose (GAME ONe Japan ’98)

MOST ASSISTS, GAME, OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA
4 – Nathan MacKinnon (COL) Nov. 4, 2022 vs. Columbus (2022 Global Series)
3 – Dustin Byfuglien (WPG) Nov. 1, 2018 at Florida (2018 Global Series)
3 – Blake Wheeler (WPG), Nov. 1, 2018 at Florida (2018 Global Series)

POSTPONEMENT
The Avalanche and Predators game at Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 25 was postponed due to a water main break that significantly impacted the event level at the arena … The contest has been rescheduled for April 14 as Colorado’s final game of the regular season – it’s the second half of a back-to-back, the Avs play Winnipeg at home on April 13.

BACK-TO-BACK
The Avalanche will play 13 back-to-backs this season … They have competed in four back-to-backs so far, going 2-2-0 in the first game and 2-2-0 in the second … The Avalanche posted a 15-5-2 (.727) combined record in back-to-back games last season, the second-best mark behind Minnesota (.732, 19-6-3) … The Avs finished 7-3-1 in the first game and 8-2-1 in the second (.773), with only Tampa (10-0-2, .917) posting a better record in the second half of a back-to-back.

MILE HIGH MAINSTAY
Erik Johnson is in his 15th NHL season and 13th with the Avalanche … His 13 seasons rank fourth in franchise history behind only Joe Sakic (20), Adam Foote (17) and Milan Hejduk (14), with Foote the only other defenseman on that list … Johnson is the longest current tenured athlete of any of Denver’s four major sports teams, followed by Gabriel Landeskog and Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon (both 12 seasons).

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH; AVS WIN STANLEY CUP
The Avalanche won their third Stanley Cup championship in 2022 following 1996 and 2001 … Colorado claimed its title by going 16-4 in the postseason, which included a pair of sweeps and defeating the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning in six games during the Final … The Avs became the sixth team to win a Cup with four or fewer postseason losses since 1987 when the NHL went to four rounds of best-of-seven … And of those six only one team had fewer losses, the 1988 Oilers (two) … The Avalanche did not lose consecutive games all playoffs.

ALL I DO IS WIN WIN WIN NO MATTER WHAT
The 2021-22 Avalanche equaled the NHL record for the most combined regular season/playoff wins with 72 (56 regular season, 16 playoff), a feat only three teams in NHL history had achieved before … The 2021-22 Avalanche joined the 1995- 96 Red Wings, 1983-84 Oilers and 1976-77 Canadiens on that list.

RECORD REGULAR SEASON
The 2021-22 Avalanche set a franchise record with 56 wins and 119 points en route to winning their second straight division title and 11th since moving to Denver (13th in franchise history) … It marked the club’s first back-to-back division championships since their NHL-record run of nine straight from 1994-95 to 2002-03 … The Avs clinched the conference’s top spot despite facing a 10-point deficit behind the No. 1 seed on Dec. 3 … The last team to win their conference after overcoming a deficit of 10 or more points was the Rangers in 2014-15 (13) … After sweeping a back-to-back from Arizona on Jan. 15, the Avalanche remained in first place in the West over the final 106 days of the regular season … During a span of over two months from Feb 10–April 19, Colorado was first in the entire NHL for all but one day (68 out of 69)

WINS, FRANCHISE HISTORY POINTS, FRANCHISE HISTORY
56 2021-22 119 2021-22
52 2000-01 118 2000-01
52 2013-14 112 2013-14

TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT
The 2021-22 Avalanche posted their best home season in franchise history with a 32-5-4 record (68 points) … Colorado tied Florida for the league lead in home points, ending with the most home points in the NHL for the second straight season after tying Penguins for league lead with 46 in 2020-21 … The Avs are just the third team over the last 30 years to post the league’s best home record in back-to-back seasons (outright or tie), joining the 2016 and 2017 Capitals and the 2007 and 2008 Red Wings … The Avs posted an 18-game home winning streak from Nov. 11–Jan. 30, the fifth longest run in NHL history … The club had a franchise record 22-game home point streak (20-0-2) from Oct. 30–Feb. 10.

AINT NO MOUNTAIN HIGH, AINT NO VALLEY LOW
Colorado’s Stanley Cup championship came five years after a last-place finish in 2016-17 …. The Avs became the fifth team in the expansion era (1967-68) to win a title within five years of a last place finish and the first since the 2009 Penguins … Colorado won the Presidents’ Trophy the previous year in 2020-21, becoming the first NHL team to go from worst to first overall in four seasons or less since the Bruins in 1970-71.

DOWN BUT NEVER OUT
Ten of the Avalanche’s wins during the 2022 postseason were earned in come-from-behind fashion, including four third-period comebacks … Colorado’s 10 comeback wins tied the 2009 Penguins for the most in NHL history … The Avs trailed in all four of their series-clinching victories, the first team in NHL history to do so.

ROAD, SWEET ROAD
The Avalanche finished a league-best 9-1 on the road during the 2022 postseason, tied for the fewest road losses by a Stanley Cup champion since 1987 (the 2012 Kings and 1995 Devils were both 10-1) … Colorado earned all four series-clinching wins on the road.

MAGIC YEAR FOR MAKAR
After becoming the first player in franchise history to win the Norris Trophy in 2021-22, Makar followed that up by winning the 2022 Conn Smythe as playoff MVP … At 23 years, 239 days, he became the youngest defenseman in 52 years to win the Conn Smythe and just the third overall to do so at age 23 or younger, joining Bobby Orr with the 1970 Bruins (22 years, 51 days) and Serge Savard with the 1969 Canadiens (23 years, 102 days) … Makar won the Conn Smythe just five days after receiving his first Norris Trophy … He became the third player to win both awards in the same season, following Orr in 1970 and Nicklas Lidstrom in 2002 … Makar led the Avalanche and all NHL defensemen with 29 points (8g/21a) in 20 games, the fourth-highest total by a defenseman in Stanley Cup Playoff history behind Paul Coffey (37) with the 1985 Oilers, Brian Leetch (34) with the 1994 Rangers and Al MacInnis (31) with the 1989 Flames.

IN BEDNAR WE TRUST
Jared Bednar is in his seventh season as the Avalanche’s head coach … Hired on Aug. 25, 2016, he is the third-longest tenured coach in the NHL behind Jon Cooper (March 25, 2013) and Mike Sullivan (Dec. 12, 2015) … Jared led the 2021-22 Avalanche to their most successful regular season in franchise history (56-19-7, 119 points) and continued that into the postseason with a 16-4 playoff mark en route to capturing the 2022 Stanley Cup … Bednar, who won a Calder Cup with the Lake Erie Monsters in 2016 and a Kelly Cup with the South Carolina Stingrays in 2009, became the first individual to win a championship in the NHL, AHL and ECHL as a head coach … He is the winningest coach in Avalanche history with a 253-178- 48 (.578) regular season record … Bednar owns a 40-22-1 (.635) record in 63 postseason games, the best playoff winning percentage among active coaches and the third highest all time (min 50 GP) behind Glen Sather (.706) and Toe Blake (.689).

SUPER JOE ACHIEVES RARE FIRST
General Manager (now President) Joe Sakic, who captained the Avalanche to a pair of titles in 1996 and 2001, became the first individual in league history to win a Stanley Cup as a captain and GM with the same organization … He was just the third to win a championship as a player and general manager with the same franchise, joining Serge Savard of the Canadiens and Milt Schmidt of the Bruins.

TIP OF CAP
Gabriel Landeskog enters his 12th NHL season and 11th as team captain … Landeskog was the youngest captain in NHL history when he assumed the role at 19 years, 286 days on Sept. 4, 2012, a title he held for four years before Connor McDavid was given the ‘C’ by Edmonton at 19 years, 266 days on Oct. 5, 2016 … Landeskog is the second-longest serving captain in franchise history behind only Joe Sakic (17 seasons, 16 consecutive) … Only three players have been captain of their current teams longer:

Sidney Crosby (PIT) ………………… 16th season (since 2007-08)
Jonathan Toews (CHI) …………….. 15th season (since 2008-09)
Alex Ovechkin (WSH) ……………… 14th season (since 2009-10)
Gabriel Landeskog (COL) …………11th season (since 2012-13)

SCHEDULE NOTES
The Avs will play 26 games against their division foes, meeting Arizona, Dallas, Nashville, St. Louis Winnipeg four times each (two home/away) and Chicago (two home/one away) and Minnesota (one home/two away) three times apiece … Colorado will play 24 games versus the Pacific Division (three times each) and 32 against teams from the Eastern Conference (one home/away).

2022-23 AVALANCHE TRANSACTIONS
Dec. 2 – Andreas Englund recalled from the Colorado Eagles
Dec. 3 – Josh Manson placed on Injured Reserve (retroactive to Dec. 1)
Dec. 4 – Bowen Byram placed on Injured Reserve (retroactive to Nov. 4) … Charles Hudon recalled from Colorado (AHL)
Dec. 5 – Alex Galchenyuk, Jayson Megna placed on waivers … Anton Blidh, Andreas Englund, Charles Hudson reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Dec. 6 – Jayson Megna claimed on waivers by the Anaheim Ducks … Alex Galchenyuk cleared waivers … Charles Hudon recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Dec. 7 – Callahan Burke, Andreas Englund, Ben Meyers, Sampo Ranta recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Alex Galchenyuk reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Dec. 8 – Martin Kaut placed on waivers … Sampo Ranta reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Dec. 9 – Martin Kaut cleared waivers, reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Brad Hunt recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Valeri Nichushkin activated from Injured Reserve … Callahan Burke reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL)

ST. LOUIS BLUES NOTES:

CURRENT INJURIES
Scott Perunovich – Shoulder (Re-evaluated in 6 months, announced on Oct. 4)
Marco Scandella – Right Hip (Re-evaluated in 6 months, announced on Sep. 20)
Logan Brown – Upper-Body (Placed on IR on Nov. 9)
2022-23 Total Man Games Lost: 103

Recent Transactions
December
3 – Recalled forward Will Bitten from the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL)
2 – Assigned forward Jake Neighbours to the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL)

BLUES VS. AVALANCHE (All Regular Season)
-This will be the second of 4 matchups between the Blues and Avalanche this season
-The Blues and Avs will play again on Jan. 28 in Colorado and Feb. 18 in St. Louis
-The Blues won the first matchup of the season, 3-2 on Nov. 14 in Colorado
-The Blues went 1-2-0 against Colorado last season (0-1-0 at home; 1-1-0 away)
-The Blues are 4-2-0 in their last 6 games against Colorado
-The Blues are 2-1-0 in their last 3 home games against Colorado
-Going back to Apr. 5, 2011, the Blues are 19-6-0 in their last 25 games against the Avalanche at Enterprise Center
-Craig Berube will coach his 300th game as the Blues Head Coach, becoming the 4th head coach to reach that mark with the franchise (Quenneville – 593 / Hitchcock – 413 / B. Sutter – 320)
-Jordan Kyrou is expected to dress in his 200th career NHL game

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
12/12 – vs. Nashville
12/15 – at Edmonton
12/16 – at Calgary
12/19 – at Vancouver
12/20 – at Seattle

A LOOK AHEAD
-The Blues have 10 games remaining in December (5 at home; 5 away)
-The Blues are in the middle of a 3-game homestand (0-1-0), and will finish the homestand with the 2nd of a back-to-back set with the Nashville Predators tomorrow, before embarking on a season-long 10-day, 5-game road trip starting Thursday in Edmonton
-The Blues will play their next 7 games, including Sunday vs. Colorado, against the Western Conference, as well as 9 of their last 10 games to finish the calendar year
-The Blues will also face the Central Division 4 out of their last 10 games in 2022, including the next 2 games
-The Blues next 7 games, including Sunday vs. Colorado, will come against Western Conference teams, all of which sit in front of the Blues in the standings, including 4 against teams that currently hold a playoff spot

FAST STARTS ARE KEY FOR BLUES
-The Blues are 6-2-0 this season when leading after the first period and are 8-1-0 when leading after 2 periods
-The Blues are also 10-4-0 this season when scoring first
-Their 10 wins when scoring first share 13th in the NHL (1. Vegas, 16)

DEFENSEMEN CONTRIBUTING OFFENSE FOR BLUES
-The Blues defensemen have accounted for 14.8% of the Blues’ goals this season
-The Blues are 8-1-0 this season when a defenseman scores
-The Blues’ defense has combined for 12 goals this season
-The Blues’ defense has contributed 5 power play goals this season, which shares the most in the NHL with Nashville, Ottawa, and Florida
-They have also contributed 5 game-winning goals, which shares 1st in the NHL with Boston and Columbus
-Torey Krug leads Blues d-men with 5 goals, which also shares 12th in the NHL among all defensemen (1. Karlsson, 12)
-Torey Krug’s 4 power play goals share the lead on the Blues (Buchnevich/Kyrou) and share 1st in the NHL among all defensemen with Dahlin, Makar, Chabot, & Josi
-Justin Faulk’s 2 game-winning goals share the 6th most among all defensemen in the NHL (1. 5 players, 3)

BLUES CONSISTENT UNDER ARMSTRONG
-Since Doug Armstrong took over the reigns as the Blues General Manager in 2010-11, the Blues have posted a 533-308-99 record
-Their 533 wins since then rank 5th in the NHL (1. PIT, 558)
-The Blues have made the postseason 10 out of the 12 seasons since Armstrong became GM, 1 of 5 teams in the NHL to clinch 10 or more playoff berths since 2010-11 (PIT, 12/WSH, 11/BOS & NSH, 10)
-Armstrong is also just 1 of 2 GMs to clinch 10 or more playoff berths since 2010-11 (David Poile, 10)
-Since 2010-11, the Blues rank 7th with 2.92 goals per game (1. VGK, 3.20) and rank 3rd in the NHL with 2.59 goals against per game (1. BOS, 2.45)
-The Blues also have the 3rd best penalty kill (82.7%) under Armstrong (1. BOS, 83.4%), and share the 5th best power play (20.8%) in the league (1. WSH, 21.5%)

BINNINGTON CHASING BLUES HISTORY
-Jordan Binnington, who has 99 career wins in 182 GP, will become the 6th goaltender in franchise history to reach 100 wins as a Blue with his next win (Liut/Allen/Joseph/Fuhr/Elliott)
-Binnington is on pace to become the 3rd fastest goaltender to reach 100 wins with the Blues
-Binnington also shares 7th on the Blues all-time franchise list with 11 shutouts, just 1 of 8 goaltenders in franchise history to record at least 11 shutouts
-Since Nov. 10, Binnington has 6 wins, which shares 7th in the NHL (1. Jarry, 8)

Fastest to 100 career wins with the Blues:

  1. Brian Elliott – 175 GP
  2. Jake Allen – 176 GP
  3. Curtis Joseph – 209 GP

BLUES STAY STRONG UNDER BERUBE
-Since taking over on Nov. 18, 2018, Berube has led the Blues to a 168-95-36 record (372 points)
-The Blues 372 points since Nov. 21, 2018 (Berube’s first game), rank 10th in the NHL (1. TBL, 411), while their 168 wins also rank 10th (1. TBL, 195)
-Their 3.24 goals per game rank 7th in the NHL under Berube (1. TBL, 3.54)
-The Blues have posted a mark of 2.88 goals against per game under Berube, which ranks 10th in the NHL (1. BOS, 2.49)
-The Blues also share the 3rd best power play in the NHL at 23.8% since Berube became head coach (1. EDM, 26.9%)
-Last season on Dec. 29 vs. EDM, Berube became the 7th different coach in NHL history to win 200 games and play in at least 1,000 career games

Wins as Coach / Games Played
Craig Berube – 243 / 1,054
Randy Carlyle – 475 / 1,055
Bob Pulford – 363 / 1,079
Craig MacTavish – 301 / 1,093
Red Kelly – 278 / 1,316
Brent Sutter – 215 / 1,111
Larry Robinson – 209 / 1,384

BUCHNEVICH STEPPING UP FOR BLUES
-Pavel Buchnevich shares 2nd on the Blues with 9 goals (1. Kyrou, 10) and shares 3rd with 20 points (1. Thomas, 24)
-Buchnevich has a point in 3 consecutive games played (3g, 1a), scoring a goal in each game
-Buchnevich also has 18 points in his last 14 games (8g, 10a), including 5 multi-point games in that span, after posting just 2 points (1g, 1a) in his first 6 games of the season
-Buchnevich has recorded at least 1 point in 11 of his last 14 games
-Since Nov. 10, Buchnevich shares 16th in the NHL with 18 points (8g, 10a) (1. T. Thompson/McDavid, 25), and shares 16th in the NHL with 8 goals (1. Robertson, 14)
-Buchnevich shares 1st on the Blues this season with 4 power play goals (Krug/Kyrou)
-Buchnevich recorded 4 points (2g, 2a) on Nov. 19 vs. Anaheim, the 2nd 4-point game of his career (also: Mar. 17, 2021 w/ NYR: 2g, 2a vs. PHI)
-Buchnevich set career-highs with 30 goals, 46 assists, and 76 points last season

THE TARASENK-SHOW
-Vladimir Tarasenko has 5 points in his last 5 games (2g, 3a)
-He also has 7 points in his last 7 games (3g, 4a), including 2 multi-point games
-Tarasenko ranks 4th on the Blues with 13 assists (1. Thomas, 18) and shares 3rd on the Blues with 20 points (1. Thomas, 24)
-He also ranks 3rd on the Blues with 15 even-strength points (7g, 8a) (1. Thomas & Schenn, 16)
-Tarasenko also ranks 5th on the Blues all-time franchise list in goals (259) and points (544)

BRAYDEN IS SCHENN-SATIONAL
-Brayden Schenn shares 3rd on the Blues with 20 points this season (6g, 14a) (1. Thomas, 24)
-He also shares 2nd on the Blues with 14 assists (1. Thomas, 18)
-Schenn has a 3-game assist/point streak (3a)
-Schenn shares 1st on the Blues with 16 even-strength points this season (5g, 11a) (Thomas)
-Schenn recorded 10 points in the first 10 games of the season, matching the 2nd best start of his career in the first 10 games of the season (10 points (6g, 4a) in 2020-21 in first 10 games / 11 points, (8g, 3a) in 2019-20 in first 10 games)
-Schenn has 24 power play goals since the start of the 2019-20 season, which ranks 2nd among all Blues in that span (1. Perron, 26)
-Schenn dressed in his 800th career NHL game on Dec. 3 at Pittsburgh

KYROU FINDING HIS SCORING TOUCH
-Jordan Kyrou has 4 points in his last 4 games (1g, 3a)
-Jordan Kyrou scored twice, including his first career overtime winner, on Nov. 26 at Florida
-Kyrou posted a career-long 8-game point streak (5g, 8a), from Nov. 14-26, including a career-long 6 game assist streak from Nov. 16-25 (2g, 8a)
-Nov. 26 at Florida was also Kyrou’s 10th career multi-goal game, which is the 3rd most among all Blues since his debut in 2018-19 (Perron – 14 / Tarasenko – 13)
-Kyrou leads the Blues with 10 goals and shares 1st on the team with 4 power play goals ( Buchnevich/Krug)
-Kyrou also shares 1st on the Blues with 8 power play points (Buchnevich/Thomas)
-Since Nov. 10, Kyrou shares 16th in the NHL with 18 points (7g, 11a) (1. T. Thompson/McDavid, 25)
-Kyrou now has 19 points (7g, 12a) in his last 17 games after recording just 3 points (3g) in his first 9 games of the season, and has also recorded at least 1 point in 13 of his last 17 games

THOMAS SETTING THE PACE
-Robert Thomas leads the Blues with 18 assists and 24 points this season
-Thomas has a 5-game point streak (2g, 3a)
-In his last 15 games, Thomas has recorded 17 points (4g, 13a), recording at least 1 point in 12 of those 15 games
-He also leads the Blues with 7 power play assists and shares 1st on the Blues with 8 power play points (Buchnevich/Kyrou)
-Since Nov. 10, Thomas shares 8th in the NHL with 13 assists (1. Karlsson, 16)
-Since Nov. 10, Thomas shares 5th in the NHL with 7 power play assists (1. Dahlin/McDavid, 10)

THE CAPTAIN IS COMING ALIVE
-Ryan O’Reilly has a 3-game point streak (2g, 1a) and has 6 points in his last 7 games (4g, 2a)
-O’Reilly has recorded 13 points (8g, 5a) in his last 17 games after just recording 1 point (1g) in his first 10 games of the season
-O’Reilly shares 2nd on the Blues with 9 goals this season (1. Kyrou, 10)
-O’Reilly scored the Blues’ first shorthanded goal of the season on Nov. 16 at Chicago, the 11th of his career

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