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CFB: Week 14 Conference Notes – American Athletic Conference (AAC)

NCAAFB Editor
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CFB: Week 14 Conference Notes – American Athletic Conference (AAC)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3
ROOFCLAIM AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
UCF at Tulane………………………………………………….4 p.m.
Television: ABC
Series: UCF leads, 10-2
Last Meeting: Nov. 12, 2022 (UCF, 38-31)

POSTSEASON HONORS
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Tyjae Spears • Jr. • RB • Tulane • Ponchatoula, La.
Spears becomes the first Tulane player, and the first non-quarterback, to be named as American Offensive Player of the Year. Spears finished the regular season with 1,177 rushing yards, good for third in The American, and a league-leading 14 rushing touchdowns. He registered a conference-best 972 yards and eight TDs in conference games, helping the Green Wave to a 7-1 league record (10-2 overall) and its first appearance in The American Championship Game.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Ivan Pace Jr. • Sr. • LB • Cincinnati • Cincinnati,Ohio
Pace is the second consecutive Cincinnati player to be named as The American’s Defensive Player of the Year, following cornerback Sauce Gardner’s honor in 2021. This year’s selection also marks the second consecutive conference player-of-the-year honor for Pace, who was the MAC Defensive Player of the Year at Miami (Ohio) last season. An Associated Press Mid-Season All-America choice and a finalist for the Butkus Award and the Bednarik Award, Pace leads The American with 120 tackles and 19.5 tackles for loss and is second in the conference with 9.0 sacks.

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Mason Fletcher • So. • P • Cincinnati • Melbourne, Australia
Fletcher is Cincinnati’s first player to win American Special Teams Player of the Year honors. The sophomore leads The American and is fourth nationally with a 46.7-yard punting average and 28 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. He hit 14 punts of at least 50 yards, including an 84-yard punt that shattered The American’s distance record. A Ray Guy Award finalist, Fletcher helped Cincinnati finish the regular season ranked second nationally in net punting at 44.7 yards.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
E.J. Warner • Fr. • QB • Temple • Phoenix, Ariz.
Warner becomes the first Temple player to be chosen as The American’s Rookie of the Year. The true freshman took over as the Owls’ starter in the third game of the season and finished the 2022 campaign with 3,028 passing yards and 18 touchdown passes, capped by a 527-yard, five-touchdown effort in the season finale against East Carolina. Warner finished fourth in The American in passing, averaging 275.3 yards per game in his debut season.

COACH OF THE YEAR
Willie Fritz • Tulane
Fritz was the unanimous choice of his peers as American Coach of the Year after he orchestrated Tulane’s turnaround from a 2-10 season in 2021 to a 10-2 showing and a first-place finish in The American’s regular-season standings. The Green Wave is ranked No. 18 in this week’s Associated Press poll as Tulane earned its first 10-win season and top-25 rankings since 1998. He is the third coach to be unanimously chosen as American Coach of the Year, joining Justin Fuente of Memphis in 2014 and Scott Frost of UCF in 2017.

AMERICAN NOTEBOOK
One Of Five
Saturday’s RoofClaim American Athletic Conference Championship Game will be one of five FBS conference title games between two ranked teams. The others will be in the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.

Everyone Wins
Since the start of the 2014 season, all 11 American Athletic Conference teams have been ranked at least once in the Associated Press top 25 poll. The American, the ACC and the Big 12 are the only FBS conferences that have had each member ranked since 2014.

Conference Call
The American will finish the regular season with a combined 9-3 record against non-autonomous FBS conference opponents in 2022.

Variety Show
Since The American began playing a championship game in the 2015 season, eight of the conference’s 11 teams will have played in the game at least once. Six of the 11 teams will have hosted the championship game.

Ranked vs. Ranked
Prior to last week’s win at No. 21 Cincinnati, the last time a ranked Tulane team defeated another ranked team was a 10-3 win by the 19th-ranked Green Wave against No. 6 Ole Miss Oct. 20, 1956.

Play On
The American Athletic Conference will have seven bowleligible teams in the 2022 season (UCF, Cincinnati, Tulane, East Carolina, SMU, Houston, Memphis).

All Good Things …
Cincinnati saw a 32-game winning streak at Nippert Stadium, end with last week’s loss to Tulane. The Bearcats’ last home loss at been a 35-24 setback to Temple Nov. 10, 2017.

All Bad Things …
Tulane snapped a streak of 61 consecutive losses against AP-ranked teams with its 27-24 win at Cincinnati Friday. The Green Wave’s last win against a ranked team was a 27-23 decision at No. 19 Vanderbilt Oct. 6, 1984.

Feels Like We’ve Been Here Before
UCF is in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game for the third time in six years. The Knights won the 2017 and 2018 championship games, both in Orlando.

Road Sweet Road
Houston is 10-2 in its last 12 road games.

Top Of The Charts
East Carolina QB Holton Ahlers has set The American’s career passing yards and total offense records. Houston QB Clayton Tune holds the conference’s career record for touchdown passes.

Career Passing Yards

  1. 13,627 Holton Ahlers, East Carolina (2018-)
  2. 11,767 Clayton Tune, Houston (2018-)
  3. 10,782 Dane Evans, Tulsa (2014-16)

Career Total Offense

  1. 15,025 Holton Ahlers, East Carolina (2018-)
  2. 12,963 Clayton Tune, Houston (2018-)
  3. 12,418 Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati (2018-21)

Career Touchdown Passes

  1. 101 Clayton Tune, Houston (2018-)
  2. 92 Holton Ahlers, East Carolina (2018-)
  3. 90 Brady White, Memphis (2018-20)

Catching On
The American Athletic Conference had three of the 12 semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award, which goes to the nation’s top receiver — SMU WR Rashee Rice, Tulsa WR Keylon Stokes and Houston WR Nathaniel Dell. The American is the only conference with three semifinalists.

Magic Numbers
SMU WR Rashee Rice leads all FBS players with 1,355 receiving yards this season. Houston WR Nathaniel Dell is second by one yard at 1,354 yards. The players are tied with 3,111 career yards each.

Marshall Plan
Navy LB John Marshall was the lone unanimous selection to the American Athletic Conference all-conference first team. Marshall leads The American with a school-record 10.5 sacks.

Multi-Talented
Tulsa WR Keylon Stokes finished his career with an American Athletic Conference-record 5,474 career all-purpose yards and 3,774 receiving yards (second).

Career All-Purpose Yards

  1. 5,474 Keylon Stokes, Tulsa (2018-)
  2. 5,320 Malcolm Perry, Navy (2016-19)

Career Receiving Yards

  1. 3,949 James Proche, SMU (2016-19)
  2. 3,774 Keylon Stokes, Tulsa (2018-)

Pencil It In
Memphis QB Seth Henigan has thrown at least one touchdown pass in all 23 games of his collegiate career.

Pace Setter
Cincinnati LB Ivan Pace Jr. has been chosen as a finalist for the Butkus Award (top linebacker) and the Bednarik Trophy (top defensive player). A transfer from Miami (Ohio), Pace was named The American’s Defensive Player of the Year one year after he was similarly honored by the Mid-American Conference.

Flip The Field
Cincinnati P Mason Fletcher one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s top punter.

Best Behavior
Navy is the least-penalized team in the nation. The Midshipmen average 3.5 penalties and 28.3 yards per game.

Any Way You Want It
Navy is 2-0 this season in games in which the Midshipmen have not completed a pass.

Line In The Sand
UCF ranks fifth nationally in red zone defense. The Knights have limited opponents to 68.0% effectiveness in the red zone.

Halfway There
Cincinnati LB Ivan Pace Jr. was chosen as an Midseason All-America selection by the Associated Press, Sporting News and The Athletic. SMU WR Rashee Rice was a second-team Midseason All-America choice of The Athletic.

Draft Cards
The American matched its best showing in the NFL Draft with 19 players selected in 2022. Two American players — Cincinnati CB Ahmad Gardner at No. 4 and Tulsa OT Tyler Smith at No. 24 — were chosen in the first round, while The American had 10 players taken in the first two days of the draft, surpassing the league’s previous high of six players.

Mark Your Calendars
With Tulane and UCF both appearing in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, The American is expected to send a team to either the College Football Playoff or a New Year’s Six bowl for the eighth time in 10 years.

The American in CFP/New Year’s Six Bowls
2013 UCF 52, Baylor 42 (Fiesta Bowl)
2015 Houston 38, Florida State 24 (Peach Bowl)
2017 UCF 34, Auburn 27 (Peach Bowl)
2018 LSU 40, UCF 32 (Fiesta Bowl)
2019 Penn State 53, Memphis 39 (Cotton Bowl)
2020 Georgia 24, Cincinnati 21 (Peach Bowl)
2021 Alabama 27, Cincinnati 6 (CFP Semifinal/Cotton Bowl)

TALKING POINTS
UCF
9-3, 6-2 American
@UCF_Football
Last: Won at South Florida, 46-39
Next: Dec. 3 at Tulane (ABC)
American Ranks
Total Offense………………………….486.5 …………………. 2nd
Total Defense…………………………360.2 …………………..4th
Scoring Offense ……………………….34.9 …………………..4th
Scoring Defense ……………………….21.3 …………………..3rd
• UCF scored the go-ahead touchdown with 20 seconds left to take the win against South Florida in the regular-season finale, sending the Knights to The American Championship Game for the third time (2017, 2018).

• UCF has won four American titles overall (2013, 2014, 2017, 2018).

• UCF’s last five games have all been decided by nine points or fewer. The Knights are 4-1 in those games.

• UCF ranks seventh nationally in rushing offense (243.7 ypg) and has at least 200 rushing yards in nine of 12 games this season.

• The Knights had nine players named to The American’s all-conference teams.

CINCINNATI
9-3, 6-2 American
@BearcatsFB
Last: Lost to Tulane, 27-24
Next: TBD
American Ranks
Total Offense………………………….392.8 …………………..8th
Total Defense………………………… 328.5 ……………………1st
Scoring Offense …………………………31.1 …………………..6th
Scoring Defense ………………………20.3 …………………. 2nd
• Cincinnati saw its 32-game home field winning streak end with the loss to Tulane in the regular-season finale.

• LB Ivan Pace Jr. became the second straight Cincinnati player to be named as The American’s Defensive Player of the Year, following 2021 winner CB Ahmad Gardner.

• Pace is a finalist for the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker and the Bednarik Award as the top defensive player.

• P Mason Fletcher, who ranks second nationally in punting average, is The American’s Special Teams Player of the Year.

• Head coach Luke Fickell stepped down after the regular season to take a similar position at Wisconsin.

EAST CAROLINA
7-5, 4-4 American
@ECUPiratesFB
Last: Won at Temple, 49-46
Next: TBD
American Ranks
Total Offense………………………….459.0 …………………..4th
Total Defense…………………………409.9 ………………….. 7th
Scoring Offense ……………………….30.8 …………………..8th
Scoring Defense ……………………….27.0 …………………..5th

• RB Keaton Mitchell matched his career highs with 222 rushing yards and three touchdown runs in the Pirates’ regular-season finale against Temple.

• Mitchell has registered six consecutive 100- yard games entering Bowl Season.

• Mitchell is the first East Carolina player with consecutive 1,000-rushing-yard seasons since Tay Cooper in 2012 and 2013.

• QB Holton Ahlers enters the postseason with 13,627 passing yards, ranking 11th in NCAA FBS history and the most among active players.

• Mitchell was named to the all-conference first team, while WR C.J. Johnson and CB Malik Fleming were second-team choices.

HOUSTON
7-5, 5-3 American
@UHCougarFB
Last: Lost to Tulsa, 37-30
Next: TBD
American Ranks
Total Offense…………………………..459.7 …………………..3rd
Total Defense………………………… 429.9 …………………..9th
Scoring Offense ………………………..37.8 …………………. 2nd
Scoring Defense ……………………… 33.2 …………………..8th

• WR Nathaniel Dell enters Bowl Season as the national leader with 16 rushing touchdowns and is second nationally with 1,354 receiving yards.

• QB Clayton Tune was named to the all-conference first team after he had 37 touchdown passes in the regular season.

• Tune is The American’s career leader with 101 career touchdown passes. He trails only Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman (107) among all active FBS players.

• Houston had five players named to the all-conference first team and nine total all-conference selections.

• Dell has at least one touchdown reception in 10 games this season, the most of any player nationally.

MEMPHIS
6-6, 3-5 American
@TigersAthletics
Last: Lost at SMU, 34-31
Next: TBD
American Ranks
Total Offense…………………………..420.7 …………………..5th
Total Defense…………………………. 371.9 …………………..5th
Scoring Offense ………………………..35.1 …………………..3rd
Scoring Defense ……………………….27.3 …………………..6th

• The Tigers gained bowl eligibility for the ninth consecutive season. Memphis has the ninth-longest active bowl streak among NCAA FBS teams.

• QB Seth Henigan has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 23 consecutive games, or every game of his career.

• Memphis has won 77 games since 2014, the most among American Athletic Conference teams.

• S Quindell Johnson was chosen to the allconference first team, earning his third consecutive all-conference honor. Johnson was a two-time selection to the second team.

• LB Xavier Cullens and TE Caden Prieskorn were both second-team all-conference picks.

NAVY
4-7, 4-4 American
@NavyAthletics
Last: Won at UCF, 17-14
Next: Dec. 10 vs. Army (CBS)
American Ranks
Total Offense…………………………..330.7 ………………….11th
Total Defense………………………… 355.9 …………………..3rd
Scoring Offense ………………………..22.4 …………………10th
Scoring Defense ……………………….24.7 …………………..4th

• LB John Marshall was the only unanimous first-team selection to The American’s all-conference teams.

• Marshall leads The American with 10.5 sacks and is second in the conference with 18.5 tackles for loss.

• The Midshipmen closed conference play with a 17-14 win at then-No. 17 UCF.

• Navy has won two games this season (Temple, UCF) without completing a pass.

• The Midshipmen close their season Dec. 10 against Army in Philadelphia. The Midshipmen are looking for their second straight win against the Black Knights.

SOUTH FLORIDA
1-11, 0-8 American
@USFFootball
Last: Lost to UCF, 46-39
Next: Season complete
American Ranks
Total Offense………………………….390.8 …………………..9th
Total Defense………………………….516.6 ………………….11th
Scoring Offense ……………………….28.0 …………………..9th
Scoring Defense ……………………….41.2 ………………….11th

• South Florida erased an early 28-0 deficit to take a fourth-quarter lead before UCF scored the winning touchdown with 20 seconds left in the War on I-4 to close the regular season.

• RB Brian Battie closed the season by registering five consecutive 100-yard games.

• QB Byrum Brown, who was fourth on the depth chart in the preseason, started the last two games of the year and accounted for seven touchdowns in those games.

• LB Dwayne Boyles finished the season with 108 tackles, registering his second consecutive season with 100 stops.

• The Bulls will have a new head coach in 2023 as Jeff Scott was relieved of his duties during the season.

SMU
7-5, 5-3 American
@SMU_Football
Last: Defeated Memphis, 34-31
Next: TBD
American Ranks
Total Offense…………………………..479.8 …………………. 2nd
Total Defense………………………… 445.8 …………………10th
Scoring Offense ……………………….38.4 ……………………1st
Scoring Defense ……………………….34.7 …………………10th

• SMU is bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive season and the fifth time i the last six years.

• LB Jimmy Philips Jr. would tie SMU’s career record for games played (59) if he plays in the Mustangs’ bowl game.

• WR Rashee Rice was chosen to The American’s all-conference first team after he finished the regular season as the NCAA FBS leader with 1,355 receiving yards.

• DE Elijah Chatman and OG Justin Osborne were both second-team all-conference selections.

• QB Tanner Mordecai ranks second in The American in passing (300.6 yards per game) and passing touchdowns (31).

TEMPLE
3-9, 1-7 American
@Temple_FB
Last: Lost to East Carolina, 49-46
Next: Season complete
American Ranks
Total Offense…………………………. 342.9 …………………10th
Total Defense…………………………..377.2 …………………..5th
Scoring Offense ………………………..21.4 ………………….11th
Scoring Defense ……………………….27.9 …………………..6th

• QB E.J. Warner closed the Owls’ season by throwing for a school-record 527 yards and five touchdowns in the loss to East Carolina.

• Warner was named as The American’s Rookie of the Year after he finished fourth in the conference in passing (275.3) as a true freshman.

• Warner is the first player in Temple history to have a 500-yard game and the first to have two 400-yard games in a season. He set a freshman
record with 3,028 passing yards.

• DE Darian Varner was named to the all-conference first team, while LB Layton Jordan was chosen to the second team.

• Jordan scored three defensive touchdowns in 2022.

TULANE
10-2, 7-1 American
@GreenWaveFB
Last: Won at Cincinnati, 27-24
Next: Dec. 3 vs. UCF (ABC)
American Ranks
Total Offense…………………………..416.0 …………………..6th
Total Defense…………………………336.8 …………………. 2nd
Scoring Offense ………………………. 34.4 …………………..5th
Scoring Defense ……………………….19.8 ……………………1st

• Tulane clinched a spot in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game for the first time by ending Cincinnati’s 32-game home winning streak in the regular-season finale.

• Tulane has seven conference wins for the first time in program history.

• Tulane has improved by eight wins from last season, when the Green Wave finished 2-10.

• RB Tyjae Spears was named as The American’s Offensive Player of the Year, becoming the first non-quarterback to win the honor.

• Head coach Willie Fritz was unanimously chosen as the American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

TULSA
5-7, 3-5 American
@TulsaFootball
Last: Won at Houston, 37-30
Next: Season complete
American Ranks
Total Offense……………………………411.8 ………………….. 7th
Total Defense………………………….414.3 …………………..8th
Scoring Offense ……………………….30.6 …………………..8th
Scoring Defense ……………………….33.1 …………………..8th

• WR Keylon Stokes finished his career second on The American’s career receiving chart with 3,774 yards, trailing only former SMU WR James Proche (3,949).

• Stokes, an all-conference first team selection, leaves Tulsa as The American’s career recordholder in all-purpose yards (5,474).

• DE Anthony Goodlow and LB Justin Wright were both chosen to The American’s all-conference second team.

• Tulsa won its season finale for the fifth consecutive season.

• The Golden Hurricane announced that Philip Montgomery will not return as head coach. Montgomery went 43-53 and led his teams to four bowl games.

Minnesota Lynx to Open 2023 Regular Season on Friday, May 19 vs. Chicago Sky at Target Center

WNBA Editor
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Minnesota Lynx to Open 2023 Regular Season on Friday, May 19 vs. Chicago Sky at Target Center

The 2023 campaign includes a league-record 40 regular-season games

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Lynx today announced the team’s schedule for the upcoming 2023 regular season. The Lynx will tip off their historic 25th WNBA season, presented by Mayo Clinic, at Target Center against the Chicago Sky on Friday, May 19 at 7:00 p.m. CT, marking the 16th time in club history opening the regular season at home. Minnesota will start the season with consecutive home games, before a three-game road stint beginning with the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday, May 25 at 9:00 p.m. CT.

The 2023 campaign features a league-record 40 regular-season games from May 19 through Sept. 10. Full season memberships are available by visiting lynxbasketball.com/membership or calling 612-673-8400. Single-game tickets will be released at a later date.

Minnesota’s 20-game Target Center schedule includes 11 weekend games (five Friday, two Saturday and four Sunday) and nine weekday games (four Tuesday, two Wednesday and three Thursday). The Lynx have a four-game homestand (July 5-July 12) to close out the first portion of the season. The away portion of the schedule features three road trips with at least three games in length (May 25-30, June 16-20 and Aug. 8-18).

The first half of the schedule is highlighted by notable matchups against the reigning WNBA Champions Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, May 28 on the road and a home contest against the Aces on Sunday, July 9. Minnesota will face the Los Angeles Sparks three times in a 10-day period, starting with a matchup at Target Center on June 11 and on the road on June 16 and June 20. The first half of the season wraps up with a four-game home stint, kicking off against the Indiana Fever on July 5 and ending with the annual Camp Day on July 12 vs. Dallas.

Minnesota’s 2023 preseason and television broadcast schedule will be announced at a later date.

Following are key facts regarding Minnesota’s 2023 regular season schedule. The full schedule is also available for download in PDF form.

Key Facts about the 2023 Lynx Regular Season Schedule
By month, the schedule breaks down as follows: May (two home, three away = five total), June (five home, six away = 11 total), July (seven home, three away = 10 total), August (four home, six away = 10 total) and September (two home, two away = four total).

Minnesota will play seven of its’ 10 games in July at Target Center, marking a franchise-high in total games played in one month and games played at Target Center in a single month. This is just one game shy of tying the league record of 11 regular season games played in a calendar month set by Los Angeles in 2000.

By day, the schedule breaks down as follows: Tuesday (four home, six away = 10 total), Wednesday (two home, one away = three total), Thursday (three home, four away = seven total), Friday (five home, three away = eight total), Saturday (two home, two away = four total), Sunday (four home, four away = eight total).
Minnesota’s 20-game home schedule will feature four different starting times (all times central): 14 games tip off at 7:00 p.m., four games will commence at 6:00 p.m., one game will begin at 12:00 p.m. and one game will start at 8:00 p.m.
The Lynx will begin the regular season slate at home against Chicago on Friday, May 19 marking the fourth time in franchise history the club has opened the regular season against the Sky. Minnesota has defeated the Sky in all three regular season debuts so far, most recently on May 25, 2019 at Target Center.

On five occasions, Minnesota will face the same opponent in consecutive games: Los Angeles (6/11 and 6/16), Seattle (6/27 and 6/29; 8/18 and 8/20), Connecticut (7/30 and 8/1) and Dallas (8/22 and 8/24). Four of the five sets will include both a home and away game, except when the Lynx visit Connecticut on July 28 and August 1.

Minnesota will enjoy a season-long, four-game homestand from July 5-July 12 (vs. Indiana, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Dallas). The Lynx will also have one three-game homestand: July 20-25 (vs. Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Washington).

The most consecutive road games this season for the Lynx are three strings of three: from May 25-30 (at Phoenix, Las Vegas and Dallas), June 16-20 (at Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Los Angeles) and July 8– July 18 (at Chicago, Indiana and Seattle). Minnesota will also have four stretches of two consecutive road games: June 3-7 (at Washington and New York), June 29-July 1 (at Seattle and Phoenix), July 30-Aug.1 (at Connecticut) and Sept. 8-10 (at Chicago and Indiana).

The Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase, an in-season tournament pitting conference rivals against each other during the first half of the regular season, will return for its third season. The 10 designated “Cup games” per team will be the first home game and first road game each team plays against its five conference rivals, all completed from May 19 – July 12. The team from each conference with the top record in Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase games will compete for a half-a-million-dollar prize pool in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship presented by Coinbase on Tuesday, Aug. 15. Additional details will be announced at a later date.

The AT&T WNBA All-Star 2023, the 19th All-Star Game in league history, will be played on Saturday, July 15. More information about AT&T WNBA All-Star will be forthcoming.

Lynx 2023 Opponent Breakdown

Dallas (H: 7/12, 8/22; A: 5/30, 8/24); Las Vegas (H: 7/9, 7/22; A: 5/28, 6/18); Los Angeles (H: 6/11, 7/20; A: 6/16, 6/20); Phoenix (H: 7/7, 9/3; A:5/25, 7/1); Seattle (H: 6/27, 8/20; A: 6/29, 8/18).

Atlanta (H: 5/23, 9/1; A: 7/18); Chicago (H: 5/19; A: 8/8, 9/8); Connecticut (H: 6/1, 6/22; A: 7/30, 8/1); Indiana (H: 6/9, 7/5; A: 8/10, 9/10); New York (H: 8/4, 8/26; A: 6/7); Washington (H: 7/26; A: 6/3, 8/29).

NHL Preview: Arizona Coyotes (7-10-3) at Los Angeles Kings (12-9-4)

NHL Editor
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0
NHL Preview: Arizona Coyotes (7-10-3) at Los Angeles Kings (12-9-4)

ARIZONA COYOTES NOTES:

3 HARD LAPS
• Tonight the Coyotes begin the fourth and final portion of their 14-game road stretch

• JJ Moser enters tonight on a career-high 5-game point streak. The last Coyotes d-man to have a 6-game run within the same season was Oliver Ekman-Larsson in Nov. of 2017

• Clayton Keller enters tonight with 18 road points (6-12-18) on the year to share the NHL lead with CAR’s Sebastian Aho

LAST GAME
Wild 4, Coyotes 3 – November 27, 2022 – Xcel Energy Center
ARI Goals: Schmaltz (3), Crouse (10), Moser (3)
MIN Goals: Kaprizov (13), Steel (4), Spurgeon (2), Boldy (9)
ARI Goalie: Ingram (L) – 24 svs on 28 shots
MIN Goalie: Fleury (W) – 20 svs on 23 shots
PP: 0-2 PK: 2-3
Notes: ARI suffered its lone regulation loss of the four-game road trip…Lawson Crouse and JJ Moser scored 1:30 apart late in the third period to narrow the deficit to one…Moser extended his career-best point streak to 5 games…Nick Schmaltz lit the lamp for the third consecutive game…Matias Maccelli registered two assists for his third multi-point game of the year…Shayne Gostisbehere picked up an assist to reach double digit helpers for the third straight season and seventh time in his career…Gostisbehere established a 3-game assist/point streak…Clayton Keller added a helper to extend his team-lead in points, now at 21 this season

MAN GAMES LOST (Name/Roster Status/Injury Type/Games Missed/Last Game Played)
Josh Brown…Day-to-Day…Upper-Body (3 / 11/21)
Total man games lost: 62 games
Jakob Chychrun (16), Nick Schmaltz (15), Zack Kassian (9), Connor Timmins (9), Andrew Ladd (6), Ben McCartney (3), Juuso Valimaki (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
Sat, Dec 3 8pm at VAN Rogers Arena Bally Sports Arizona 98.7 FM
Mon, Dec 5 7pm at CGY Scotiabank
Saddledome
Bally Sports Arizona
Extra
ESPN 620
Wed, Dec 7 7:30pm at EDM Rogers Place Bally Sports Arizona
Extra
KTAR 92.3

YOTES & KINGS
-Tonight is the first of three ARI-LAK matchups this season. They’ll play once at Mullett Arena on 12/23 and again at Crypto.com Arena on 2/18

-The Kings represent the opponent the Coyotes/Jets franchise have the most games played (244) and wins (120) against in the NHL

-Arizona won the last matchup in LA by a 2-1 score in overtime (11/21/22)

-Clayton Keller posted 4 pts (2-2-4) over the three meetings last season, while Travis Boyd was close behind him with 3 pts (1-2-3) in the head-to-head contests

-Jakob Chychrun leads all current Coyote skaters in career points (12) against the Kings and is tied in goals (5) and assists (7). The blueliner had a 6-game point streak versus LA from 3/3/21 – 5/5/21

-Coyotes franchise vs Kings:
• All-Time: 120-89-25-10
• Home: 65-43-11-5
• Road: 55-46-14-5
• L10: 4-6-0
• STRK: L2

SCORING NOTABLES AGAINST THE KINGS
Jakob Chychrun…5-7-12…23 career GP
Clayton Keller…4-7-11…22 career GP
Shayne Gostisbehere…1-5-6…12 career GP
Barrett Hayton…1-1-2…4 career GP
Career Leaders
Goals (Bjugstad/Crouse/Chychrun, 5)… Assists (Chychrun/Keller, 7)…Points (Chychrun, 12)
Career Leaders Among Defensemen
Goals (Chychrun, 5)…Assists (Chychrun, 7)…Points (Chychrun, 12)

KELLER INSTINCT
-Clayton Keller enters tonight leading Arizona in assists (14) and points (21) in 2022-23

-Keller’s 21 pts through his 20 GP are the most by a Coyote player through 20 personal games since Ladislav Nagy (10-11-21) in 2003-04

-Sunday was the third straight game Keller found the scoresheet. He has not gone consecutive games without a point in 2022-23, and has notched a point in all but two road games

-18 of Keller’s 21 points have come on the road. That figure is tied with Sebastian Aho for the most road points in the NHL, while his 12 road assists rank tied for third

-2022-23 is already Keller’s sixth season of 20+ points. Only Dale Hawerchuk (7) has had more 20+ point seasons in Coyotes/Jets franchise history before turning 25

-The winger also enters tonight averaging over a point-per-game this season (7-14-21 in 20 GP), a mark he’s been well clear of overall since 11/18/21… Keller has registered 32-46-78 in 71 GP since then, with his 1.10 points per game in that span ranking 6th among RW (Min. 50 GP)

IN THE NICK OF TIME
-Nick Schmaltz comes into tonight on a 3-game goal streak, the fifth time in his career he’s done that and is tied for the longest by a Coyote this season

-His longest goal streak is 4 games, done 1/3/18 – 1/9/18 w/CHI

-The forward’s season has begun with 4 pts (3-1-4) in his first 5 games. He registered his first multi-point game of the season on Friday with a goal and an assist

-In his last 82 games (since 4/5/21), Schmaltz has recorded 27-44-71…He’s also tallied 62 pts (26-36-62) in his last 62 games dating back to 12/10/21

-Since his Coyotes debut on 11/27/18, Schmaltz has recorded 52-102-154 in 207 GP. His 0.74 PPG paces the Coyotes since then (min. 50 GP) and his point total trails just Keller in that span

-The forward enjoyed career-bests in both goals (23) and assists (36) last season for a career-best 59 points

-58 of those points came in his final 57 games played after returning from injury…He finished 2022-23 with a point in each of his last 4 regular-season games

LAYING DOWN THE LAW
-Lawson Crouse inked his fourth career 10+ goal season with a marker on Sunday. The forward scored his 10th goal in his 20th game of 2022-23, the fewest he’s needed to reach double digits (2022-23: 20 GP; 2021-22: 37 GP; 2019-20: 41 GP; 2018-19: 61 GP)

-Crouse 10 goals in 20 games puts him on a 41-goal pace for an 82-game season

-The last time a Coyote tallied 10+ goals within the team’s first 20 games of a season was Clayton Keller in 2017-18…Nine Coyotes (11 instances) have done it since 1996-97

-Crouse has registered 29 goals (44 pts) in his last 82 games (since 10/21/21)

EAT YOUR VEGGIES
-Karel Vejmelka stopped 33-of-36 shots on Friday in the shootout loss. The performance came on the heels of his second shutout of the season on 11/23

-The netminder finished November with a 5-2-1 record, .936 SV% and a 2.15 GAA. Among goalies to play at least 5 gms, Vejmelka ranked second in SV% and fourth in GAA during the calendar month

-His performance in the last 30 days boosts his career November figures to a 7-6-1 record with a .927 SV% and 2.48 GAA in 16 career November games. All 3 of his career SO have come in that month

-Vejmelka holds a .916 SV% on the season, good for a share of 11 th in the NHL (min. 10 GP)

-Vejmelka is one of six goalies to have multiple shutouts in 2022-23: Ville Husso (3), Connor Hellebuyck (3), Logan Thompson, Ilya Sorokin and Darcy Kuemper

-His 36 saves in Wednesday’s shutout marks the fifth-highest sv total in a shutout by an NHLer on the campaign (Sorokin, 49; Sorokin, 41; Knight, 40; Hellelbuyck, 40)

-The two shutouts in November of 2022 makes Vejmelka the first Coyote netminder to notch multiple shutouts in a calendar month since Darcy Kuemper (2) in Nov. of 2019

-Vejmelka is one of 15 goaltenders to register 3+ career shutouts with the Coyotes/Jets franchise

ROOKIES MAKING THEIR MARK
-Coyotes rookies Dylan Guenther (1st rd, 9th overall in 2021) and Matias Maccelli (4th rd, 98th overall in 2019) come into tonight among NHL rookie leaders in multiple statistical categories Macceli (1-12-13 in 18 GP)

  • Ranks among NHL rookie leaders in assists (1st), points (3rd), points per game (2nd, 0.72; [min 10 GP]) power-play assists (6, 2nd) and power-play points (7, 2nd)

-Registered his third multi-point game of the season with two assists on Sunday, giving him 12 helpers total

-Ranks second on the Coyotes in assists and tied for third in points Guenther (3-6-9 in 17 GP)

-Ranks among NHL rookie leaders in power-play goals (3, T-1st), power-play points (5, T-4th) and goals (T-10th)

-Guenther is the fifth player in Coyotes/Jets history to score his first 3 career goals on the power play. He joins Craig Norwich (first 6 goals), Bill Thomas (first 4 goals), Boris Mironov (first 4 goals) and Luciano Borsato (first 3 goals)

-Among players to debut with the Coyotes/Jets franchise history, only four players have recorded 3+ PPGs within his first 13 career games (Teemu Selanne [9 PPG] in 1992-93, Craig Norwich in 1979-80, Luciano Borsato in 1990-91 and Michael Bunting in 2020-21)

-In that criteria, Selanne is the only player in franchise history to record 4+ PPGs within his first 18 career games

-With Jack McBain (Trade w/MIN) contributing 2-2-4 in 20 GP, Coyotes rookies have compiled 26 points for a share of the second-most cumulative pts by rookies in the NHL

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Coyotes are completing a stretch of 14 consecutive road games for the purposes of the Mullett Arena annex construction being completed (on schedule). This stretch from 11/5 – 12/7 is tied for the longest a team has had in NHL history

Rank Team Consecutive Road Games Dates Record
T1 Vancouver 14 straight road games 1/30/10 – 3/10/10 8-5-1
T1 Arizona 14 straight road games 11/5/22 – 12/7/22 TBD
3 NY Islanders 13 straight road games 10/14/21 – 11/16/21 5-6-2
4 San Jose 12 straight road games 1/14/21 – 2/11/21 5-6-1
T5 Philadelphia 11 straight road games 12/23/05 – 1/12/06 8-2-1
T5 Calgary 11 straight road games 2/3/88 – 2/28/88 5-5-1
Note: The Coyotes’ stretch includes 4 different road trips (11/5 – 11/13; 11/17; 11/21–11/27; 12/1–12/7)

Last Team Challenge: (W) March 27, 2022 – Original Call Overturned; ARI requested a Coach’s Challenge for a missed stoppage of play. The Situation Room determined that the puck hit the protective netting behind ARI’s net prior to WPG’s Adam Lowry’s goal and, therefore, was out of play

Last Situation Room-Initiated Challenge: (Overturned) Oct. 17, 2022 – Original Call Overturned; The situation room called to review if Morgan Rielly batted the puck with his hand inside the attacking zone before Mitch Marner subsequently gained possession and control. It was deemed that Marner was the first player to gain possession and control of the puck after Rielly batted it with his hand and, therefore, no goal

2022-23 OVERTIME RESULTS: (0-1-2)
Last overtime win: 4/27/22 at DAL (W, 4-3, GWG – T. Boyd)
Last overtime loss: 10/28/22 vs WPG (L, 3-2, GWG – B. Wheeler)
Last overtime that led to shootout: 11/25/22 at DET

2022-23 SHOOTOUT RESULTS: (0-2)
Last shootout win: 2/1/22 at COL (W, 3-2, SDG – A. Galchenyuk)
Last shootout loss: 11/25/22 at DET (L, 4-3, SDG – D. Larkin)

CAREER OT POINT CHARTD
PLAYER NAME GOALS ASSISTS POINTS
Shayne Gostisbehere 7 9 16
Clayton Keller 4 6 10
Nick Schmaltz 1 6 7
Jakob Chychrun 2 3 5
Christian Fischer 2 1 3
Travis Boyd 1 1 2
Nick Bjugstad 0 1 1
Troy Stecher 0 1 1
Barrett Hayton 0 1 1
Juuso Valimaki 0 1 1
Matias Maccelli 0 1 1

2022-23 COYOTES RECORD ON…
1-Day Rest: 5-6-1
2-Days Rest: 2-1-1
3+ Days Rest: 0-2-1

Back-to-Backs
Coyotes record on…
First Game of Back-to-Back: 0-1-0
Second Game of Back-to-Back: 0-1-0
When ARI and opponent is completing a back-to-back: 0-1-0
When completing a back-to-back where opponent is not: 0-0-0
When ARI is not completing a back-to-back but opponent is: 0-1-1

LOS ANGELES KINGS NOTES:

DEC. 1 vs. ARIZONA COYOTES – 7:30 PM PT // Venue: Crypto.com Arena // TV: Bally Sports West // Radio: iHeartRadio
-The LA Kings host the Arizona Coyotes for the first of three meetings between the clubs (Dec. 23; Feb. 18).

-The Kings look to win their third consecutive game over the Coyotes and their fifth in their last six contests.

-Tonight’s game marks the third game of the Kings’ four-game homestand at Crypto.com Arena (3-2 OTL, Nov. 27 vs. OTT; 9-8 OTL, Nov. 29 vs. SEA; Dec. 3 vs. CAR).

WARM-UPS
1) The Kings are one win away from their 100th victory against the Coyotes in franchise history.

2) No team has scored more power-play goals (5) or has a better power-play percentage (62.5%, 5-for-8) in the last seven days than the Kings.

3) Only San Jose’s Nick Bonino (35) has more blocks in the league among forwards than Anze Kopitar’s 33.

4) With his point Tuesday night against Seattle, defenseman Matt Roy (3-7=10) eclipsed the 10-point mark for his fourth straight season.

5) Tuesday marked the fifth 9-8 game in NHL history – the other instances came on Oct. 27, 2011 (WPG 9, PHI 8), Feb. 27, 1982 (PHI 9, CGY 8), Dec. 2, 1981 (QUE 9, EDM 8) and Oct. 10, 1981 (TOR 9, CHI 8). The last time the Kings were involved in a 17-goal game was on Nov. 13, 1987 against Calgary (LAK – 7, CGY – 10).

VS. ARIZONA ALL-TIME:
All-Time Record: 99-108-25-12
Home: 51-51-14-4
Away: 48-57-11-8
OT: 12-16 (24 ties)
Shootout: 5-5
2021-22: 2-0-1
2022-23: 0-0-0

Franchise Leaders vs. ARIZONA^:
Luc Robitaille – 87 GP, 87 PTS (42-45=87)
Anze Kopitar* – 85 GP, 87 PTS (22-65=87)
Wayne Gretzky – 44 GP, 81 PTS (22-59=81)
Dave Taylor – 85 GP, 75 PTS (28-47=75)
Marcel Dionne – 49 GP, 75 PTS (34-41=75)
Bernie Nicholls – 58 GP, 64 PTS (28-36=64)
*-denotes active roster player
^-against Arizona franchise (dating back to WPG)

LAST MEETING vs. ARIZONA: Feb. 23, 2022 – LAK 3 vs. ARI 2
Venue: Gila River Arena
LAK Goals: Lizotte (7), Arvidsson (14, 15)
ARI Goals: Keller (21), Hayton (3)
Goalies: LAK: Petersen (W, 17 saves, 19 shots) ARI: Wedgewood (L, 32 saves, 35 shots)
LAK PP: 0-for-2
LAK PK: 2-for-2

THE NEXT THREE:
Sat., Dec. 3 | vs. Carolina | 7:30 p.m. PT | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
o The LA Kings had an 11-3-2 record versus Metro Division teams last season.

Tues., Dec. 6 | at Ottawa Senators | 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT) | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
o Anze Kopitar has 17 points (5-12=17) in 22 career games against the Senators, the most points versus Ottawa by any skater in Kings history.

Thurs., Dec. 8 | at Toronto Maple Leafs | 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 against the Maple Leafs dating back to March 5, 2020.

INJURY & MGL REPORT
Player, Games Missed, Date(s), Status
F Alex Iafallo, 21 games, Oct. 18 – Pres. (lower-body)
F Brendan Lemieux, 8 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: 40

RECENT TRANSACTIONS (as of 12/1/22)
Nov. 26 – Lias Andersson (F) and Jacob Moverare (D) loaned to Ontario (AHL).
Nov. 27 – Lias Andersson (F) and Brandt Clarke (D) recalled from Ontario (AHL)
Nov. 27 – Frederic Allard (D) recalled from Ontario (AHL).
Nov. 28 – Frederic Allard (D) loaned to Ontario (AHL).
Nov. 29 – Lias Andersson (F) loaded to Ontario (AHL). Samuel Fagemo (F) and Jordan Spence (D) recalled from Ontario.
Nov. 30 – Samuel Fagemo (F) loaned to Ontario (AHL).

LA KINGS TEAM NOTES:
KING(S) OF THE PACK
LA Kings captain Anze Kopitar has been no stranger to the scoring sheet against Arizona with 87 points (22-65=87) in 85 career games versus the Coyotes. No active skater has more points against the Coyotes franchise than Kopitar, while teammate Drew Doughty (14-31=45) sits sixth:
Most points against Arizona Coyotes franchise among active skaters

Player GP Points
Anze Kopitar 85 87 (22-65=87)
Joe Pavelski 75 61 (31-30=61)
Corey Perry 71 58 (29-29=58)
Patrick Kane 45 56 (17-39=47)
Jonathan Toews 44 47 (18-29=47)
Drew Doughty 66 45 (14-31=45)
With a point tonight, Kopitar can surpass Luc Robitaille (42-45=87) for the most points by an LA Kings skater against the Coyotes and tie Bernie Nicholls (34-54=88) for the 10th-most in NHL history among all skaters. Doughty, who leads all active defensemen in points against Arizona, can tie Rob Blake (19-27=46) for 12th-most among defensemen in league history with a point.

FOLLOW THE LEADER
Forward Kevin Fiala recorded his first four-point game (0-4=4) as an LA King on Tuesday night against Seattle, marking the fourth time in his career he has earned four or more points in a game and the second versus the Kraken (0-5=5, April. 22, 2022) with MIN. Fiala leads team scoring with 26 points (7-19=26) through 25 games this season. Of his 26 points, 19 have come at even-strength. Only Sidney Crosby (26), Jason Robertson (24), Erik Karlsson (24), Matthew Tkachuk (20) and Connor McDavid (19) have more even-strength points this season than Fiala. Since the beginning of last season, Fiala has notched 86 even-strength points, which is tied for seventh-most among all skaters in the league:

Most even-strength points since 2021-22
Player GP EVP
Johnny Gaudreau 103 107
Connor McDavid 103 100
Matthew Tkachuk 103 95
Auston Matthews 98 93
Kirill Kaprizov 102 91
Leon Draisaitl 103 87
Kevin Fiala 107 86
Mitchell Marner 97 86
Steven Stamkos 103 85

Fiala, who eclipsed the 20-point plateau for his fourth consecutive season and sixth overall, ranks tied for third in points this season among members from the 2014 NHL Draft class:

2022-23 point totals among 2014 NHL Draftees
Player GP PTS
Leon Draisaitl (EDM) 23 36 (15-21=36)
David Pastrnak (BOS) 22 32 (14-18=32)
Kevin Fiala (LAK) 25 26 (7-19=26)
William Nylander (TOR) 25 25 (13-12=25)
Dylan Larkin (DET) 22 25 (9-16=25)
Brayden Point (TBL) 22 24 (10-14=24)
Alex Tuch (BUF) 23 22 (10-12=22)

VILARDI PARTY
Gabriel Vilardi skates into tonight’s game with a team-leading 13 goals on the season following his second career multi-goal game (2-0=2) Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken. In 24 games played, Vilardi has registered 18 points (13-5=18), which is tied for third-most on the team with Phillip Danault (7-11=18) and Viktor Arvidsson (5-13=18). His 13 goals rank tied for eighth in the league and sits six behind Dallas’ Jason Robertson (19) for the league lead. Among skaters 23 years of age or younger, Vilardi’s goal total sits in third behind Robertson and Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov (14):

Most goals among players 23 years or younger
Player GP Goals
Jason Robertson (DAL) 23 19
Andrei Svechnikov (CAR) 23 14
Gabriel Vilardi (LAK) 24 13
Jack Hughes (NJD) 23 12
Nick Suzuki (MTL) 22 12
Cole Caufield (MTL) 22 12
Martin Necas (CAR) 23 11

With two more points, Vilardi can eclipse the 20-point mark for the second time in his career (23 PTS, 10-13=23 in 2020-21).

CLIMBING THE APPLE TREE
Defenseman Drew Doughty registered his 109th career multi-point game with his 66th career three-assist outing on Tuesday for five assists in his last five games. Doughty moved within two multi-point outings away from tying Rob Blake (111) for the most by a defenseman in LA Kings history. At 449 career assists, Doughty can tie Kevin Hatcher (450) for the 47th -most assists by a defenseman in league history.

Doughty is one of ten defensemen in league history to have 100 or more multi-point games all with a single franchise:

Defensemen with 100+ multi-point games with a single team in history
Player Team GP # of multi-point games
Denis Potvin NYI 1,060 281
Nicklas Lindstrom DET 1,564 264
Kris Letang* PIT 962 151
Ron Greschner NYR 981 142
Victor Hedman* TBL 918 139
John Carlson WSH 905 138
Roman Josi* NSH 781 133
Andrei Markov MTL 990 110
Drew Doughty LAK 1,039 109
*-denotes active player

FAST STARTS
The Kings opened up scoring Tuesday night against the Kraken 16 seconds into the first period courtesy of Anze Kopitar, marking his 11th career opening-minute goal and the Kings’ third opening-minute goal this season (Fiala – 35 second, 11/22/22 vs. NYR; Grundstrom – nine seconds, 11/12/22 vs. DET). Per NHL PR, the only players in NHL history with more opening-minute goals in their career are Sidney Crosby (14), Mark Messier (13), Dave Taylor (12), Phil Esposito (12) and Gordie Howe (12). Kopitar joined Crosby (101-150=251), Alex Ovechkin (135-103=238), Patrick Kane (73-136=209), and Patric Bergeron (87-117=204) as the only active players in NHL history to factor on the first goal of a game at least 200 times in their careers.

SECOND LINE MAGIC
The Kings’ second line of Trevor Moore-Phillip Danault-Viktor Arvidsson have showed consistent chemistry since the beginning of the season. The trio finished the month of November with a combined 33 points (11-22=33), accounting for 35% of the Kings’ 93 points scored among forwards during last month. Entering tonight, no line has more unblocked shot attempts this season than the Moore-Danault-Arvidsson line:

Unblocked shot attempts among offensive lines
Line Minutes Unblocked Shot Attempts
Moore-Danault-Arvidsson (LAK) 258.4 195
Lehkonen-Mackinnon-Rantanen (COL) 229.7 190
Robertson-Pavelski-Hintz (DAL) 228.9 189
Hagel-Point-Kucherov (TBL) 230.8 188
Eichel-Stephenson-Stone (VGK) 224.2 185

QUICK VS. THE WEST
Jonathan Quick sits three wins behind Tom Barrasso for the third-most wins by a U.S.-born goaltender in league history:

Most Wins by a U.S.-born Goaltender
Player Wins
Ryan Miller 391
John Vanbiesbrouck 374
Tom Barrasso 369
Jonathan Quick 366
Craig Anderson 313
Quick is two wins shy of tying Roberto Luongo for the fourth-most wins against Eastern Conference teams among Western Conference goaltenders all-time:

Most wins against Western Conference teams all-time
Player GP Wins
Pekka Rinne 489 264
Miikka Kiprusoff 507 261
Chris Osgood 497 259
Robert Luongo 521 246
Jonathan Quick 510 244

FORWARD SCORING
LA Kings skaters wrapped up November with a combined for 236 points (84-152=236) points in 25 games so far this season, the most by any team in the league thus far. The team’s 84 goals are tied for fifth in the league, while their 138 assists leads all teams:

Team skater point totals
Team GP G A PTS
LA Kings 25 84 152 236
Boston Bruins 22 87 143 230
Buffalo Sabres 23 85 143 228
Seattle Kraken 22 84 142 226
Dallas Stars 23 88 137 225

The Kings forward core has accounted for 180 points (74-106=180) of LA’s 236 points this season, tied with Boston and Dallas for most among team forwards in the league. With an points-per-game average of 7.2 by forwards, LA’s top-12 skaters are on pace to surpass last year’s forward points total of 466 (214-252=466) through 82 games:

Scoring by forwards this season
Team GP G A PTS
LA Kings 25 74 106 180
Boston Bruins 22 76 104 180
Dallas Stars 23 78 102 180
New Jersey Devils 23 73 106 179
Buffalo Sabres 23 74 101 175
Toronto Maple Leafs 25 70 104 174

MULTI-POINT MANIA
The LA Kings have had contributions on the scoring sheet from 22 different skaters this season, including 12 in Tuesday night’s 17-goal thriller against the Kraken, marking the highest-scoring regular-season game this season and just the 12th game in the past 35 years to feature as many tallies. Tuesday’s game was the second instance this season seven different Kings skaters had multi-point games. LA is the only team in the league this season to have at least two games with seven or more multi-point performances from its players. Of the 22 skaters, 15 of them have had multi-point games with the most courtesy of Kevin Fiala (7). Since last Nov. 17, 11 different skaters have found the score sheet more than once in a game. The Kings have had 51 multi-point performances from their players this season, tied for the third-most in the league:

Most multi-point games from players
Team # of multi-point performances
Tampa Bay Lightning 59
Dallas Stars 52
LA Kings 51
Boston Bruins 46
Vancouver Canucks 45

RAINING PPGs
Forward Arthur Kaliyev recorded his first career multi power-play goal game Sunday night against Ottawa, both of which came in the second period. Per NHL PR, Kaliyev matched the Kings’ record for power-play goals in a single period. Only four other Kings skaters have achieved such feat in the last 10 years (Jeff Carter, 2 PPG in P2, Nov. 20, 2016; Mike Richards, 2 PPG in P3, Feb. 17, 2013; Justin Williams, 2 PPG in P3, April 5, 2012; Dustin Brown, 2 PPG in P1, Feb. 25, 2012). Kaliyev’s six power-play goals leads all Kings skaters this season and sits two behind Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl (8) and Connor McDavid (8) for the lead league. Since his NHL debut on Feb. 2, 2021, no Kings skater has scored more on the man advantage than Kaliyev (12):

Most PPGs by Kings skaters since Feb. 2, 2021
Player PPGs
Arthur Kaliyev 12
Adrian Kempe 10
Drew Doughty 9
Anze Kopitar 9
Gabriel Vilardi 8

Kaliyev is one power-play goal from establishing a new career-high, surpassing his total of six set last season through 80 games, which placed second among all rookies behind Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras (9).

THROWING THE BODY
Carl Grundstrom currently leads the team in hits with 66 through his 24 games played this season, putting him on pace to surpass his previous career high of 202 set in the 2021-22 season with a shots-per-game pace of 3.23, the highest of his career:

Carl Grundstrom’s hits-per-game throughout career
Season GP Shots Shots/GP
2022-23 24 66 2.75
2018-19 15 38 2.53
2021-22 54 134 2.48
2019-20 13 29 2.23
2020-21 47 104 2.21

Grundstrom never been shy of laying the body since his NHL debut. In his rookie season (2018-19), Grundstrom recorded 38 hits in 15 games. Grundstrom has led all Kings skaters in hits the past two seasons (104 in 2020-21; 134 in 2021-22). Grundstrom’s 66 hits are second-most among all Pacific Division forwards and tied for fourth with Arizona’s Liam O’Brien among western conference forwards:

Most hits among Western Conference forwards
Player GP Hits
Tanner Jeannot (NSH) 21 76
Noel Acciari (STL) 22 72
Keegan Kolesar (VGK) 22 71
Carl Grundstrom (LAK) 23 66
Liam O’Brien (ARI) 20 66
William Carrier (VGK) 23 63

CLIMBING THE RANKS
Defenseman Drew Doughty skates into tonight’s game one goal shy of tying Rob Blake (29) for the most game-winning goals by a defenseman in franchise history. In doing so, Doughty would also tie Blake, Mike Murphy and Butch Goring for the seventh most GWGs in LA Kings history:

Most GWGs by an LA Kings defenseman
Player GWG
Rob Blake 29
Drew Doughty 28
Steve Duchesne 13
Alec Martinez 12
L’ubomir Visnovsky 10

NHL Preview: Washington Capitals (10-11-3) at Seattle Kraken (14-5-3)

NHL Editor
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NHL Preview: Washington Capitals (10-11-3) at Seattle Kraken (14-5-3)

WASHINGTON CAPITALS NOTES:

LAST GAME
Washington 5, Vancouver Canucks 1
November 29, 2022 * Rogers Arena * Vancouver, BC
Shots: WSH: 28; VAN: 32
Power Plays: WSH: 0/1; VAN: 0/3
Three Stars: 1. Ovechkin (WSH), 2. Carlson (WSH), 3. Hoglander (VAN)

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

CAPITALS MILESTONES WITHIN REACH
Alex Ovechkin – 2 games shy of 1,300 career games; 4 games shy of passing Sergei Gonchar (1,301) for second on the all-time Russian games played list; 7 goals shy of 800 career goals; 9 goals shy of passing Gordie Howe (801) for second on the NHL’s all-time goals list Garnet Hathaway – 3 games shy of 400 career games Dylan Strome – 3 games shy of 300 career games Nic Dowd – 5 games shy of 400 career games Lars Eller – 6 games shy of 900 career games Dmitry Orlov – 2 goals shy of passing Al Iafrate (58) for the ninth-most goals by a defenseman in franchise history Evgeny Kuznetsov – 4 assists shy of passing Bengt Gustafsson (359) for the eighth-most assists in franchise history

INJURIES/ILLNESSES
Nicklas Backstrom: 10/12-11/29 (24 games)
Carl Hagelin: 10/12-11/29 (24 games)
Tom Wilson: 10/12-11/29 (24 games)
Connor Brown: 10/20/22-11/29/22 (20 games)
Beck Malenstyn: 11/3/22-11/29/22 (13 games)
Dmitry Orlov: 11/7/22-11/29/22 (11 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: 133

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Dec. 3, 10 p.m. ET at Calgary (NBCSW, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)
Dec. 5, 8:30 p.m. ET at Edmonton (NBCSW, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)
Dec. 7, 7 p.m. ET at Philadelphia (NBCSW, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)
Dec. 9, 7 p.m. ET vs. Seattle (NBCSW+, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)
Dec. 11, 7 p.m. ET at Winnipeg (NBCSW, 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio 24/7)

TONIGHT’S GAME
The Capitals visit the Seattle Kraken on Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena for the first of two meetings between the teams this season. Thursday’s contest marks the third game (1-1-0) of a season-long six-game road trip for Washington. Last season, the Capitals split the season series with Seattle 1-1-0. The Capitals dropped their first ever game against the Kraken 2-5 at Climate Pledge Arena on Nov. 21, 2021, and defeated Seattle 5-2 at home on March 5. Alex Ovechkin (2g, 2a) and Tom Wilson (2g, 2a) led the Capitals with four points each in two games against the Kraken in 2021-22.

AWAY vs. SEATTLE KRAKEN
Record Goals For Goals Against Streak
0-1-0 2 5 1 SEA win (11/21/21)
CAPITALS vs. KRAKEN ALL-TIME (CAREER TOTALS)
Games Goals Assists Points
Aube-Kubel (3) Aube-Kubel (3) Ovechkin (2) Ovechkin (4)
Gustafsson (3) Ovechkin (2) Wilson (2) Wilson (4)
Milano (3) Wilson/Sheary (2) Kuznetsov/Brown (2) Aube-Kubel (3)

TOP CAPS FACTS
Road Goals

  • Alex Ovechkin scored his 402nd and 403rd career road goals on Tuesday at Vancouver, moving him past Wayne Gretzky (402) for the most in NHL history.
  • Ovechkin has scored 403 of his 793 career goals (50.8%) on the road, compared to 390 (49.2%) at home.
  • Ovechkin has scored in 38 different buildings as a visitor, including one goal in one career game played at Climate Pledge Arena.
  • Wayne Gretzky scored his 402nd and final road goal in his 720th career road game (0.56 G/GP). Ovechkin scored his 402nd and 403rd road goals in his 652nd career road game (0.62 G/GP).
  • Since Ovechkin’s rookie year in 2005-06, only 10 players have more total goals than Ovechkin has road goals (403).

PLAYERS WITH THE MOST TOTAL GOALS SINCE 2005-06, COMPARED TO ALEX OVECHKIN’S 403 CAREER ROAD GOALS
Player Total Goals
Sidney Crosby 529
Steven Stamkos 494
Evgeni Malkin 452
Patrick Kane 433
Joe Pavelski 431
Eric Staal 430
Jeff Carter 421
Zach Parise 415
Patrick Marleau 413
Corey Perry 408
John Tavares 403
Phil Kessel 403

  • Ovechkin has scored 144 of his NHL-record 291 power play goals (49.5%) on the road.
  • Ovechkin has scored 54 of his 124 career game-winning goals (43.5%) on the road.

Approaching 800

  • With his two-goal performance on Tuesday, Ovechkin is now seven goals shy of becoming the third player in NHL history to score 800 career goals and nine goals shy of passing Gordie Howe (801) for second on the NHL’s all-time goals list.
  • Ovechkin (currently at 155 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 93 times since – an average of 0.60 goals-per-game over that span, a rate just shy of 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 (160), and fourth in even strength goals (497).
  • Ovechkin’s first goal on Tuesday marked his 135th career game-opening goal, tying him with Jaromir Jagr for the most in NHL history.
  • Ovechkin has recorded 23 points (13g, 10a) in 24 games this season, which leads the Capitals.
  • Ovechkin is on pace to score 44 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
Team Game

  • The Capitals have won three of their last four games, dating back to Nov. 23.
  • During that span, the Capitals have outscored opponents 12-8 and have out attempted the opposition 194-162 during five-on-five play.
  • Over their last four games, Washington has scored three power play goals on 10 opportunities (30%) and have killed off 11 of 12 opposing power play opportunities (91.7%).
  • Fourteen of the 18 skaters that have dressed for Washington since Nov. 23 have recorded at least one point.

Between The Pipes

  • Darcy Kuemper stopped 31 of 32 shots faced on Tuesday at Vancouver, earning his third-straight win.
  • Over his last three games, Kuemper has posted a record of 3-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average, a .966 save percentage and one shutout.
  • Kuemper’s two shutouts this season rank tied for third in the NHL.
  • Kuemper’s 18 starts are tied for the most in the NHL, while his 1,029:52 of ice time leads all goaltenders.
  • Among goaltenders with at least 15 games played, Kuemper ranks tied for sixth in save percentage (.917) and sixth in goals-against average (2.51).

Shot Suppression

  • The Capitals have allowed fewer than 30 shots in nine of their last 13 games. During that span, which began on Nov. 3, the Capitals have recorded a 54.5 shot attempt percentage at five-on-five (651 shot attempts for, 543 shot attempts against), which ranks third in the NHL.

O From D

  • Through 24 games, Capitals defensemen have combined to record 45 points (10g, 35a). Capitals defensemen have accounted for 31.5 percent of the team’s assists and 25.3 percent of the team’s points, which are each the 10th-highest percentage in the NHL.
  • John Carlson has recorded 13 points (7g, 6a) in 18 games, which leads Washington blueliners.
  • Carlson has scored five goals in his last seven games and his seven goals this season rank tied for third among NHL defensemen.
  • Nick Jensen ranks second among Capitals defensemen with 10 points (1g, 9a) in 24 games. Jensen, who recorded a career-high 21 points (5g, 16a) in 76 games last season, is on pace to record 34 points in 2022-23.
  • Erik Gustafsson’s nine assists this season are tied with Jensen for the most among Capitals defensemen and his four power play assists rank tied for third on the team.
  • Gustafsson has recorded a 54.4 shot attempt percentage at five-on-five (405 shot attempts for, 339 shot attempts against) this season, which ranks second on the Capitals.
  • The Capitals are one of six teams to have three defensemen with nine or more points (Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins).

Homecoming

  • Everett, Washington native T.J. Oshie is expected to play his first career game at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday against the Kraken.
  • In the four games since returning to the Capitals’ lineup on Nov. 23 against Philadelphia, Oshie has recorded four points (1g, 3a).
  • Oshie, who missed 11-straight games due to injury, has recorded nine points (3g, 6a) in 13 games this season.
  • Oshie has recorded a team-high 75.0 goals for percentage at five-on-five (six goals for, two goal against) this season (per Natural Stat Trick).
  • Since the start of the 2020-21 season, the Capitals are 68-30-12 (.673 point percentage) with Oshie in the lineup and 36-12-6 (.722 point percentage) when he records a point.
  • In games without Oshie since 2020-21, the Capitals have a record of 22-22-8 (.500 point percentage).

Who’s Next?

  • Alex Ovechkin’s goal on Tuesday at Vancouver marked his first career goal against Spencer Martin, the 165th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored on in his career.
  • With the goal, Ovechkin passed Mark Messier (164) for the third-most goaltenders scored on in NHL history. Only Jaromir Jagr (178) and Patrick Marleau (177) have scored on more goaltenders. Marleau ranks first in NHL history in games played and Jagr ranks fourth, while Ovechkin ranks 66th.

Player Number of Goaltenders Scored On Games Played
Jaromir Jagr 178 1,733
Patrick Marleau 177 1,779
Alex Ovechkin 165 1,298
Mark Messier 164 1,756

  • Ovechkin has scored five goals in 12 career games against Martin Jones and three goals in four career games against Philipp Grubauer.

Tiger

  • Lars Eller recorded his 200th career assist on Tuesday at Vancouver. The assist also marked Eller’s 200th point (83g, 117a) as a Capital.
  • Eller’s 200 points since joining Washington in 2016-17 rank seventh on the team during that span.
  • Eller is six points shy of passing Nikolaj Ehlers (361) for the second-most points by a Denmark-born player in NHL history and 10 assists shy of passing Mikkel Boedker (209) for the second-most assists by a Denmark-born player in NHL history.
  • Eller has won 57.1 percent of his faceoffs since Nov. 1, which ranks 12th in the NHL during that span (min. 150 faceoffs taken).
  • During that same span, Eller ranks tied for third in the NHL in offensive zone faceoff win percentage (66.0%) and 10th in defensive zone faceoff win percentage (57.8%).

Penalty Skill

  • The Capitals have killed off 49 of 58 power plays (84.5 percent) over their last 19 games, dating back to Oct. 22. During that span, Washington’s 84.5 penalty kill percentage ranks fifth in the NHL.
  • Washington has drawn 108 penalties this season – tied for the third most in the NHL – and their +14 net penalty differential ranks first in the NHL.
  • Garnet Hathaway leads the Capitals and ranks tied for eighth in the NHL with 13 drawn penalties this season, while Nic Dowd ranks tied for 11th with 12.

Heavy Hitters

  • Washington’s 645 hits this season are the fifth most in the NHL, through games played Nov. 29.
  • The Capitals are on pace to record 2,203 hits this season, which would mark the franchise’s second-highest single-season total since the NHL began tracking hits in 2005-06 (2014-15: 2,335 hits)
  • The Capitals have out hit their opponents in 14 of their 24 games.
  • Garnet Hathaway leads the Capitals with 90 hits this season and ranks fourth in the NHL, through games played Nov. 29. Martin Fehervary ranks tied for eighth in the NHL with 79 hits, while Alex Ovechkin ranks 18th with 69.

Comeback Caps

  • The Capitals overcame a one-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the Flyers 3-2 in overtime on Nov. 23. It marked Washington’s third win this season when trailing after two periods, which is tied for the third most in the NHL.

SEATTLE KRAKEN NOTES:

LAST GAME
Seattle 9 at Los Angeles 8
Goals: Beniers (2), McCann (2), Burakovsky (2), Wennberg, Sprong, Bjorkstrand
Goalie: Jones (27/35)
PP: 3/4 PK: 2/4 Shots: Seattle 30 – Anaheim 35

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 62)
Chris Driedger (ACL; IR) – 22 games – month-to-month
Joonas Donskoi (upper body; IR) – 22 games – day-to-day
Morgan Geekie (upper body) – 1 game – day-to-day

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
Nov. 23, 2022: G Magnus Hellberg claimed off waivers from Detroit; Activated D Jamie Oleksiak off of injured reserve

UPCOMING GAMES
Thursday, Dec. 1: Washington at Seattle, 7 p.m. PT
Saturday, Dec. 3: Florida at Seattle, 7 p.m. PT
Tuesday, Dec. 6: Montreal at Seattle, 7 p.m. PT
Friday, Dec. 9: Seattle at Washington, 4 p.m. PT
Sunday, Dec. 11: Seattle at Florida, 3 p.m. PT

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• The Kraken enter tonight’s game riding a franchise-best six-game winning streak, the longest active winning streak in the NHL. Seattle is one of five teams (Boston [2], New Jersey, St. Louis, Vegas) to win six or more consecutive games this season.

• Entering play Wednesday, the Kraken ranked fourth in the NHL with a .705 points percentage this season.

• Seattle was tied for fifth in the NHL with a plus-16 goal differential this season entering play Wednesday. They were one of only nine teams this year to own a double-digit goal differential entering play Wednesday.

• The Kraken have four players playing at a point-per-game pace over the team’s last eight games dating back to Nov. 11 vs. Minnesota: Matty Beniers (1.38), Andre Burakovsky (1.25), Jordan Eberle (1.38) and Justin Schultz (1.25).

• Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson have each been on the ice for 26 five-on-five Kraken goals this season, which was tied for the fourth-most among all NHL defensemen this season entering play Wednesday according to Natural Stat Trick.

o Dunn and Larsson are tied with Morgan Geekie for the team lead with a plus-11 goal differential at five-on-five this year.

o Larsson is one of only seven players this season to record at least 50 hits and 40 blocked shots.

• Entering play Monday, the Kraken, the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders were the only teams this season to have three different defensemen score at least three goals. Jamie Oleksiak (four), Vince Dunn (four) and Justin Schultz (three) have all scored at least three times for the Kraken this year.

o Despite only playing in 17 games this season, Oleksiak enters tonight’s matchup just two goals shy of tying his career high of six that he set during the 2020-21 season while playing for the Dallas Stars.

• Martin Jones’ five-game win streak was tied for the longest active winning streak among goaltenders this season entering play Wednesday.

o His next win will surpass his 2021-22 season total (12), despite playing in only 18 games so far this season.

o Jones’ 12 wins were tied for the second-most in the NHL this season entering play Wednesday, trailing only Boston’s Linus Ullmark (13).

• The Kraken are outshooting their opponents 525-468 at five-on-five this season. Their 52.9 percent shot share was good for seventh in the NHL entering play Monday according to Natural Stat Trick.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES NIGHT
• Tonight’s game against the Capitals is the Kraken’s Indigenous Peoples Night. It is the third of eight Hockey is for Everyone (or HIFE) Nights that the Kraken will host this season.

• The Kraken will wear specialty jerseys during warmups that were designed by Paige Pettibon, who is a member of the yehaw Indigenous Creative Collective. Paige identifies as Salish and is a steward of the Lushootseed language.

o Paige will be welcomed in-game during the second period of tonight’s game.

o You can find all of Paige’s work at her website here.

• Olivia Colegrove-Martinez, who is a member of the Quinault Indian Nation in Taholah, Washington, will sing the National Anthem at tonight’s game.

• Ken Lewis will be honored as the veteran of the game. Lewis is Muckleshoot tribe’s longest serving veteran.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Kraken defeated the Kings 9-8 in Los Angeles to win six consecutive games for the first time in franchise history. The victory also gave the team wins in six consecutive road games, a franchise record.

• The Kings are now the second team (San Jose) that the Kraken have defeated four times since the start of last season. They also become the second team (Buffalo) that Seattle has won three consecutive games against.

• Seattle’s nine goals set a franchise record for the most in a single game. The matchup also marked the highest-scoring game in franchise history with the Kraken and Kings combining for 17 goals.

o It also marked the highest scoring game in the NHL this season.

• The Kraken became the first team to score nine goals in a game this season and are the only team to play two games in which they scored at least eight goals. The team also scored eight goals on Nov. 23 vs. the San Jose Sharks, an 8-5 Seattle win.

o According to NHL Stats, became the fifth team in the last 25 years – and fourth since the start of last season – to score eight or more goals in a game twice within a span of seven days. The others are Ottawa (2005-06), Arizona (2021-22), Washington (2021-22) and Tampa Bay (2021-22).

• Tuesday’s game against the Kings marked the first time in franchise history that the Kraken had three different players (Beniers, Burakovsky, McCann) score at least two goals in the same game.

• Jordan Eberle recorded four, matching his single-game career high in both assists and points.

• Matty Beniers record the first multi-goal game of his career and matched his career-best point streak at five games.

• Justin Schultz extended his career-best point streak to six games with three assists.

NO CAP
• Oliver Bjorkstrand has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last seven games against the Capitals dating back to Feb.12, 2019.

• Ryan Donato has four points (two goals, two assists) in his last four games against Washington.
• Jaden Schwartz has 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in 14 career games against the Capitals. Washington is one of four teams (Buffalo, Edmonton, Toronto) that Schwartz has averaged a point per game or better against in his career.

• Adam Larsson has recorded a point in each of the last four games against Washington, totaling four points (one goal, three assists) in those four games dating back to Oct. 25, 2018. It marks his longest active point streak against a single opponent.

o Larsson scored his first NHL goal on Nov. 11, 2011 against the Capitals.

ON A ROLL
• Jordan Eberle has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his last nine games, dating back to Nov. 8 vs. Nashville.

• Daniel Sprong has six points (three goals, three assists) in his last five games. If he were to score tonight, Sprong would match his career-high, three-game goals streak that he previously reached on three other occasions.

o Sprong has recorded multi-point efforts in each of his last two games played. If he were to do so again tonight, it would mark the first time in his career that he would have totaled at least two points in three consecutive games.

• If Alex Wennberg were to score tonight, it would extend his goal-scoring streak to three games, which would match his career high that he set from Feb. 7 to 11, 2021.

• An assist tonight would give Adam Larsson assists in four consecutive games, matching his career high that he set from Nov. 19 to 25, 2011.

• Jared McCann has seven points (five goals, two assists) in his last six games.

• Vince Dunn has recorded four points (two goals, two assists) in his last four games.

CHEERS TO BENIERS
• Matty Beniers leads all NHL rookies this season in goals (nine) and points (20), and his 11 assists ranked second entering play Wednesday.

o Beniers’ nine goals are tied for the second-most on Seattle’s roster and he ranks fourth and third, respectively, in assists and points this season.

• He enters tonight’s game having totaled 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his last five games played, dating back to Nov. 19 vs. Los Angeles. According to NHL Stats, it’s the first time a rookie has had 11 points over a five-game span since Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson had 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in five games from Dec. 6 to 15, 2018.

o His 11 points (four goals, seven assists) since Nov. 19 lead both NHL rookies and all Kraken skaters.

• Entering play Wednesday, Beniers was the only rookie this season to have two three-point games, doing so on Nov. 23 vs. SJS and on Nov. 27 at ANA. He is one of six rookies to record a multi-goal game.

• Beniers is also averaging 17:09 of ice time per game this season, which is the second-most among rookie forwards (Noah Cates; 17:50) and ranks fourth among Kraken forwards.

• The 20-year-old is currently on pace to finish the season with 34 goals, 41 assists and 75 points. 34 goals would be the most since Patrik Laine and Auston Matthews had 36 and 40 goals, respectively, during their rookie season in 2016-17.

• A goal or an assist tonight would give Beniers points in six consecutive games, which would set a career high for the forward. His current five-game point streak was the longest active streak among rookies and tied for the eighth-longest active point streak entering play Wednesday.

JUST IN TIME
• Justin Schultz has totaled 10 points (two goals, seven assists) in his last six games, dating back to Nov. 17 vs. the Rangers. If he records a point tonight, it would extend his career-best point streak to seven games.

• Entering play Wednesday, Schultz’s six-game point streak was tied for the sixth-longest active point streak in the NHL and the longest active streak by a defenseman.

• Schultz is one of nine defensemen this season to record a point streak of at least six games, joining Adam Fox (nine), Quinn Hughes (seven), Rasmus Dahlin (six), Filip Hronek (six), Erik Karlsson (six), Cale Makar (six), Josh Morrissey (six) and Morgan Reilly (six).

• Schultz’s 10 points since Nov. 17 were tied with Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey for the scoring lead among defensemen entering play Wednesday.

• Since his point streak began on Nov. 17, the Kraken have been outscoring their opponents 7-2 during five-on-five play when Schultz is on the ice according to Natural Stat Trick.

• The 32-year-old is on pace to finish the year with 48 assists and 60 points, both of which would be career bests for Schultz. 48 assists and 60 points would also be the most-ever by a Kraken defenseman.

YOU’RE A BURK
• Andre Burakovsky enters tonight’s game leading the Kraken with 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) this season. It is the first time in his career that he has played a point-per-game pace through his first 22 games of the season.

• A goal or an assist tonight would give Burakovsky points in five consecutive games for the first time since he had points in six straight from Jan. 10 to 19, 2022, totaling eight points (two goals, six assists) during that span.

• According to NHL Stats, Burakovsky ranks third in scoring among veteran players who are in their first season with a new team. He trails Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk (29 points) and Los Angeles’ Kevin Fiala (26 points).

• The nine-year vet is currently on pace to finish the season with 34 goals, 52 assists and 86 points, all of which would set career highs for the forward.

• According to Natural Stat Trick, Burakovsky has a 52.7 percent Corsi rating this season, which ranks fourth among Kraken skaters that have played in at least two games.

FAMILIAR FOES
• Seattle’s roster houses four players that formerly played for the Washington Capitals: Andre Burakovsky, Philipp Grubauer, Justin Schultz and Daniel Sprong.

• Andre Burakovsky was selected by Washington with the 23rd-overall pick of the 2013 NHL Draft and went on to play for the Capitals for five seasons (2014-15 to 2018-19). He totaled 145 points (62 goals, 83 assists) in 328 regular-season games and added 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in 56 playoff games.

• Philipp Grubauer was selected by Washington in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft. He played for the Capitals for parts of six seasons (2012-13 to 2017-18), posting a 43-31-11 record with a .923 save percentage and a 2.29 goals-against average.

• Burakovsky and Grubauer both won the 2018 Stanley Cup with the Capitals, the team’s first-ever championship.

• Daniel Sprong played for the Capitals for parts of two seasons (2020-21 to 2021-22) prior to being traded to the Kraken. He recorded 34 points (21 goals, 13 assists) in 89 regular-season games for Washington.

• Justin Schultz played two seasons (2020-21 to 2021-22) for the Capitals prior to signing with the Kraken as a free agent. He posted 50 points (seven goals, 43 assists) in 120 regular-season games and three points (one goal, two assists) in 11 playoff games.

• Additionally, Video Coach Tim Ohashi was a video analyst for the Capitals from 2015-16 to 2019-20.

ON THE LINE
• The Kraken enter tonight’s matchup with the Capitals with several franchise records on the line.

• A win over Washington would give the Kraken seven consecutive wins and four consecutive wins at home for the first time in franchise history.

• The Kraken have won four consecutive games against Eastern Conference teams this season dating back to Oct. 25 vs. Buffalo. A win tonight would give Seattle five straight wins against Eastern Conference opponents for the first time in franchise history.

• The Kraken have scored at least four goals in each of their last four games played, netting eight against San Jose on Nov. 23, four against Vegas on Nov. 25, five against Anaheim on Nov. 27 and nine against Los Angeles on Nov. 29. If the team scores four or more goals tonight, it would mark the first time in franchise history that the Kraken scored at least four goals in five consecutive games.

WINNING WAYS
• The Kraken have posted an 8-1-1 record in their last 10 games played dating back to Nov. 5 at Pittsburgh. Their eight wins during that span were tied for fourth in the NHL entering play Wednesday and their .850 points percentage ranked second.

• Their eight wins and 17 points are tied for their most in a 10-game span in franchise history.

• The Kraken’s eight wins in their last 10 games played are the third-most in the NHL, trailing only the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, who have each won nine of their last 10 games played.

• The Kraken are averaging 4.20 goals per game since Nov. 5, which led the NHL entering play Wednesday.

o They have scored 42 goals in those 10 games dating back to Nov. 5, which was tied for the fifth-most in the NHL during that span entering play Wednesday.

o The team is outscoring its opponents 42-30 in its last 10 games played.

• Seattle is currently ranked second in the Pacific Division with 31 points in 23 games played. They trail only the Vegas Golden Knights (35 points) for the division lead.

SETTING THE PACE
• With 22 games played this year, the Kraken are roughly one quarter of the way through their second season. Heading into tonight’s matchup with the Capitals, 12 of the 29 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, Daniel Sprong and Brandon Tanev are all on pace to set new career highs in goals, assists and points.

o Borgen has already tied his career high with two goals this season.

• Karson Kuhlman (six), Jared McCann (35), Jamie Oleksiak (18) and Alex Wennberg (19) are all on pace to finish the 2022- 23 season with a new career high in goals.

o If the pace holds, it would mark the first time in his career that McCann would surpassed the 30-goal threshold.

• Oliver Bjorkstrand (34), Jordan Eberle (56), Justin Schultz (48) and Carson Soucy (15) are all pacing to finish the year with new career highs in assists.

o Yanni Gourde is pacing to finish the year with 39 assists, which would match his career high.

• Veterans Jordan Eberle (78), Adam Larsson (26) and Justin Schutlz (60) are all playing at a pace to surpass their career highs in points.

SECOND TIME AROUND
• The Kraken enter tonight’s game with an 14-5-3 record, which is good for a .705 points percentage and 31 points.

• The team won their 14th game of the season on Nov. 29 at Los Angeles, their 22nd game played of the season. Last year, it took the Kraken 43 games and 107 days from the start of the season to reach 14 wins, earning their 14th win of the season on Jan. 27, 2022, a 2-1 OT win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

• It also took the Kraken 43 games to reach 31 points last season. This year, the Kraken earned their 31st point of the season in their 22nd game played, a 9-8 win against the Kings on Nov. 29.

• Wednesday, Nov. 29 marked the 51st day of the 2022-23 NHL season, roughly a quarter of the way through. Compared to the first 51 days of the 2021-22 regular season, the Kraken have won six more games, earned 13 more points and have improved their points percentage by 0.314.

o The Kraken’s 0.314 points percentage improvement from the first 51 days of the 2021-22 season to the first 51 days of the 2022-23 season leads the NHL. Seattle and New Jersey are the only teams with a points percentage improvement that is over .300.

o Their six extra wins are the fourth-best mark in the league. Only the New Jersey Devils (plus-10), New York Islanders (plus-10) and Boston Bruins (plus-seven) have a better year-over-year win improvement.

o The team’s 13 more points through the first 51 days of the 2022-23 season is the fourth-best points improvement, trailing the New York Islanders (17), New Jersey Devils (16) and Boston Bruins (14).

• 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 14 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 and Vegas Golden Knights. Seven of those 11 teams made the playoffs last season.

STARTING STRONG
• The Kraken are 10-1-1 when scoring first this season and have scored first in five of their last seven games.

o The team has scored first in 12 of its 22 games played this season, roughly 54.5 percent of the time. For comparison, last year the Kraken scored first in only 31 of their 82 games played, or about 37.8 percent.

• Their 10 wins and .833 points percentage when scoring first were tied for sixth and fourth, respectively, in the NHL entering play Wednesday.

• The Kraken are outscoring their opponents 26-21 in the first period this season. Their plus-five goal differential in the first 20 minutes of played was tied for eighth in the NHL entering play Wednesday.

o The Kraken are one of three teams in the NHL (Boston, New Jersey) to have a positive goal differential in each period this season. They are plus-five in the first period, plus-six in the second period, and plus-five in the third period.

• The Kraken have gone into the first intermission leading seven times this season and have posted a 5-1-1 record in those games.

NHL Preview: Florida Panthers (10-9-4) at Vancouver Canucks (9-11-3)

NHL Editor
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NHL Preview: Florida Panthers (10-9-4) at Vancouver Canucks (9-11-3)

FLORIDA PANTHERS NOTES:

BAPTIST HEALTH INJURY REPORT

  • F Anthony Duclair | Games Missed: 23
  • F Aleksander Barkov | Games Missed: 3
    Total Man Games Lost Due to Injury: 47

LAST GAME
Panthers 2, Flames 6 – Nov. 29 – Scotiabank Saddledome
FLA Goals: Cousins (3), Reinhart (7)
CGY Goals: Dube (4-SHG), Huberdeau (4-PPG), Andersson (3), Ritchie (5), Toffoli (8), Mangiapane (4)
FLA Goalie: Bobrovsky (L) – 17 Saves
CGY Goalie: Vladar (W) – 31 Saves
FLA Shots: 33
CGY Shots: 23
Notes: Aaron Ekblad notched his 200th NHL assist, extending his point streak to five game (3-4-7)…Sam Reinhart scored a goal, extending his point streak to four games (2-4-6)…Anton Lundell posted an assist, extending his point streak to four games (3-1- 4)…Nick Cousins logged an assist for his second point in as many games (1-1-2)…FLA PP: 0-4, FLA PK: 3-4 RECENT TRANSACTIONS:

  • Nov. 27: F Aleksi Heponiemi recalled from Charlotte (AHL) on an emergency basis

PANTHERS vs. CANUCKS
ALL-TIME vs. VAN: 15-14-6-4
ALL-TIME ROAD vs. VAN: 5-8-5-2
2021-22 vs. VAN: 2-0-0

CATS STATS

  • Josh Mahura leads Florida with a plus-12 rating.
  • Matthew Tkachuk’s 20 even-strength points rank tied for fourth-most among NHL skaters this season.
  • Aaron Ekblad is the 19th active defenseman to reach at least 100 goals, 200 assists and 300 points. Of that group, Ekblad’s 7.2 career shooting percentage is the third-highest.
  • Matthew Tkachuk has amassed 29 points (13-16-29) over 31 career games against Vancouver.
  • Sam Reinhart has produced 12 points (9-3-12) over 12 career games against the Canucks.
  • Aaron Ekblad has registered 10 points (3-7-10) over 13 career games against Vancouver.

CATS AND CANUCKS
Tonight the Panthers face off against the Canucks for the first time in 2022-23. Florida swept the season series against Vancouver in 2021-22, and have won each of their past three meetings. Last season, the Panthers outscored the Canucks 6-3 over their two meetings, led by Sam Reinhart (3-1-4) and Aaron Ekblad (1-2-3). In Florida’s prior visit to Rogers Arena on Jan. 21, Anton Lundell and Aleksander Barkov each tallied in the shootout to propel the Cats to a 2-1 win. Spencer Knight stopped 27 of 28 Vancouver shots against in the game, as well as two of three he faced in the shootout.

ST. PATRIC’S DAY
Tonight, Patric Hornqvist is expected to skate in his 900th NHL game, becoming the 28th Sweden-born skater to achieve the milestone in NHL history. The two-time Stanley Cup champion’s 95 power-play goals are the most among active Swedish NHLers. Hornqvist has amassed 62 points (26-36-62) over 129 games with Florida, including 11 power-play tallies and 345 shots on goal which both rank third among Panthers since 2020-21 when he joined the club. His 209 hits over that span rank behind only Ryan Lomberg (241) for most among Florida forwards.

PUCKS ON NET
Florida leads all NHL clubs with 905 total shots on goal this season. The Panthers pace all teams in shots on goal per game both overall (39.3) and on the road (39.3).

NOVEMBER RECAP
Seven different Cats produced at least 10 points over Florida’s 14 games in November, led by Matthew Tkachuk (5-11-16 in 12GP). Brandon Montour (2-10-12) and Gustav Forsling (0-10-10) each posted at least 10 points in November. Only Boston (Hampus Lindholm, 2-9-11 and Charlie McAvoy, 2-8-10) and Vegas (Shea Theodore, 1-9-10 and Alex Pietrangelo, 3-12-15) also had two blueliners post at least 10 points during the month.

CHUCKIE’S CHEESE
Matthew Tkachuk logged his team-leading 10th multi-point game (1-1-2) of the season Nov. 28 at EDM. His goal marked his 10th with Florida this season in his 20th game. Per NHL stats, only four players had reached the 10-goal mark faster with Florida: Pavel Bure (9 GP in 1998-99), Sam Bennett (14 GP in 2020-21 – 2021-22), Kristian Huselius (17 GP in 2001-02) and Mike Hoffman (19 GP in 2018-19). With 29 points (10-19-29) through his first 20 games, Tkachuk surpassed Jonathan Huberdeau (9-18—27 in 2019-20) for the most points by a Panthers skater through their first 20 games in a season. The 24-year-old posted a point in five straight games (4-6-10) from Nov. 15-23, his second point streak of five games this season. His two points (1-1-2) Nov. 23 vs. BOS represented his 100th career multi-point game. Tkachuk leads Florida in assists, points, even-strength points (20) and shots on goal (91). He has posted three three-point outings in 2022-23, tied with Brandon Montour and Aleksander Barkov for the most on the team. Tkachuk led Florida with a plus-four rating Nov. 15 vs. WSH, the second time this season he has posted such a rating. His first assist in the game marked his 400th NHL point. Per NHL stats, Tkachuk was the second player from the NHL Draft to reach the mark, joining fellow American Auston Matthews (266-206—472 in 423 GP). He required the fourth-fewest games to reach 400 points among active American-born NHLers.

EK’S GON’ GIVE IT TO YA
Aaron Ekblad logged his 200th NHL assist Nov. 29 at CGY to extend his current point streak to five games (3-4-7), tied for the longest by a Panthers skater this season. He is 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 is the first Panthers defenseman to reach the mark with Florida and the first blueliner from the 2014 draft class to post 300 points. His current five-game point streak includes a three-game goal streak from Nov. 20-23. He scored his 100th career goal Nov. 23 vs. BOS and produced a season-high three points (1-2-3). He is the first defenseman in franchise history to reach 100 goals with the franchise. Ekblad scored his 100th NHL goal in his 563rd game, and per NHL stats only Erik Karlsson (477 GP) hit the mark in fewer games among all active defensemen. He skated a season-high 28:26 Nov. 19 vs. CGY. The Windsor, Ontario native is eight games shy of surpassing Robert Svehla (573) for most games played by a defenseman in club history.

Most Assists by Defensemen in Franchise History

  1. Robert Svehla 229
  2. Keith Yandle 201
  3. Aaron Ekblad 200

‘HART OF GOLD
Forward Sam Reinhart has produced at least one point in each of his past four games (2-4-6). Over the course of his four-game streak, he has logged 12 shots, a plus-three rating and produced back-to-back multi-point outings on Nov. 23-26. Reinhart’s five power-play tallies since Nov. 6 leads all NHL skaters. Reinhart scored a power-play 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 12 points (7-5-12) over his past 12 games. The West Vancouver, B.C. native scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout against James Reimer Nov. 3 at SJS.

MR. CARTER
Forward Carter Verhaeghe scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season Nov. 26 vs. STL. The tally marked his 10th even-strength goal of the campaign, tied for fifth-most among League skaters. Verhaeghe registered a goal and an assist Nov. 17 vs. DAL and recorded his team-leading fourth multi-goal game of the season Nov. 15 vs. WSH. His performance marked his 13th career multi-goal outing, and his 12th with Florida. He has produced 19 points (12-7-19) over 23 games in 2022-23, which ranks third on the team. He posted a point in four straight games from Nov. 3-9 (4-3-7). Over his past 15 games, Verhaeghe has amassed nine goals and 14 points (9-5-14). The Toronto, Ontario native’s seven total multi-point games and 15 even-strength points in 2022-23 each rank second on the team behind Matthew Tkachuk.

MONTOUR OF DUTY
Brandon Montour notched an assist Nov. 28 at EDM to reach 20 points (4-16-20) through his first 20 games of the season. With the assist, he surpassed Aaron Ekblad (22 GP, 2021-22) for the fewest games to reach the mark in a season among Panthers blueliners in club history. Montour has notched an assist in five of his past eight games (0-5-5), and he has amassed 12 points (1-11-12) over his past 11 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. Montour 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 has produced three assists over his past three games. He registered his 10th career multi-assist game Nov. 26 vs. STL. All 10 of his multi-assist performances have come with Florida. Forsling has amassed 16 points (2-14-16) over 23 games in 2022-23, including 13 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 69 total shots this season are the second-most among Panthers blueliners.

LUN DMC
Anton Lundell has posted at least a point in each of his past four games (3-1-4), including a three-game goal streak from Nov. 23-28 which marked the longest such streak of his career. He scored Florida’s first shorthanded goal of the season Nov. 26 vs. STL. The 21- year-old has posted 13 points (5-8-13) over 23 games this season, and his 56.3% shorthanded faceoff win percentage is the highest on the Panthers.

BENNY AND THE CATS
Forward Sam Bennett has amassed six assists over his past seven games and 11 points (4-7-11) over his past 11 contests. He matched his career high with three assists while skating in his 500th NHL game Nov. 17 vs. DAL. He scored two goals (2-0-2) Nov. 12 vs. Edmonton, which extended his goal/point streak to three games (4-1-5). Bennett also led Florida with six shots on goal in the game. He has registered six multi-point games this season, including in four of his past nine outings. The Holland Landing, Ontario native’s 71 shots on goal are the third-most on the team and his 54 hits lead Florida forwards.

THE BUTCHER
Defenseman Radko Gudas scored his second goal of the campaign Nov. 26 vs. STL and led Florida in hits (5), blocked shots (4) and shots on goal (5-tied). He also registered a team-leading eight hits and four blocked shots Nov. 23 vs. BOS. His eight hits were the most by a Panthers skater in a game this season, and he leads the team with 91 hits in 2022-23. Gudas has produced six points (2-4-6) in 2022-23. He scored his first goal of the season Nov. 3 at SJS while logging six hits, the most of any skater in the game. He logged a personal season-high six shots on goal Oct. 29 vs. OTT. Gudas skated 25:11 time on ice Oct. 21 vs. TBL, his highest TOI since skating 25:23 Nov. 28, 2015 at NYR. He registered his second assist of the season Oct. 19 vs. PHI, and tied for the team lead in plus-minus in the game with a plus-three rating.

COL’ ME MAYBE
Forward Colin White scored in two straight games from Nov. 19-20. He has produced 11 points (5-6-11) over 22 games with Florida this season, with all 11 coming at even strength. He posted an assist in three consecutive games from Oct. 23-27 (0-3-3), marking the longest assist streak of his career and his third three-game point streak of 2022-23. He produced his first multi-point game with the Panthers Oct. 17 at BOS, logging two points (1-1-2). The Boston, Mass., native’s goal Oct. 15 at BUF marked his 100th NHL point.

OH WHAT A KNIGHT
Goaltender Spencer Knight has earned at least one point in each of his last three starts (1-0-2). He stopped 37 of 39 shots he faced against BOS Nov. 23, including all 32 he faced at even strength. He stopped all 40 Carolina shots he faced Nov. 9 vs. CAR to earn his third career shutout. At 21 years and 204 days of age, Knight became the fifth different NHL goaltender with a 40-save shutout before turning 22 (since 1955-56 when shots on goal were officially tracked). He joined Steve Mason (3x; last: April 9, 2010), Bill Ranford (3x; last: Feb. 21, 1987), Marc-Andre Fleury (Oct. 5, 2006) and Sean Burke (Oct. 10, 1988). Knight owns a 5-2-0 record in 2022-23, including a 3-1-0 record at FLA Live Arena. He owns a 13-4-0 record in 17 home appearances in his NHL career. He posted a .920 save percentage to earn his 25th career win in his 38th appearance Oct. 23 vs. NYI. Only four active goaltenders had reached the 25-win mark in fewer appearances: Frederik Andersen (33 GP), Jordan Binnington (35 GP), Matt Murray (36 GP) and Anton Khudobin (36 GP). It also marked the third-fewest appearances to reach the 25-win mark by an American-born goaltender in NHL history, behind Frank Bimsek (34 GP w/ BOS in 1938-39) and Jim Carey (37 GP w/ WSH from 1994-94 – 1995-96).

WHAT ABOUT BOB?
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky 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. He stopped 32 of the 33 NYI shots he faced in Florida’s season opener on Oct. 13, including all 27 at even strength and 16 in the first period. Bobrovsky tied for the league lead with a franchise-record 39 wins in 2021-22, including a club-record and league-leading 26 home wins.

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.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS NOTES:

CANUCKS VS PANTHERS PREVIEW
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO
• Tonight marks the first of two meetings between the Canucks and Panthers this season: Dec. 1 (home) and Jan. 14 (away).

• The Canucks are 18-11-6-4 all-time against the Panthers, including a 10-3-5-2 record at home.

• Vancouver is 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs Florida (2-2-1 in their last 5).

• Among active Canucks skaters, J.T. Miller (6-11-17 in 21 GP) and Tyler Myers (2-15-17 in 30 GP) lead the team in scoring against Florida with 17 points.

• Luke Schenn leads the team in career games played against the Panthers (39).

• Elias Pettersson has five points (1-4-5) in five career games against Florida.

• Thatcher Demko is 1-2-0 in his career vs the Panthers, posting a 4.04 GAA and .887 SV%.

• Spencer Martin is 1-0-1 in his career against Florida, posting a 0.92 GAA and .971 SV%

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
• Phillip Di Giuseppe assigned to Abbotsford, Nov. 30
• Phillip Di Giuseppe recalled from Abbotsford, Nov. 29
• Vasily Podkolzin assigned to Abbotsford, Nov. 28
• Jack Rathbone assigned to Abbotsford, Nov. 28
• Curtis Lazar activated from injured reserve, Nov. 18
• William Lockwood assigned to Abbotsford, Nov. 18

QUICK NUMBERS
• J.T. Miller has 11 points (4-7-11) in his last 10 games and is on a nine-game point streak (4-7-11).

• Bo Horvat has 13 goals and 18 points (13-5-18) in his last 15 games and is tied for 2nd with Connor McDavid for most NHL goals this season at 17 (two behind Jason Robertson (DAL) for first).

• Quinn Hughes has 21 points (0-21-21) this season and is tied for first in the NHL for assists among defencemen (21 in 19 GP).

• Andrei Kuzmenko has 10 points (4-6-10) in his last six games.

• Elias Pettersson leads the team with 27 points (11-16-27) this season and has 10 points (5-5-10) in his last 10 games.

• Luke Schenn is 9 hits away from tying Brooks Orpik (2,946) for the NHL all-time record of most hits by a defenceman.

LAST MEETING – JAN. 21/22: VAN 1 vs FLA 2 (SO)
Alex Chiasson opened up scoring with a power play goal at 16:18 in the first period…Tanner Pearson and Quinn Hughes recorded assists on the play…Spencer Martin made his Canucks debut and pushed the game to a shootout…Nils Höglander led the team in shots (6)…Jason Dickinson and Tyler Motte led the team in hits (4)…Quinn Hughes led the team in TOI (28:20)…Spencer Martin made 33 saves.

2022.23 TEAM RANKS
VAN FLA
Goals For/Game 3.48 (6th) 3.35 (12th)
Goals Against/Game 3.78 (30th) 3.48 (23rd)
Power Play % 27.5 (5th) 19.1 (25th)
Penalty Kill % 66.7 (31st) 76.4 (22nd)
Penalty Min./Game 11:46 (25th) 10:54 (22nd)
*Rankings are accurate as of 2:30pm PT on November 30

LAST GAME PLAYED – NOV. 29/22: VAN 1 vs WSH 5
Nils Höglander recorded his second goal of the season at 13:55 in the first period…J.T. Miller got the lone assist and extended his point streak to nine games…Curtis Lazar led the team in hits (5)…Quinn Hughes led the team in shots (4)…Bo Horvat won 10/13 faceoffs (76.9%)…Spencer Martin faced 27 shots.

LAST 5 vs FLORIDA
• Jan. 21/22: VAN 1 vs FLA 2 (SO)
• Jan. 11/22: VAN 2 at FLA 5
• Jan. 9/20: VAN 2 at FLA 5
• Oct. 28/19: VAN 7 vs FLA 2
• Jan. 13/19: VAN 5 vs FLA 1

HOCKEY HALL OF FAME NIGHT
Tonight’s game at Rogers Arena marks Hockey Hall of Fame Night, presented by Tim Hortons, as the Canucks recognize recent Hockey Hall of Fame inductees and former Canucks legends Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Roberto Luongo. The evening will feature many exciting activations, including a pre-game puck drop ceremony to celebrate these teammates who spent eight years together entertaining and thrilling us with their play. The Canucks for Kids Fund will also be hosting an estimated $250,000 50/50 raffle, with proceeds benefitting the Sedin Family Foundation. The Foundation was established by Henrik & Johanna and Daniel & Marinette Sedin, to celebrate people, recognize achievement, and address the needs of families and children. Tickets can be purchased at Canucks.com/online5050.

SEDINS & LUONGO BY THE NUMBERS
0.80 – The point-per-game rate at which Daniel and Henrik Sedin each finished their careers (240-830-1070 in 1330 GP for Henrik, 393-648-1041 in 1306 GP for Daniel).

1 – Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Roberto Luongo each rank 1st among Canucks in several statistical categories:

• Daniel: Shots (3,474), goals (393), even-strength goals (255), power play goals (138), game-winning goals (86), overtime goals (16).

• Henrik: Faceoff wins (9,887), games played (1,330), points (1,070), assists (830), power play points (369), plus-minus (+165).

• Luongo: Wins (252), games played by a goaltender in one season (76), wins in a season (47), shutouts (38), shutouts in a season (9).

2, 3 & 4 – The positions overall which Daniel Sedin (2nd, 1999), Henrik Sedin (3rd, 1999), and Roberto Luongo (4th, 1997) were selected in their respective NHL Entry Drafts.

6 – The number of Northwest Division championships won together by the Sedins and Luongo during their eight seasons together in Vancouver.

9 – The combined number of NHL All-Star Game selections between the Sedins (3 each) and Luongo (3).

36 – The percentage of goals (1,363 of 3,799) in which at least one Sedin brother factored in on a Canucks goal during their entire careers.

242:36 – The elapsed time during Roberto Luongo’s franchise-setting shutout streak from Nov. 2/08 to Nov. 12/08 (ranks 15th in NHL history).

679 – The number of consecutive games which Henrik Sedin appeared in from Mar. 21/04 to Jan. 18/14 (ranks 11th in NHL history).

743 – The number of goals which Daniel and Henrik Sedin combined on together in their careers (2nd in NHL history to W. Gretzky and J. Kurri).

1,000 – Each Sedin brother recorded more than 1,000 points in their NHL career, making them the first sibilings in NHL history to accomplish the feat.

11,663 – The number of saves made by Roberto Luongo during his Canucks tenure (2nd in franchise history, 4th in the NHL during his eight seasons in Vancouver).

KUZ CONTROL
Notching the game-winner (11th goal) and an assist on Nov. 27 at SJS, first-year NHLer Andrei Kuzmenko recorded his fourth multipoint game in the last five games, and his seventh so far this season, which ranks second-most on the team behind only Elias Pettersson’s eight multi-point games. Previously, on Nov. 26 at VGK, Kuzmenko (19 points) tied Igor Larionov and ranked only behind Elias Pettersson (21) for most points through a player’s first 20 career NHL games in Canucks history.

POWER PLAY PROWESS
Netting 19 power play goals on 57 opportunities in their last 17 games played, thanks to three on the man-advantage on Nov. 26 at VGK, the Canucks’ power play ranks second in the NHL since Oct. 24, producing at a rate of 33.3%. Vancouver is also ranked sixth in the league overall this season at 27.5% and has the third-ranked power play on home ice at 34.5%.

MOVIN’ ON UP
With the team’s 5-0 victory on Nov. 26 at SJS, Bruce Boudreau passed Tom Renney for sole possession of 13th place on the Canucks all-time coaches wins list with his 40th victory.

EV40
Scoring at 5-on-5 in the third period on Nov. 27 at SJS, Elias Pettersson tallied his 11th goal of the season, all of which have come at even strength. He ranks tied for second among NHL skaters for most even strength goals this season (11), trailing Jason Robertson (15).

HUGHES’ HELPING HANDS
• Collecting two assists on Nov. 26 at VGK, Quinn Hughes picked up his 20th assist of the season in just 17 games, trailing only Henrik Sedin (21 assists in 2010.11) for most assists by a Canucks player through their first 17 games of a season.

o Previously, on Nov. 21 vs VGK, Hughes passed Sami Salo for sole possession of 9th place on the Canucks all-time assists list among defencemen (164) in 346 fewer games played.

• Picking up a power play assist to extend his personal assist streak to 10 games (0-13-13) on Nov. 13 at BOS, Hughes passed Jiri Bubla (1983.84) for the second-longest assist streak by a defenceman in Canucks history. He is only one of two Canuck defencemen to ever hit a double-digit streak, being one game short of tying Dennis Kearns for the franchise record (11 games in 1976.77).

BO’S BLAZING START
Scoring his team-leading 17th goal on Nov. 26 at VGK, Bo Horvat became the fourth player in Canucks history to notch at least as many goals in the team’s first 21 games of the season.

• With 31 goals in 41 games since March 9, 2022, Horvat has the highest goals per game (0.76) in the League during that stretch (minimum 5 GP).

• Tallying eight goals in five games (Oct. 28-Nov. 8), Horvat tied Mikael Samuelsson (2009.10) and Alexandre Burrows (2009.10) as the only Canucks to do so in the last 26 years.

• Earlier this season, Horvat became also the first player in franchise history to have five multi-goal games in the first 13 games.

HARD HITTING SCHENN
With 2,937 career hits, Luke Schenn is only nine hits away from tying Brooks Orpik (2,946) for most in League-history by a defenceman. Schenn has collected the second-most hits in the NHL this season (97 in 23 GP). Earlier this month, Schenn became the first player in NHL history to record at least three games with 12+ hits in his career following a franchise record-matching 12 hits on Nov. 12 at TOR.
*The NHL began tracking hits in 2005.06.

NHL Preview: Montreal Canadiens (11-10-1) at Calgary Flames (10-9-3)

NHL Editor
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NHL Preview: Montreal Canadiens (11-10-1) at Calgary Flames (10-9-3)

MONTREAL CANADIENS NOTES:

À SURVEILLER CE SOIR / KEEP AN EYE ON…

  • Les Canadiens et les Flames s’affrontent ce soir pour la 131e fois en saison régulière. En incluant les matchs de séries, c’est le 142e affrontement entre ces deux équipes.
  • The Canadiens and Flames are facing each other for the 131st time in regular season. Including playoff contests, tonight’s the 142nd match-up between the two teams.

DERNIER MATCH / LAST GAME – SJS 4 @ MTL 0 (@ CENTRE BELL)
Buts MTL Goals –
Buts SJS Goals – Nieto, Hertl, Couture, Hertl
Gardien MTL Goalie – Allen (20-23)
Gardien SJS Goalie – Kahkonen (28-28)
Avantage numérique MTL Powerplay – 0/6
Avantage numérique SJS Powerplay – 0/5
Meneurs MTL Leaders – TOI (Savard – 25:01) ; S (Caufield – 4) ; HT (Guhle, Pezzetta – 2) ; BS (Guhle, Monahan – 2)

MATCHS À VENIR / UPCOMING GAMES
3 DÉC. @ EDMONTON 19 h / 7 p.m.
5 DÉC. @ VANCOUVER 22h30 / 10:30 p.m.
6 DÉC. @ SEATTLE 22 h / 10 p.m.
10 DÉC. VS. LOS ANGELES 19 h / 7 p.m.
12 DÉC. VS. CALGARY 19 h / 7 p.m.

RAPPORT MÉDICAL DE LA SAISON / SEASON INJURY REPORT
Joueur
Player
Date Blessure
Injury
Matchs ratés
Games lost
Retour
Return
C. Price – Genou / Knee 22 –
P. Byron – Hanche / Hip 22 –
J. Edmundson – Bas du dos / Lower-back 10 03/11/2022
J. Armia – Haut du corps / Upper-body 3 22/11/2022
M. Matheson – Haut du corps / Upper-body 17 19/11/2022
J. Drouin – Haut du corps / Upper-body 7 –

RÉAFFECTATIONS, SIGNATURES ET TRANSACTIONS / ROSTER MOVES, SIGNINGS AND TRANSACTIONS
Les Canadiens ont cédé l’attaquant Rem Pitlick au Rocket de Laval (18/11)
The Canadiens have loaned forward Rem Pitlick to the Laval Rocket (11/18)
Les Canadiens ont rappelé l’attaquant Rem Pitlick du Rocket de Laval (16/11)
The Canadiens have recalled forward Rem Pitlick from the Laval Rocket (11/16)
Les Canadiens ont placé l’attaquant Rem Pitlick au ballottage (07/11)
The Canadiens have placed forward Rem Pitlick on waivers (11/07)
Les Canadiens ont cédé le défenseur Corey Schueneman au Rocket de Laval (26/10)
The Canadiens have loaned defenseman Corey Schueneman to the Laval Rocket (10/26)
Les Canadiens ont cédé le gardien Cayden Primeau au Rocket de Laval et ont rappelé le défenseur Corey Schueneman (18/10)
The Canadiens have loaned goaltender Cayden Primeau to the Laval Rocket and recalled defenseman Corey Schueneman (10/18)

NOTES DES CANADIENS / CANADIENS NOTES
STATISTIQUES D’ÉQUIPE / TEAM STATISTICS – AVANT LES MATCHS DU 30/11 – BEFORE GAMES ON 11/30
PTS (23 – 18e/18th)
V/W (11 – 14e/14th)
BP/GF (62 – 25e/25th)
BC/GA (77 – 23e/23rd)
Tirs-PM/Shots-PG (30.3 – 21e/21st)
Tirs accordés-PM/Shots allowed-PG (32.9 – 21e/21st)
MÉ/Hits (345 – 31e/31st)
MP/PIM (271 – 6e/6th)
AN/PP (14.9% – 31e/31st)
DN/PK (81.3% – 10e/10th)

LES CANADIENS CONTRE CHAQUE DIVISION L’AN DERNIER / THE HABS VS. EVERY DIVISION LAST SEASON
Adversaire
Opponent
Fiche
Record
PTS Buts pour
Goals for
Buts contre
Goals against
Atlantique 9-14-3 21 84 89
Centrale 3-9-4 10 39 65
Métropolitaine 6-17-1 13 55 103
Pacifique 4-9-3 11 43 62
Total 22-49-11 55 221 319
*Inclut les buts en fusillade / Includes the shootout goals

LES CANADIENS CONTRE CHAQUE DIVISION CETTE SAISON / THE HABS VS. EVERY DIVISION THIS SEASON
Division Fiche
Record
PTS Buts pour
Goals for
Buts contre
Goals against
Atlantique 3-2-0 6 12 17
Centrale 3-3-1 7 22 23
Métropolitaine 4-3-0 8 22 25
Pacifique 1-2-0 2 9 12
Total 11-10-1 23 65 77
*Inclut les buts en fusillade / Includes the shootout goals

MARTIN ST-LOUIS EN CHIFFRES / MARTIN ST. LOUIS’ NUMBERS…
Matchs/Games : 59
Victoires/Wins : 25
Fiche : 25-29-5
Points de classement/Standing points : 55

CANADIENS VS. CALGARY
À vie / All-Time
CANADIENS vs. CGY 69-44-15-2 (130 PJ / GP)
Dom. / Home 36-18-8-1 (63 PJ / GP)
Étr. / Away 33-26-7-1 (67 PJ / GP)
Dern. Match / Last game:
VP 5-4 OTW @ CGY (03/03/22)
A. Hammond 4-34 | J. Markstrom 5-35
BG / WG: B. Chiarot (P/OT)

10 DERNIERS MATCHS CONTRE CALGARY / LAST 10 GAMES VS. CALGARY:
03/03/22 – MTL 5 @ CGY 4 (P/OT)
11/11/21 – CGY 2 @ MTL 4
26/04/21 – MTL 2 @ CGY 1
24/04/21 – MTL 2 @ CGY 5
23/04/21 – MTL 2 @ CGY 4
16/04/21 – CGY 1 @ MTL 2
14/04/21 – CGY 4 @ MTL 1
13/03/21 – MTL 1 @ CGY 3
11/03/21 – MTL 1 @ CGY 2
30/01/21 – CGY 2 @ MTL 0

CALGARY FLAMES NOTES:

FLAMES LAST GAME RECAP
NOVEMBER 29, 2022 – Florida Panthers [2] vs. [6] CALGARY FLAMES
The Calgary Flames returned home to begin a five-game homestand against the Florida Panthers. The Flames found the back of the net early and often with Dillon Dube opening the scoring short handed just 3:05 in. Jonathan Huberdeau would score against his former team on the power play and Rasmus Andersson would add an even strength goal as the Flames headed into the break up 3-0. Florida would claw back to within two with Nick Cousins cutting the defecate, but Brett Ritchie would restore Calgary’s three goal lead with his fifth of the season. Reinhart would add one more for Florida to make it 4-2 Flames after 40. In the third, Vladar would turn aside all 12 shots he faced, and Tyler Toffoli and Andrew Mangiapane would add their names to the scoresheet and the Flames knocked off the Panthers for the second time in 10 days with a 6-2 victory.

CGY GOAL SCORERS: Dube (4), Huberdeau (4), Andersson (3), Ritchie (5), Toffoli (8), Mangiapane (4)
GOALIE: Vladar (31/33, .939 Sv%)
PP: 1/4 (25%)
PK: 4/4 (100%)

FLAMES LAST FIVE RESULTS, RECORD: 2-2-1
DATE RESULT GWG CGY GOALIE OPP. GOALIE
November 29, 2022 FLA [2] at CGY [6] Andersson Vladar Bobrovsky
November 26, 2022 CGY [2] at CAR [3] Pesce Vladar Raanta
November 25, 2022 CGY [0] at WSH [3] Oshie Markstrom Kuemper
November 23, 2022 CGY [1] at PIT [2] Malkin* Vladar Jarry
November 21, 2022 CGY [5] at PHI [2] Andersson Markstrom Hart
*shootout winning goal

FLAMES UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
DATE TIME
(MST) OPPONENT VENUE
December 1, 2022 7:00pm vs. Montreal Canadiens Scotiabank Saddledome
December 3, 2022 8:00pm vs. Washington Capitals Scotiabank Saddledome
December 5, 2022 7:00pm vs. Arizona Coyotes Scotiabank Saddledome
December 7, 2022 6:00pm vs. Minnesota Wild Scotiabank Saddledome
December 9, 2022 5:00pm at Columbus Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena

TONIGHTS STORYLINES & STATS
This is the first of two matchups this season between the Flames and Canadiens. The Flames fell in both games of the season-series in 2021-22.
This is a Pacific Division versus Atlantic Division Matchup; The Flames have an overall record of 2-3-0 against Atlantic Division opponents this season and a record of 5-6-3 against Eastern Conference opponents.

CRISS CROSS:
Both coaching staffs have a member who will be coaching against a former team from their playing days. Canadiens Head Coach Martin St. Louis played 69 games as a member of the Calgary Flames over two seasons, scoring four goals and 16 assists for 20 points as a Flame. On the other side, Flames Associate Coach Kirk Muller was a member of the Montreal Canadiens for parts of four seasons from 1991 to 1995, winning a Stanley Cup in 1993 and captained the team during the 1994-95 campaign. Muller recorded 247 points (104G, 143A) during his 267 games with Montreal.

KEEP IT 100:
Flames Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar recorded his 100th career NHL assist on Tuesday night against his former team, the Florida Panthers. Weegar currently has the most points by a seventh-round pick in Florida Panthers franchise history (127) and recorded 94 of his 100 career assists as a member of Florida. Weegar was a +1 and skated in over 20 minutes of ice-time on Tuesday night.

BLASTY’S BACK:
Tonight’s game will be the second straight game for the Flames in their black third jersey nicknamed ‘Blasty’. The Flames first re-introduced the black throwback jersey during the NHL’s first Reverse Retro series during the Covid-shortened 2021 season, going 3-3-0 in the six games they wore it. Dillon Dube recorded the most goals in Blasty in 2021 with four, including his first NHL hat trick against Ottawa in a 7-4 win on March 4th, 2021. Dube continued his scoring ways in Blasty with a shorthanded goal coupled with a pair of assists in Tuesday night’s 6-2 win over Florida. The Flames announced the black threads would be returning in October and are slated to wear Blasty 11 more times this season.

HOT STARTS:
The Flames came out of the gates hot to start the game on Tuesday night against the Panthers, finding the net three times in the opening 20 minutes with an even-strength goal, a shorthanded goal, and a power play goal. That was the third time they’ve scored three goals in the first period this season with the other two times coming against Edmonton to open the season on October 15th, and LA earlier in November. They have 27 first period goals and are tied for the second most goals in the first period in the NHL behind the Vegas Golden Knights.

MONAHAN’S BACK:
Montreal Canadiens forward Sean Monahan will be making his first trip to Calgary through the visitor’s entrance as he gets set to face his former team for the first time since being traded from Calgary in the offseason. Monahan was tied for the highest draft pick in Calgary Flames franchise history when he was drafted sixth overall in 2013 and played 656 games in a Calgary Flames sweater with 462 points. The Brampton, ON native has the 17th most points by an Atlanta/Calgary Flames draft pick in NHL history (476). Monahan’s 212 goals are also the eight most in Flames Franchise history. He is also tied for first in overtime goals in Flames franchise history (11).

HUBY DOO:
Jonathan Huberdeau recorded his second multi-point game as a member of the Calgary Flames with a goal and an assist in a 6-2 win against his former team the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. Since 2018-19, he has the fifth most multipoint games in the NHL with 98, and trials fourth spot (David Pasternak) by one two-point game. The Montreal, QC native has recorded one two-point game against the Canadiens over that span and has 28 points (7G, 21A) in 30 career meetings against his hometown team.

DID YOU KNOW?
Tyler Toffoli was a member of the Canadiens for parts of two seasons and was a key contributor of the Canadiens team than went to the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals with 14 points (5G, 9A) in 22 playoff games, including the series clincher in overtime against Winnipeg. He was acquired by the Flames via trade last season. MacKenzie Weegar played his first NHL game against the Montreal Canadiens back on April 3rd of 2017. Dillon Dube scored his second shorthanded goal of the season on Tuesday, only Reilly Smith has more this season (3).

CALGARY FLAMES vs. MONTREAL CANADIENS
ALL-TIME HOME AWAY L10 STRK
CGY vs. MTL 46-65-15-4 27-30-7-3 19-35-8-1 6-3-1 L2
GAME INFO:
Calgary Flames vs. Montreal Canadiens
7:00pm MT
Scotiabank Saddledome
TV: Sportsnet West
Radio: Sportsnet Fan 960
2022-23 Season Series: 0-0-0 (Home: 0-0-0, Road 0-0-0)
Dec. 1, 2022 – MTL at CGY
Dec. 12, 2022 – CGY at MTL
2021-22 Season Record vs. MTL: 0-1-1 (Home: 0-0-1, Road: 0-1-0)
Last Home Win vs. MTL: April 24, 2021 – Montreal [2] vs. Calgary [5]
Last Road Win @ MTL: April 14, 2021 – Calgary [4] at Montreal [1]
Last Home Loss vs. MTL: March 3, 2022 – Montreal [5] vs. Calgary 4
Last Road Loss @ MTL: November 11, 2021 – Calgary [2] at Montreal [4]
2022-23 CALGARY FLAMES

FLAMES RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
Nov. 6 – recalled Nick DeSimone (D) and Dennis Gilbert (D) from Calgary (AHL); placed Michael Stone (D) on IR
Nov. 13 – reassigned Dennis Gilbert (D) to Calgary (AHL)
Nov. 15 – recalled Dennis Gilbert (D) from Calgary (AHL): reassigned (D) Nick DeSimone to Calgary (AHL)
Nov. 27 – reassigned Dennis Gilbert (D) to Calgary (AHL)

FLAMES RECENT INJURIES (Total man games lost – 20)
Noah Hanifin – illness (1 game: Oct. 21)
Chris Tanev – upper-body (5 games: Nov. 3 – Nov. 10)
Jonathan Huberdeau – upper-body (3 games: Nov. 8 – Nov. 12)
Michael Stone – lower-body (11 games: Nov. 7 – Nov. 25)

NHL Preview: Anaheim Ducks (6-15-2) at Dallas Stars (13-6-4)

NHL Editor
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0
NHL Preview: Anaheim Ducks (6-15-2) at Dallas Stars (13-6-4)

ANAHEIM DUCKS NOTES:

LAST ANAHEIM DUCKS GAME
NOV. 29, 2022 – ANAHEIM 1 @ NASHVILLE 2 OT
The Ducks opened a four-game road trip by earning a point in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. Troy Terry scored his team-leading 10th goal and 24th point at 10:39 of the third period to force overtime. Kevin Shattenkirk and Cam Fowler earned assist on the goal, with Fowler pushing his point total to 11 his last eight games (2-9=11). John Gibson stopped 39 shots in regulation and overtime. Sam Carrick appeared in his 100th game as a Duck and Urho Vaakanainen made his season debut after missing Anaheim’s first 22 games.
PP: 0-0 PK: 2-2 SF: 35 SA: 41 TOI: Cam Fowler (28:27)
Three Stars: 1. M. Beniers 2. T. Terry 3. C. Fowler Game Summary | Event Summary | Game Recap

UPCOMING GAME SCHEDULE
DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME (PT) TV / AUDIO
Dec. 3 @ Minnesota Xcel Energy Center 11 a.m. BSSC / Ducks Stream
Dec. 4 @ Winnipeg Canadian Life Centre 12 p.m. BSSC / Ducks Stream
Dec. 6 Carolina Honda Center 7 p.m. BSSC / Ducks Stream
Dec. 9 San Jose Honda Center 7 p.m. ESPN+ / Ducks Stream
Dec. 12 @ Ottawa Canadian Tire Centre 4:30 p.m. BSW / Ducks Stream

RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
Nov. 15 Recalled D Drew Helleson from San Diego (AHL). Placed D Kevin Shattenkirk on Injured Reserve.
Nov. 17 Placed D Nathan Beaulieu on Injured Reserve.
Nov. 19 Reassigned D Drew Helleson to San Diego (AHL). Activated D Kevin Shattenkirk from Injured Reserve.
Nov. 23 Reassigned D Austin Strand to San Diego (AHL). Activated D Nathan Beaulieu from Injured Reserve.
Nov. 26 Assigned D Urho Vaakanainen to San Diego (AHL) on a Long-Term Injury Conditioning Loan.
Nov. 27 Recalled D Urho Vaakanainen from a Long-Term Injury Conditioning Loan in San Diego (AHL). Activated Vaakanainen and C Derek Grant from Injured Reserve (IR) and placed LW Max Comtois on IR.

ANAHEIM DUCKS INJURIES
Man-Games Lost: 110

PLAYER INJURY/ILLNESS EXPECTED ABSENCE GAMES MISSED
John Moore Upper-body Indefinite 23
Jamie Drysdale Torn labrum (shoulder) 4-6 months 15
Max Comtois Lower-body Day-to-day 8
John Klingberg Lower-body Day-to-day 3

ANAHEIM DUCKS NOTES
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Anaheim Ducks continue a four-game road trip tonight against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center (5:30 p.m. PT, TV: Balls Sports SoCal AUDIO: Ducks Stream). Anaheim is currently in the midst of 12 games in a 21-day span from Nov. 15-Dec. 6, with tonight’s contest the ninth in 17 days. Anaheim owns an all-time record of 1,026-886-303, including 577-384-145 at home and 449-502-157 away from Orange County. Anaheim begins its 14-game December schedule, consisting of six home and eight road contests). All-time, Anaheim is 152-138-47 in the month of December, including points in nine of 11 games in 2021-22 (5-2- 4). Since the start of 2013-14, Anaheim is 59-28-18 in December, picking up points in 77 of the 105 contests. Following tonight’s game, the Ducks will open their third set of back-to-back matchups Saturday, Dec. 3 at Minnesota (11 a.m. PT) before concluding the road trip Sunday, Dec. 4 at Winnipeg (12 p.m. PT).

DUCKS-STARS: Anaheim and Dallas begin a three-game season series today at American Airlines Center. In the 2021-22 season series, the Stars earned wins in each of the three contests Mar. 29 (3-2), Mar. 31 (3-2, OT) in Orange County and Apr. 29 in Dallas (4-2). The Ducks own a 47-71-12 all-time record vs. the Stars, including a 16-42-7 mark in Dallas. Kevin Shattenkirk (5-23=28 in 35 games) leads active Ducks skaters in in career scoring and assists, and co-leads in goals alongside Jakob Silfverberg (5-7=12 in 17 games) vs. the Stars. The two teams will continue their three-game set Jan. 4 in Orange County (7 p.m. PT) and wrap up the season set Feb. 6 at American Airlines Center (5:30 p.m. PT).

ANA-DAL SEASON SERIES:
DATE LOCATION TIME / RESULT TV / AUDIO
Dec. 1 American Airlines Center 5:30 p.m. PT Bally Sports SoCal / Ducks Stream
Jan. 4 Honda Center 7 p.m. PT Bally Sports SoCal / Ducks Stream
Feb. 6 American Airlines Center 5:30 p.m. PT Bally Sports West / Ducks Stream

ANA-DAL ALL-TIME SERIES:
Overall @ Anaheim @ Dallas
All-Time Series: 47-71-12 31-29-5 16-42-7
Current Streak: Five DAL wins Three DAL wins Eight DAL wins
Last ANA Win: Dec. 12, 2018 (6-3) Dec. 12, 2018 (6-3) Mar. 1, 2015 (3-1)
Last DAL Win: Apr. 29, 2022 (4-2) Mar. 31, 2022 (3-2 OT) Apr. 29, 2022 (4-2)
ANA Last 10: 2-7-1 6-3-1 2-8-0

CLUTCH COMEBACKS: The Ducks co-lead the NHL with three third-period, multi-goal comebacks wins this season (also NYI), including Oct. 12 vs. SEA (5-4, OT win, trailed 4-2 with 15:51 in third), Oct. 30 vs. TOR (4-3 OT win, trailed 3-1 with 12:36 remaining) and Nov. 5 @ SJS (5-4 shootout win, trailed 4-2 with 9:33 remaining). The Ducks four multi-goal comeback wins this season rank second behind only Chicago. Anaheim’s comeback win over San Jose marked the second time in franchise history the club has come back from a multi-goal deficit in the final 5:00 of regulation in the regular season (also Dec. 7, 2016 vs. CAR). Anaheim has recorded four third-period, multi-goal comeback victories in a single regular season just three times in franchise history (six in 2014-15 and five in 2009-10 & 4 in 2013-14).

OT HEROICS: Anaheim is 3-1 in games decided in overtime this season, while earning victories in five of the seven contests that have required extra time (2-1 in shootouts). Anaheim’s three straight wins in OT to begin the season marked a franchise record, surpassing the two wins to begin a campaign (also 2010-10, 2008-09 and 1995-96). All three Ducks OT wins have come on home ice to lead the NHL in home OT wins, including Oct. 12 vs. SEA (Troy Terry GWG), Oct. 30 vs. TOR (Trevor Zegras GWG) and Nov. 15 vs. DET (Ryan Strome GWG). Strome (1-1=2) and Zegras (1-1=2) pace Anaheim in OT points, while Zegras is second among NHL leaders with two shootout goals and paces the NHL with eight shootout goals since the start of 2021-22.

TERRY TALK: Right wing Troy Terry leads Anaheim in points (10-14=24), goals and assists this season, recording 3-1=4 points his last four games and 6-9=15 points his last 15 outings. Terry ranks tied for sixth among NHL skaters in even-strength points (8-11=19) and tied for fourth in even-strength assists (11). Terry also has 3-1=4 points his last four games and 7-11=18 points his last 17 contests. He had a career-best five-game assist streak Oct. 30-Nov. 6 (1-7=8), surpassing his prior best of four straight games with an assist Nov. 9-16, 2021 (3-4=7). Terry is currently on pace for 86 points, which is ahead of his career high set last season (37-30=67 in 75 GP in 2021-22) and would stand as the highest single-season total by a Ducks skater since Ryan Getzlaf in 2013-14 (31-56=87 in 77 GP).

GENERATION Z: Center Trevor Zegras co-leads the Ducks in goals (8), while he ranks second among team leaders in points (8- 12=20) and assists. Zegras has three assists his last two games (0-3=3), points 1-7=8 points his last nine games and 1-9=10 points his last 12 overall. He has also scored 4-11=15 points his last 14 games and 6-11=17 points his last 18 outings. On Nov. 27 vs. SEA, he tied a career high with three assists (0-3=3), his third career three assist game, the most by a Ducks skater before the age of 22. His three points also tied his single-game career high (last: Feb. 19, 2022 @ VAN; 0-3=3). It was his fourth career three-point game, tying Ryan Getzlaf for the second-most three-point games by a Duck at age 21 and trailing only Paul Kariya (12). Zegras finished the month of November with 11 assists (2-11=13 in 14 GP), one of three Ducks players since 2013-14 to post at least 11 assists in a calendar month, joining Ryan Getzlaf (eight times; best: 17 in March 2017) and Corey Perry (12 in November 2016).

QUE RICO!: Center Adam Henrique has eight goals his last 13 outings (7-3=10), now third among team leaders in goals and tied for third in scoring overall (7-5=12). He recorded points in a season-long six straight games Nov. 5-19 (5-3=8), his best as a Duck and one short of his career-long point streak set over 10 years ago in seven straight contests with New Jersey Nov. 25-Dec. 8, 2011 (2-7=9). He scored goals in a season-best three straight games Nov. 5-12 (3-0=3, +3; missed Nov. 9 due to birth of first child), including his 100th goal as a Duck (100-90=190) Nov. 12 vs. CHI, becoming the 10th player in franchise history to reach the milestone.

CAM’S CORNER: Defenseman Cam Fowler has 2-9=11 points his last eight games, including four multi-point outings (three multi-assist). Since Nov. 15, Fowler’s 11 points (2-9=11 in 8 GP) lead all NHL defensemen and rank tied for eighth among all NHL skaters in that span. Fowler had a career-tying five-game point streak from Nov. Nov. 15-23 (2-6=8), matching his prior high set four prior times; last: Nov. 7-16, 2021; 1-4=5). The last Ducks defenseman with a longer run was Chris Pronger (six games, Oct. 29-Nov. 7, 2009; 3- 6=9). Fowler recorded three straight multi-point efforts Nov. 15-19 (1-5=6), joining San Jose’s Erik Karlsson (four straight multi-point games, Oct. 27-Nov. 3; 7-4=11) as the only defensemen in the NHL with three or more consecutive multi-point outings. Fowler is one of four defensemen in Ducks history to have had multiple points in three consecutive games and the first since Scott Niedermayer in 2008-09.

PLAYER SEASON MULTI-POINT STREAK DATES PTS
Cam Fowler 2022-23 3 GP Nov. 15-19, 2022 1-5=6
Scott Niedermayer 2008-09 3 GP Jan. 27-31, 2009 1-6=7
Chris Pronger 2006-07 3 GP Nov. 19-22, 2006 1-5=6
Scott Niedermayer 2005-06 3 GP Mar. 7-12, 2006 0-6=6
Scott Niedermayer 2005-06 3 GP Jan. 28-Feb. 1, 2006 2-6=8
Oleg Tverdovsky 1999-00 3 GP Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 2000 0-6=6

GIBBY’S GAME: John Gibson leads NHL goalies in saves (558), co-leads in starts and appearances (18) and goaltender assists (2). Gibson has recorded three 40-plus save games this season (Nov. 23 vs. NYR, 41; Nov. 6 vs. FLA, 43; Oct. 12 vs. SEA, 44), co-leading the NHL with Connor Hellebuyck (WPG), Ilya Sorokin (NYI) and James Reimer (SJS). Gibson earned his fifth career helper, the primary assist, on Troy Terry’s OT winning goal Oct. 12 vs. SEA and tied J.S. Giguere for second in Ducks all-time goaltender assists with his sixth career helper Nov. 3 @ VAN. Gibson stopped his eighth career penalty shot (10th attempt) against Alexander Kerfoot Oct. 30 vs. TOR. He has stopped an NHL-leading six penalty shots since the start of 2020-21, with two goalies tied with three penalty shot saves (Connor Hellebuyck, WPG & Frederik Andersen, CAR/TOR).

M(A)C ATTACK: Rookie center Mason McTavish has picked up 4-7=11 points this season, while he co-leads Anaheim in PPG (2) and is four in assists and tied for fifth in points and goals among team leaders. McTavish recorded his 10th point Nov. 23 vs. NYR (3-7=10), with only Trevor Zegras (10 points in 15 GP in 2021-22) reaching the mark in fewer games the last 10 seasons. Among NHL rookies, McTavish ranks tied for fifth in scoring and sixth in assists (7). McTavish scored his first goal of 2022-23 Nov. 5 @ SJS (1-1=2), as part of his second career multi-point game (also Oct. 13, 2021 vs. WPG; 1-1=2).

DALLAS STARS NOTES:

LAST DALLAS STARS GAME
Nov. 28, 2022 – STARS 4 @ BLUES 1
Led by a 23-save performance from goaltender Scott Wedgewood, the Stars got back into the win column with a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Monday. The victory gave the Stars points in eight of their past nine (5-1-3) and 30 points overall (13-6-4). Rookie forward Wyatt Johnston (1-1—2) opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season as part of his first career multi-point game. Forward Ty Dellandrea (1-0—1) doubled the lead with his fourth goal of the season and sixth point (3-3–6) in his past seven games, while forward Jason Robertson (1-0—1) added a crucial insurance marker in the third period with his league-leading 19th goal of the season. With the goal, Robertson’s point streak reached 16 games, the second-longest in franchise history (1967-present). (More on Robertson’s point streak on the next page). Defenseman Miro Heiskanen (1-0—1) tallied his third goal of the season with an empty-net marker and captain Jamie Benn (0-2—2) registered his 10th multi-point game of the season with two helpers.
PP: 0-1 | PK: 1-1 | SF: 24 | SA: 24 | DAL TOI: Heiskanen (26:03 – game high) | Attendance: 18,096
Three Stars: 1. DAL – W. Johnston 2. DAL – J. Benn 3. STL – J. Leivo

UPCOMING GAME SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Time (CT) Location TV/Radio
Thu., Dec. 1, 2022 Anaheim Ducks 7:30 p.m. American Airlines Center BSSWX/KTCK
Sun., Dec. 4, 2022 Minnesota Wild 2 p.m. American Airlines Center BSSW/KTCK
Tue., Dec. 6, 2022 Toronto Maple Leafs 7:30 p.m. American Airlines Center ESPN+/KTCK
Thu., Dec. 8, 2022 Ottawa Senators 7:30 p.m. American Airlines Center BSSW/KTCK
Sat., Dec. 10, 2022 Detroit Red Wings 1 p.m. American Airlines Center BSSW/KTCK

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Nov. 9 – Recalled forward Matej Blumel from Texas (AHL); loaned goaltender Matt Murray to Texas
Nov. 18 – Loaned forward Matej Blumel to Texas (AHL)
Nov. 19 – Recalled forward Matej Blumel from Texas (AHL)
Nov. 22 – Loaned forward Matej Blumel to Texas (AHL)
Nov. 22 – Recalled forward Fredrik Karlstrom from Texas (AHL)
Nov. 29 – Loaned forward Fredrik Karlstrom to Texas (AHL)

INJURIES
Man-games lost, 2022-23: 14
NAME INJURY # OF GAMES DATES
D Miro Heiskanen Upper body 3 Oct. 25-29
G Jake Oettinger Lower body 4 Nov. 1-8
F Denis Gurianov Upper body 6 Nov. 11-21
F Roope Hintz Lower body 1 Nov. 19

DALLAS STARS NOTES
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Stars open a five-game homestand beginning with a matchup against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday at American Airlines Center (7:30 p.m. CT, TV: Bally Sports Southwest Extra, Radio: The Ticket 96.7-FM/1310-AM). This is the first of three meetings between the Ducks and Stars and one of two in Dallas. They’ll meet again Jan. 4, 2023 at Honda Center before wrapping up the season series on Feb. 6, 2023 at AAC. Following tonight’s game, Dallas’ homestand continues with games against Minnesota (Dec. 4), Toronto (Dec. 6), Ottawa (Dec. 8) and Detroit (Dec. 10).

GOT A LOT TO TALK ABOUT IF YOU STILL WANNA LISTEN

  • The Stars won all three games against the Ducks last season (3-0-0), including a 4-2 victory in the regular season finale at American Airlines Center.
  • Forward Radek Faksa led the team in scoring in 2021-22 vs. Anaheim, recording three points (1-2—3) in three games including a two-assist performance (0-2—2) in the regular season finale on April 29 in Dallas.
  • The Stars enter Thursday’s game riding a five-game winning streak (5-0-0) against the Ducks and have posted wins in seven of the past eight (7-1-0) against them.
  • Dallas also boasts an eight-game home winning streak (8-0-0) against Anaheim dating back to the start of the 2015-16 campaign, while the team has points in 17 of the past 19 matchups at American Airlines Center (14-2-3).
  • Captain Jamie Benn has seven points (4-3—7) over his past 10 games and 11 points (5-6—11) in his past 13 against the Ducks. He also has 11 points (3-8—11) over his past eight home games against them.
  • Benn leads active Stars with 23 assists and ranks second with 34 points (11-23—34) in 43 career games vs. Anaheim. Of his 11 goals, four have been game winners – tops on the team.
  • Forward Joe Pavelski paces the Stars in goals (14), points (14-22—36) and games played (71) against Anaheim. The former longtime Shark also leads active Stars in power-play goals (7) and ranks second in assists (22) vs. Anaheim.
  • Defenseman Ryan Suter has four points (2-2—4) over his past seven games vs. Anaheim and has 26 points (5-21—26) in 60 career meetings vs. the Ducks.
  • Goaltender Jake Oettinger’s three career appearances vs. Anaheim all came last season, where he went 3-0-0. He allowed just six goals on 72 shots for a 1.99 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.
  • Netminder Scott Wedgewood is 1-0-0 with a 4.83 GAA and .865 SV% in his lone appearance against the Ducks (6-5 OTW, Dec. 17, 2021 @ ANA w/ ARI).

2022-23 REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE
Dec. 1 vs. Anaheim
Jan. 4, 2023 at Anaheim
Feb. 6, 2023 vs. Anaheim

HIP, HIP ROOPE

  • On Nov. 29 the Stars signed forward Roope Hintz to an eight-year contract extension, which begins in the 2023-24 season and runs through the 2030-31 campaign. The eight-year contract extension is worth $67.6 million and has an average annual value (AAV) of $8.45 million.
  • The 26-year-old has skated in 22 contests this season with Dallas and is tied for third on the club with 24 points (8-16–24). Among team leaders, he shares first in shorthanded goals (1) and second in assists (16) and game-winning goals (2), while also third in plus/minus rating (+13). He also ranks second in TOI/G (17:01) and third in power-play TOI/G (2:23) among team forwards.
  • He had 10-game point streak from Oct. 27-Nov. 17, tallying 15 points (6-9—15) over that span including four multi-point efforts.
  • With two goals on his 26th birthday on Nov. 17 at Florida, Hintz became just the second player in franchise history (1967-present) to score multiple goals on his birthday (also Dave Gagner, Dec. 11, 1990).
  • Hintz is one of four players on the Stars to have a shorthanded goal this season (also Radek Faksa, Luke Glendening and Joel Kiviranta).
  • Hintz and Robertson became the third pair of Stars/North Stars teammates with simultaneous 10-game point streaks, joining Brian Bellows and Neal Broten (10 GP from Jan. 23-Feb. 13, 1986) as well as Steve Payne and Bobby Smith (10 GP from Feb. 10-28, 1980).
  • In five NHL seasons, Hintz has appeared in 261 games, earning 88 goals, 106 assists and 194 points. He’s tied for sixth in Dallas Stars history (1993-present) with six career shorthanded goals and is tied for 12th with 18 career game-winning goals.

FIRST STAR OF THE WEEK (AGAIN!)

  • For the second time this season, forward Jason Robertson has been named the NHL’s First Star of the Week. For the week ending Nov. 27, Robertson led the NHL with six goals in four games (6-2—8) to move into first place in the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race and guide the Central Division-leading Stars to a 1-1-2 week.
  • He scored twice, including the tying goal with 25.8 seconds remaining in regulation, in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche Nov. 21. Robertson potted two more goals in a 6-4 win against the Chicago Blackhawks Nov. 23.
  • He then recorded three points (2-1—3), highlighted by two goals in the final 2:12 of regulation to force overtime, in a 5-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets Nov. 25. In doing so, Robertson became the third different player in franchise history (1967-present) to register three consecutive multi-goal outings, following Dino Ciccarelli (3x) and Mike Modano (1x).
  • Robertson finished the week with an assist on Dallas’ lone goal in a 4-1 loss to the Avalanche Nov. 26, extending his point streak to a career-high 15 games dating to Oct. 27 (16-12—28).
    *Robertson scored a goal to push his point streak to 16 games on Nov. 28 at St. Louis. (More on that below).

I WANT TO GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD LIKE ‘EVERLONG’ PLAYING ON THE LATE NIGHT RADIO

  • Forward Jason Robertson extended his career-best point streak to 16 consecutive games with a goal in Dallas’ victory over St. Louis on Nov. 28.
  • Robertson has 17 goals and 29 points (17-12—29) over that span, which is the second-longest point streak in franchise history (1967-present). Only Brian Bellows’ 20-game point streak from Jan. 11-Feb. 21, 1986 with the Minnesota North Stars is longer.
  • Only five active players have recorded a longer point streak age 23 or younger: Paul Stastny (20 GP in 2006-07), Sidney Crosby (19 GP 2007-08 & 16 GP in 2008-09), Steven Stamkos (18 GP in 2009-10), Phil Kessel (18 GP in 2008-09) and Robert Thomas (17 GP in 2021-22).
  • Robertson holds the second longest point streak in the NHL this season, behind only Mitchell Marner’s active 18-game run.
  • He has goals in 13 of his 16 games on his current point streak and has 10 multi-point efforts over that span, including three consecutive multi-goal performances (Nov. 21 vs. Colorado, Nov. 23 vs. Chicago and Nov. 25 vs. Winnipeg).
  • With 26 points (15-11—26) in the month of November, Robertson became the first player in franchise history (1967-present) to lead the league in both goals (15) and points 26) in a calendar month.
  • Robertson has the outright lead in goals (19) and shares second in points (19-17—36), trailing only Connor McDavid (41) in that category.
  • Robertson had goals in six consecutive games from Oct. 27-Nov. 8, becoming the fifth player in franchise history to have a goal streak of six games or more before turning 24, and the second player in Dallas Stars history (1993-present) to do so. Robertson followed Neal Broten from Jan. 23-Feb. 4, 1982 (7-12—19 in 7 GP), Jamie Benn from March 1-11, 2011 (6-1—7 in 6 GP), Mike Modano from Feb. 29-March 10, 1992 (7-2—9 in 6 GP) and Danny Grant from Oct. 16-29, 1969 (6-1—7 in 6 GP).
  • Robertson was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week for the week ending Nov. 6 after registering eight points (4-4—8) and scoring in all three of his outings to push his goal streak to a career-high five games (dating to Oct. 27: 6-5—11). (His goal streak would reach six games with a tally on Nov. 8 at Winnipeg).
  • The Arcadia, California native is averaging better than a point-per-game pace through his four NHL seasons (77-84—161 in 151 GP). Below is a look at Robertson’s past 16 games

DATE G A P
Nov. 28 @ STL 1 0 1
Nov. 26 @ COL 0 1 1
Nov. 25 vs. WPG 2 1 3
Nov. 23 vs. CHI 2 0 2
Nov. 21 vs. COL 2 0 2
Nov. 19 vs. NYI 1 0 1
Nov. 17 @ FLA 0 1 1
Nov. 15 @ TBL 1 1 2
Nov. 13 @ PHI 1 1 2
Nov. 11 vs. SJS 0 2 2
Nov. 8 @ WPG 1 0 1
Nov. 5 @ EDM 1 2 3
Nov. 3 @ ARI 2 0 2
Nov. 1 vs. LA 1 2 3
Oct. 29 vs. NYR 1 1 2
Oct. 27 vs. WSH 1 0 1
TOTAL: 17 12 29

FEELS LIKE I’VE KNOWN YOU FOR A LIFETIME

  • Captain Jamie Benn has 15 points (6-9—15) over his past 10 games and 26 points (10-16—26) overall (23 GP).
  • With the most points in a single month in his career (10-13—23), Benn trailed only Jason Robertson (15-11—26) for the most points by any player in the NHL during the month of November. He also ranked fifth during that time in goals (10).
  • Benn registered his 10th multi-point game of the season with a two-assist night (0-2—2) against St. Louis on Nov. 28.
  • Benn recorded the 45th multi-goal game of his NHL career on Nov. 11 vs. San Jose and moved within two of tying Bill Goldsworthy (47) for fourth place on the Stars/North Stars franchise’s all-time list.
  • With a hat trick (3-0—3) against the Oilers on Nov. 5, Benn (333) surpassed Dino Ciccarelli (332) for sole possession of third place among franchise leaders (1967-present) in goals.
  • In addition, Benn (7) trails only Ciccarelli (14) and Bill Goldsworthy (8) for the most three-goal outings in Stars/North Stars franchise history (1967-present). Note: Mike Modano also had seven hat tricks with the Stars/North Stars franchise.
  • Among team leaders, the 33-year-old shares second in goals (10) and ranks second in points (10-16—26) and is tied for second in assists (16). He also ranks second in power-play points (11) and shares second in power-play goals (4).
  • In the dot, Benn ranks second on the club in faceoff wins (144), faceoffs taken (237) and faceoff win percentage (60.8%).

WHEN YOU BELIEVED IN ME IT BROUGHT US TOGETHER

  • Forward Ty Dellandrea tallied his fourth goal of the season on Nov. 28 at St. Louis to give him four points (2-2—4) in his past five games and 13 points (4-9—13) in 23 GP this season.
  • Dellandrea also has six points (3-3—6) in his past seven games and has found the scoresheet in nine of his past 13 games overall (4-5—9).
  • Dellandrea has eclipsed his previous high for goals in a season (3) set in 2020-21 (26 GP).
  • The 22-year-old had a career-best three-game point streak (1-2—3) from Nov. 21-25.
  • On the PK, Dellandrea ranks second among Stars forwards in shorthanded TOI per game (2:33) and total shorthanded TOI (58:48). He also ranks third among forwards in hits (30) and blocked shots (15).
  • Dellandrea scored his first goal of the season on Nov. 3 at Arizona (1-0—1) and recorded his first multi-point game of 2022-23 on Nov. 17 at Florida (1-1—2).
  • Entering the 2022-23 season, the Toronto, Ontario native had five points (3-2—5) in 27 regular-season games from 2020-22.

I’M QUITE ALIGNED TO YOUR DESIGN

  • With his 157th career power-play goal scored on Nov. 26 at Colorado, forward Joe Pavelski tied Mike Modano for the fourth most by a U.S.-born player. (Jeremy Roenick is third all-time with 184 PPG). It marked Pavelski’s 10th goal of the season and the 431st of his NHL career.
  • The goal also placed him in a tie with Chris Chelios (948) for 12th all-time in points among U.S.-born skaters.
  • With a goal on Nov. 15 against Tampa Bay, Pavelski (430) took over sole possession of eighth place all-time in goals among U.S.- born skaters. The only active U.S.-born skater with more is Patrick Kane (433).
  • Pavelski has seven multi-point games on the season and 43 since joining the Stars in 2019-20.
  • Only two Stars have notched more multi-point games for the franchise than Pavelski over that span: Jason Robertson (48) and Roope Hintz (46).
  • Pavelski has points (6-11—17) in 11 of his past 15 games and 14 of 23 overall (10-14—24).
  • Through 23 games this season, the Plover, Wisconsin native shares second on the Stars in goals (10), shares third in points (10-14—24) and is tied for fourth in assists (14). He also leads the club in plus-minus (+16), ranks second in even-strength points (5-11—16) and shares fourth in even-strength goals (5).

I SET THE SCENE, YOU SЕT THE PACE NO MATTER THЕ TIME, THE VIBE OR PLACE

  • With his first of two assists (0-2—2) on Nov. 19 against the New York Islanders, forward Tyler Seguin recorded career point No. 700, becoming the first player from the 2010 NHL Draft to reach the 700-point mark.
  • Seguin leads the 2010 draft class in both points (309-395—704) and goals (309) and ranks fourth with a +67 rating. He also leads the class with 55 game-winning goals and ranks third with nine overtime markers.
  • The Brampton, Ontario native enters Thursday’s contest against the Ducks with seven points (1-6—7) in his past seven games and 18 points (4-14—18) in 23 games overall this season.

YOU CAUGHT ME IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME, SO I’LL JUST DIVE RIGHT IN

  • Defensemen Esa Lindell and Colin Miller are among the league’s leaders in plus-minus for defensemen.
  • Lindell, who is +7 over his past seven games combined and has finished with a plus or even rating in 19 of his 23 games this season, shares sixth among league blueliners with a +14 rating.
  • The Vantaa, Finland native tied his single game high with a +4 rating on Nov. 3 at Arizona.
  • Lindell ranks third on the squad in hits (40) and blocked shots (32) and ranks second among Stars defensemen with eight points (2-6—8) in 23 games.
  • The 28-year-old matched a career-high with three points (1-2—3) on Nov. 13 at Philadelphia.
  • Miller, who has finished with a plus or even rating in 18 of his 22 games this season, shares eighth among NHL d-men with a +13 rating.
  • Miller is +6 over his past six games and has points in three of the six (0-3—3).
  • Among team leaders, the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native ranks fourth overall in hits (38) and shares fifth in blocked shots (22).

Boxing Preview: Juan Francisco Estrada (43-3-0, 28 KO’s) vs Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez (51-3-0, 41 KO’s)

Fight Editor
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Boxing Preview: Juan Francisco Estrada (43-3-0, 28 KO’s) vs Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez (51-3-0, 41 KO’s)

The trilogy clash between Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez will take place at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday December 3, live worldwide on DAZN – and Eddie Hearn and Matchroom are delighted to announce that Julio Cesar Martinez will meet McWilliams Arroyo for his WBC World Super-Flyweight title as the co-main event on a blockbuster night of action in Arizona.

Estrada (43-3 28 KOs) and Chocolatito (51-3 41 KOs) will finally go toe-to-toe for the third time in their storied careers, with their last meeting in March 2021 a fight of the year contender that Estrada edged via split decision in Dallas. That victory levelled the score between the pair, after Chocolatito won their first battle back in November 2012 in Los Angeles, and now they will lock horns once again for their third mouth-watering battle a decade on from the first.

Martinez (18-2 14 KOs) and Arroyo (21-4 16 KOs) are also renewing their rivalry on December 3, after their firefight of a first contest in November was sadly cut short after an accidental headclash caused a cut for Arroyo, ending a chaotic three round whirlwind that saw both fighters hit the canvas in the opening session, and Arroyo visit the deck again in the second.

There’s more action to be added to the card soon, and promoter Eddie Hearn believes the final Matchroom show of 2022 in America could be the most explosive yet, with Martinez and Arroyo providing the tastiest of appetizers before the stunning main event.

“What a night this is going to be,” said Hearn. “The trilogy battle between Estrada and Chocolatito is guaranteed to be a thriller, and Martinez and Arroyo have given us a taste of what they provide when they tangle.

“Estrada and Chocolatito will go down as one of the great rivalries in the sport, and on December 3, one of these two modern greats will edge ahead of the other, and that promises to make this the most thrilling of the three clashes – it’s an early Christmas present for fight fans that you do not want to miss.”

ESTRADA VS. CHOCOLATITO 3 DATE, START TIME
Date: Saturday, December 3
Main card: 8 p.m. ET / 1 a.m. GMT
The card will stream live on DAZN in over 200 countries across the globe
The fight will be staged at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Main event ringwalks (approx): 10 p.m. ET / 3 a.m. GMT (Sunday)

The main card is set to get underway at 8 p.m. ET / 1 a.m. GMT with the main event ringwalks scheduled for 10 p.m. ET / 3 a.m. GMT (Sunday).
Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Roman Chocolatito Gonzalez; For the vacant WBC super flyweight title
Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Samuel Carmona; For Martinez’s WBC flyweight title
Joselito Velazquez vs. Cristofer Rosales, Flyweight
Diego Pacheco vs. Ricardo Adrian Luna; For Pacheco’s WBC USNBC super middleweight title
Marc Castro vs. Maickol Lopez Villagrana; Super featherweight
Beatriz Ferreira vs. Carisse Brown; Super featherweight
Anthony Herrera vs. Juan Sequeira; Super flyweight

NHL Preview: Edmonton Oilers (13-10-0) at Minnesota Wild (10-9-2)

NHL Editor
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NHL Preview: Edmonton Oilers (13-10-0) at Minnesota Wild (10-9-2)

EDMONTON OILERS NOTES:

EDMONTON OILERS AT MINNESOTA WILD
6:00 p.m. MT at Xcel Energy Center

BROADCAST INFO: 630 CHED Radio, Sportsnet
13-10-0 – 26 PTS RECORD 10-9-2 – 22 PTS
Div. – 4th Conference – 7th RANK Div. – 4th Conference – 9th
6th –27.4% (23/84) POWER PLAY 14th – 23.2% (14/64)
27th – 72.8% (67/92) PENALTY KILL 6th – 82.4% (56/68)
ALL-TIME RECORDS vs. MINNESOTA GP RECORD HOME (49) AWAY (48) GF GA
OILERS ALL-TIME vs. MINNESOTA 97 35-48-4-10 18-24-3-4 17-24-1-6 221 276
OILERS vs. MINNESOTA – 2022-23 0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0 0

QUICK FACTS
• Thursday’s game will mark Edmonton’s first of three games against Minnesota this season and the first of two games in Minnesota. The next time these teams will meet is December 9th in Edmonton.

• The last time these teams met was on April 12th in Minnesota, with the Wild winning 5-1.

• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leads the Oilers with 21 career points against the Wild and Tyson Barrie has played in a team high 33 career games against Minnesota.

BOUCHARD’S LATE GOAL MAGIC
On Nov. 28 vs. Florida, Evan Bouchard scored the game-tying goal in the final five seconds of regulation before Connor McDavid (1G, 2A – 3PTS) capped off his three-point performance with an assist on Leon Draisaitl’s overtime winner.

OVERTIME WINNER
Connor McDavid scored the overtime winning goal on Nov.19 vs. Vegas. The goal marked his 14th career overtime goal and he ranks first in the NHL in overtime goals since 2015-16.

MOST OVERTIME GOALS SINCE 2015-16
Connor McDavid – 14
Jonathan Toews – 13
Brad Marchand – 13
Sidney Crosby – 12

POWER PLAY PUNCH
Leon Draisaitl scored his 100th career power play goal on Nov. 21 against New Jersey and recorded his 101st power play goal which also stood as the game winning goal on Nov. 26 against the New York Rangers. Draisaitl holds sole possession of 5th spot all-time in Oilers power play goals and is just 25 goals shy of the all-time lead held by Glenn Anderson and Ryan Smyth. Draisaitl is six power play goals from tying Jari Kurri (107) for 4th on the Oilers power play goals list.

500 AND COUNTING
Following his 500th career game on Nov. 7 at WSH, Connor McDavid finished ranked 6th all-time in NHL scoring (724 PTS) in your first 500 games.

McDavid became the 9th player in Oilers franchise history to score a goal in his 500th NHL game, joining the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Leon Draisaitl.

200 CLUB
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his 200th career goal with the Oilers on Oct. 26 at STL which stood as the game winning goal. Nugent-Hopkins becomes just the ninth player in Oilers history to record 200 goals with the Oilers and has achieved the mark in 726 games all with the Oilers.

SHOOTING GALLERY
The Oilers posted a franchise high 26 shots on goal in one period on Oct. 24 vs. PIT. The previous record of 24 shots was done three times and most recently against Calgary on Feb. 1/20. Evander Kane also posted a team high nine shots against the Penguins and tied an Oilers record for most shots in a period by a player, recording eight shots in the second period. Taylor Hall co-holds the record, posting eight shots previously on Feb. 19/11 vs. ATL). Kane holds the league record of 10 shots in a period by a player, which he recorded on Nov. 1/18 against Columbus as a member of the San Jose Sharks.

McDAVID HITS 700-POINT MARK WITH SEASON-OPENING HAT TRICK
With Edmonton trailing 3-0 midway through the second period, Oilers captain Connor McDavid factored on four of his club’s five consecutive goals, capping off the night with the NHL’s first hat trick of the 2022-23 season. McDavid (3-1—4) boosted his career totals to 242-459—701 (488 GP) and became the fastest active player to reach the 700-point milestone.

  • The three-goal performance marked the second season-opening hat trick of McDavid’s career (also Oct. 4, 2017) as he became the third player in NHL history to record multiple hat tricks in season openers alongside Brendan Shanahan (2) and Cam Neely (2).
  • The Oilers overcame a three-goal deficit to win a season-opening game for the first time in franchise history. Edmonton became just the ninth club in NHL history to do so and the first since Anaheim on Oct. 5, 2017. Coincidentally, the Ducks overcame a 3-1 deficit Wednesday night to record their second-ever multi-goal comeback win in a season opener.

LAST 10 GAMES vs. MINNESOTA
Record: 2-8-0
GF: 27 GA: 40
2021-22 4/12/22 @ MIN 5-1 L
2021-22 2/20/22 @ EDM 7-3 L
2021-22 12/7/21 @ EDM 4-1 L
2019-20 2/21/20 @ EDM 5-3 L
2019-20 12/12/19 @ MIN 6-5 L
2019-20 10/22/19 @ MIN 3-0 L
2018-19 2/7/19 @ MIN 4-1 W
2018-19 12/7/19 @ EDM 7-2 W
2018-19 10/30/18 @ EDM 3-4 L
2017-18 4/2/18 @ MIN 0-3 L

MINNESOTA WILD NOTES:

SERIES NOTES
GAME BROADCASTS
All-Time Wild Record: 58-29-10 (30-15-3 at Xcel Energy
Center, 28-14-7 at Edmonton)
2021-22: Minnesota went 3-0-0 against Edmonton…
The Wild won 4-1 (12/7) and 7-3 (2/20) at Rogers Place and earned a 5-1 win at Xcel Energy Center (4/12)…LW Kevin Fiala (4-1=5) led the Wild with five points…LW Kirill Kaprizov (0- 4=4) and RW Mats Zuccarello (1-3=4) tallied four points each… RW Matt Boldy (1-2=3), D Jonas Brodin (0-3=3) C Joel Eriksson Ek (2-1=3), C Ryan Hartman (2-1=3) and D Dmitry Kulikov (1-2=3) recorded three points each…G Cam Talbot went 2-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .970 SV% in two starts…G Kaapo Kahkonen made 30 saves in the second contest…LW Zach Hyman led the Oilers with four points (1-3=4)…LW Leon Draisaitl recorded two points (1-1=2)…G Mikko Koskinen went 0-2-0 with a 4.35 GAA and a .813 SV% in three games (two starts)…G Mike Smith started the second contest and allowed three goals on seven shots.

WILD LEADERS: Zuccarello leads Minnesota with 19 points (5-14=19) in 17 contests vs. Edmonton…D Jared Spurgeon has 12 points (8-4=12) in 30 matches…D Alex Goligoski owns 10 points (0-10=10) in 34 games…D Matt Dumba has nine points (4-5=9) in 17 contests.

WILD GOALIES: G Marc-Andre Fleury is 14-4-1 with a 2.25 GAA and a .926 SV% in 19 career starts the Oilers…G Filip Gustavsson has not faced Edmonton.

OILERS LEADERS: C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leads the Oilers with 21 points (9-12=21) in 30 matches vs. the Wild…LW Evander Kane has 20 points (12-
8=20) in 30 contests…C Connor McDavid owns 17 points (7-10=17) in 17 matches…D Tyson Barrie has 16 points (4-12=16) in 33 games…Draisaitl owns 15 points (10-5=15) in 17 contests.

OILERS GOALIES: .G Jack Campbell is 0-2-1 with a 2.31 GAA and a .920 SV% in three starts…G Stuart Skinner has noted faced Minnesota .

FAST FACTS: The Wild’s 28 road wins vs. Edmonton are the most against any franchise…Its 58 wins against the Oilers are tied for most against any team… Minnesota’s 124 points and 29 victories at Xcel Energy Center are its second-most against any franchise…The Wild is 20-7-1 in the past 28 games against the Oilers…Minnesota is 17-3-0 in its last 20 games in Edmonton, including an eight-game win streak (2/21/13-1/31/17) – the longest road win streak in team history…Minnesota is 26-6-1 in the last 33 games against Edmonton at Xcel Energy Center (since 2/25/07)…The Wild won 17 straight games against the Oilers in Saint Paul (2/25/07-10/13/11) – the longest home win streak against an opponent in franchise history.

INJURIES
Brandon Duhaime: upper body
Ryan Hartman: upper body

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Nov. 20, 2022 – Nov. 30, 2022
11/29/22 Reassigned G Zane McIntyre to Iowa
11/28/22 Assigned F Marco Rossi to Iowa
11/26/22 Recalled G Zane McIntyre from Iowa
11/24/22 Reassigned G Zane McIntyre to Iowa
11/23/22 Acquired F Ryan Reaves from the New York Rangers in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round draft pick

TEAM NOTES
NO FREE HANDOUTS
Minnesota is averaging 6.10 giveaways per game (128 in 21
games) this season, tied for the second-lowest rate in the NHL.
• The total is the team’s highest through a season’s first 21 games
since the 2018-19 season (four SHG).
Giveaways per Game, 2022-23 NHL Season
Entering Games Nov. 30, 2022
Rk. Team GP GvA Gva/G

  1. Colorado………………………….. 20…………………..113 ……….5.65
    2t. Minnesota ……………………….. 21…………………..128 ……….6.10
    2t. Columbus………………………… 21…………………..128 ……….6.10
  2. Buffalo…………………………….. 22…………………..147 ……….6.68
  3. Vancouver………………………… 23…………………..158 ……….6.87

PENALTY KILLERS
• The Wild is sixth the NHL with a 82.4 pct. penalty-kill percentage (12 of 68) this season.

• Minnesota has killed all nine opponent power-play opportunities in its last four games.

• Since Nov. 8, Minnesota has recorded a 91.2 pct. penalty-kill percentage (31 of 34), the second-best mark in the NHL.

NHL Penalty-Kill Pct.
Nov. 8, 2022, through Nov. 29, 2022
Rk. Team GP TSH PPGA PK%

  1. Pittsburgh………………..11 ……….31………. 2…………………..93.5
  2. Minnesota ……………….10 ……….34………. 3…………………..91.2
  3. San Jose…………………..11 ……….29………. 3…………………..89.7
  4. Toronto…………………….11 ……….29………. 4…………………..86.2
    5t. Colorado………………….9 …………28………. 4…………………..85.7
    5t. Montreal ………………….10 ……….35………. 5…………………..85.7

SHORT (HANDED) KINGS
• Minnesota is tied for first in the NHL with four shorthanded goals this season.

• The total is the team’s highest through a season’s first 21 games since the 2018-19 season (four SHG).

Shorthanded Goals, 2023-23 Season
Entering Games Nov. 26, 2022
Rk. Team SHG
1t. Minnesota …………………………………………………………………….4
1t. Vegas……………………………………………………………………………4
1t. Dallas…………………………………………………………………………..4
1t. Chicago………………………………………………………………………..4
1t. Calgary…………………………………………………………………………4
6t. Four tied ……………………………………………………………………….3

WE’RE HEADED TO OVERTIME
• This season, Minnesota has three victories in games decided past regulation, tied for eighth-most in the NHL. The Wild has two overtime wins and one shootout victory.

• Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Minnesota leads the NHL with 19 victories in extra-session games.

Extra-Session Wins
Since 2021-22 Season
Entering Games Nov. 30, 2022
Rk. Team Wins

  1. Minnesota …………………………………………………………………..19
  2. Florida ………………………………………………………………………..17
  3. Tampa Bay…………………………………………………………………..16
    4t. Boston ………………………………………………………………………..15
    4t. Dallas…………………………………………………………………………15

• During the 2021-22 season, the Wild ranked second in the NHL with a franchise record 11 overtime wins and ranked tied for second with five shootout wins, good for 16 total extra-session victories.

• Minnesota went 16-7 in 23 extra session games during the 2021-22 season – its most extra session contests since 23 in 2013-14. The 16 extra session wins are the second-most in team history (17 in 2006-07).

PLAYER NOTES
• Entering games on November 30, Kirill Kaprizov’s seven powerplay goals are tied for third-most in the NHL.

Power-Play Goals, 2022-23 NHL Season
Rk. Player, Team GP PPG
1t. Leon Draisaitl, EDM ……………………………. 22……………………..8
1t. Connor McDavid, EDM…………………………. 22……………………..8
3t. Kirill Kaprizov, MIN…………………………….. 21……………………..7
3t. Steven Stamkos, TB ……………………………. 22……………………..7
3t. John Tavares, TOR………………………………. 24……………………..7
3t. Mika Zibanejad, NYR ………………………….. 23……………………..7

• Kaprizov’s 13 power-play points rank tied for seventh in the NHL this season.

• Kaprizov’s 13 goals this season are tied for seventh-most in the NHL this season.

• Kaprizov has recorded a point in nine consecutive games (5-9=14), the longest streak of his career and tied for the thirdlongest active streak in the NHL.

• Per NHL Stats, Kaprizov is the first player in Wild history to record three separate point streaks of eight-plus games.

• Kaprizov has recorded an assist in eight consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NHL, the longest streak of his career and tied with Jim Dowd (2/27/02 – 3/17/02) for longest streak in franchise history

• The 25-year old played the 150th game of his NHL career at Seattle (Nov. 11), recording an assist to move his career totals to 84-91=175. In NHL history, Kaprizov’s point total was the fifth-best mark in the first 150 career games among players who primarily play at left wing, per StatCentre.

Most Points, First 150 Career Games, NHL History
Primary Left Wingers
Rk. Player, Team(s) Seasons Pts

  1. C. Denneny, OTT………..1919-24……………………………………225
  2. A. Ovechkin, WAS ………2005-07……………………………………187
  3. P. Kariya, ANA……………1994-97……………………………………177
  4. R. Noble, TRA/TRS……..1917-24……………………………………176
  5. K. Kaprizov, MIN ……….2020-23……………………………………175
  6. L. Robitaille, LAK……….1986-88……………………………………171
  7. A. Stastny, QUE …………1980-83……………………………………161

• Kaprizov reached the 10-goal mark in 13 games this season, trailing only Brian Rolston (12 GP in 2006-07) for the fewest games needed to hit the mark in franchise history.

• Kaprizov scored eight goals through the first 10 games of the season, the second-highest 10-game total in Wild history trailing only Rolston (nine goals, 2006-07).

• Since the start of the 2021 season, Kaprizov ranks fifth in the NHL with 128 points and sixth with 57 goals.

STONE-COLD KIRILL-ER
• Kirill Kaprizov’s game-winning goal in overtime vs. Vancouver (Oct. 20) marked his third overtime goal since the start of the 2021-22 season, tied for fifth-most in the NHL during that span (Connor McDavid, five; Steven Stamkos, five; Alex DeBrincat, four; Shea Theodore, four).

• Kaprizov currently stands at nine career overtime points in a Wild sweater, tied with Kevin Fiala for fourth-most in franchise history.

All-Time OT Points, Minnesota Wild History
Rk. Player OT Points

  1. M. Koivu………………………………………………………………………13
    2t. P. Bouchard………………………………………………………………….10
    2t. M. Gaborik…………………………………………………………………..10
    4t. K. Kaprizov……………………………………………………………………9
    4t. K. Fiala …………………………………………………………………………9

• Kaprizov ranks tied for second in franchise history with five OT goals, trailing teammate Matt Dumba (six career OT goals with the Wild). Five of his 10 career game-winning goals have come in overtime.

All-Time OT Goals, Minnesota Wild History
Rk. Player OT Goals

  1. M. Dumba ……………………………………………………………………..6
    2t. K. Kaprizov……………………………………………………………………5
    2t. M. Koivu………………………………………………………………………..5
    2t. B. Burns………………………………………………………………………..5
    5t. J. Spurgeon …………………………………………………………………..4
    5t. M. Gaborik…………………………………………………………………….4

• Kaprizov’s five career overtime goals trail only Alex DeBrincat and Connor McDavid (seven each) for the most among all skaters since he entered the NHL in 2020-21.

MATS-TER OF HIS CRAFT
• Mats Zuccarello (7-13=20) ranks second on the team in points and assists this season.

• Zuccarello skated in the 700th career game of his NHL career at Los Angeles (Nov. 8). Per #NHLStats, became the third active undrafted player to reach the mark, joining Toronto’s Mark Giordano and Winnipeg’s Brenden Dillon

• Zuccarello recorded a point in all five games to start the 2022-23 season, the longest season-opening point streak of his 13-year NHL career. Only four other skaters in Wild history have posted such a streak to open a season:

Season-Opening Point Streaks, Wild History
Rk. Player, Season Games

  1. A. Burnette, 2009-10 ………………………………………………………7
    2t. C. Stewart, 2017-18 ……………………………………………………….6
    2t. P. Demitra, 2006-07………………………………………………………..6
    4t. M. Zuccarello, 2022-23 ………………………………………………….5
    4t. Z. Parise, 2012-13………………………………………………………….5

• With two goals against Vancouver (10/20), the Norwegian recorded his fifth multi-goal game since joining the Wild in 2019-20. Only Kirill Kaprizov (13 times), Kevin Fiala (11 times) and Joel Eriksson Ek (seven times) have more multi-goal performances during that span.

• Zuccarello scored a goal in the season opener vs. the N.Y. Rangers, marking the second time he has found the net in the first game of the season (10/13/16 vs NYI).

• In 2021-22, Zuccarello recorded the second most assists in franchise history (55) and his point total (79) was T-4th most in team history.

ADD’IN UP
• Calen Addison is tied for first among rookie defensemen and tied for fifth among all rookies with 11 points this season (1-10=11)

• Addison’s eight power-play assists lead all rookies and are tied for fourth among all NHL defensemen.

• Addison’s 10 assists ranks tied for third among rookies.

• With two points (1-1=2) vs. Winnipeg (Nov. 23), Addison boosted his career totals to 3-11=14. According to NHL stats, only three rookie defensemen have collected more career points with the Wild: Filip Kuba (9-21—30 in 75 GP), Kurtis Foster (10-18—28 in 58 GP) and Matt Dumba (9-9—18 in 71 GP).

• With two assists against Vancouver (Oct. 20), Addison matched Ryan Donato (four GP in 2018-19) for the fewest games to reach the five-assist mark in a season among Wild rookies.

• Addison matched Ryan Suter (four GP in 2015-16) for the fewest games to reach the five-assist mark in a season among Wild defensemen.

• Addison notched three assists vs. Colorado (10/17), tying a franchise record for single-game assists by a rookie defenseman. He’s the fifth rookie in Wild history to record three assists in a game (Dupuis, Koivu, N. Johnson and Eriksson Ek).

IN FULL BLOOM
• Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 28 shots he faced at Seattle (Nov. 11) to record his first shutout in a Wild sweater. Fluery has now recorded a shutout against 28 NHL franchises, most in league history.

• Fleury notched the 62nd shootout win of his career at Chicago (Oct. 30), surpassing Hendrik Lundqvist for first all-time among NHL goalies.

• In a 3-1 win over Montreal (Oct. 25), Fleury reached 944 career appearances and surpassed Curtis Joseph for sole possession of sixth place on the NHL’s all-time goaltender appearance list.

• Fleury faced his 28th career penalty-shot attempt vs. Montreal (10/25). Per NHL Stats, Fleury’s 22 saves on 28 all-time attempts trail only Roberto Luongo (33 PS SA, 29 PS saves) for the all-time lead in both categories.

• Fleury reached 25 wins for the 13th time in his career in 2021- 22. Only two NHL goalies have recorded more 25+ win seasons in NHL history: Martin Brodeur (15) and Patrick Roy (14).

• Has notched 14 career 20+ win seasons, fourth most in NHL history: Roy (17), Brodeur (16) and Ed Belfour (15).

• Earned a win against every NHL team after 2-1 victory at VGK (1/8/22).

• 16 consecutive seasons without a losing record from 2006-07 to 2021-22. Record of 503-258 during that span.

FREDDY STAYS READY
• Frederick Gaudreau tallied a point in four consecutive games (2-2=4) from Nov.13 – 19, tying a career-best streak set from April 12 – 17, 2022.

• Gaudreau leads Minnesota with a 51.0 faceoff percentage (min. 3.05 FO/team game), winning 131 of 257 faceoffs this season

• Gaudreau is one of seven NHL players to record eight or more points without serving a penalty minute this season.

THE GUS BUS IS ROLLING
• Filip Gustavsson is 3-1-1 with a goals-allowed average of 1.96 and a save percentage .933 in his last five games (Nov. 9 – 23).

• Since Nov. 9, Gustavsson ranks second in GAA and fifth in SV% among goalies that have played at least five games.

AFC Players of the Month – November

NFL Editor
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0
AFC Players of the Month – November

CHIEFS QB PATRICK MAHOMES, CHARGERS S DERWIN JAMES & BILLS K TYLER BASS NAMED AFC PLAYERS OF THE MONTH FOR NOVEMBER

Quarterback PATRICK MAHOMES of the Kansas City Chiefs, safety DERWIN JAMES of the Los Angeles Chargers and kicker TYLER BASS of the Buffalo Bills are the AFC Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Month for the month of November.

OFFENSE: QB PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

  • Mahomes led the NFL in completions (116), passing yards (1,426) and touchdown passes (nine) from Weeks 9-12, helping the Chiefs go 4-0. He also added 161 rushing yards and a touchdown.
  • Mahomes, who passed for over 300 yards in each game this month, has 38 games with at least 300 passing yards in his first six seasons and surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino (37 games) for the most such games by a player in his first seven seasons in NFL history.
     
  • This is the fifth Offensive Player of the Month award for Mahomes, tied with Drew Brees (five) for the fourth-most by a quarterback since 2000. Only Tom Brady (11), Aaron Rodgers (10) and Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (eight) have more in that timeframe.
    • 2018: September
    • 2019: September
    • 2020: November
    • 2021: December
    • 2022: November
  • Mahomes is the only player to earn a Player of the Month award in each of the past five seasons and his five Player of the Month awards are the most in franchise history.

DEFENSE: S DERWIN JAMES, LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

  • James led all defensive backs with 37 tackles and added two sacks, two forced fumbles and one interception during November. He was the only player to record at least 30 tackles, two forced fumbles and one interception during the month.
  • This is the first Defensive Player of the Month award for James and he is the first Chargers player to win the award since cornerback Casey Heyward (December, 2009).
  • James is the third former Florida State defensive back to earn the award, joining Antonio Cromartie (December, 2007) and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders (November, 1993).

SPECIAL TEAMS: K TYLER BASS, BUFFALO BILLS

  • Bass totaled a league-best 44 points, including a league-high 12 made field goals, over the last month. He was the only kicker to connect on six fields of at least 40 yards, including going five for five on 40-yard attempts.
  • This is the second Special Teams Player of the Month award for Bass (October, 2021) and joins Brian Moorman (three-time winner) and Steve Christie (two-time) as the only Bills players to win the award multiple times.
  • He is the third player to earn the honor from Georgia Southern (Rob Bironas and Younghoe Koo) and the only two-time winner.

2022 AFC PLAYERS OF THE MONTH 

OffenseDefenseSpecial Teams
SeptemberOctoberNovemberQB Lamar Jackson, BaltimoreRB Derrick Henry, TennesseeQB Patrick Mahomes, Kansas CityLB Melvin Ingram, MiamiDL Quinnen Williams, N.Y. JetsS Derwin James, L.A. ChargersP Tommy Townsend, Kansas CityP Ryan Stonehouse, TennesseeK Tyler Bass, Buffalo
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