ARIZONA COYOTES NOTES:
3 HARD LAPS
• Arizona has dropped its last seven games (0-5-2). The team still holds a .500 point percentage or better since the NHL’s trade deadline (6-6-4, .500) and the All-Star break (11-9-7, .537)
• Reigning Third Star of the Month Clayton Keller had his Coyotes-record 14-game point streak snapped on Saturday but is closing in on the Coyotes team record for assists and points in a single season. He enters tonight seven assists shy of Ray Whitney’s 53 in 2011-12 and four points shy of Keith Tkachuk’s 86 in 1996-97
• Tonight is the first time all season the Coyotes have faced the Kraken and it begins the team’s final road trip of 2022-23
LAST GAME
Sharks 7, Coyotes 2 – April 1, 2023 – Mullett Arena
ARI Goals: Moser (7), Kelemen (1)
SJS Goals: Gregor (6, 7, 8), Peterson (1), Criscuolo (1), Gushchin (1), Couture (27)
ARI Goalie: Prosvetov (L) – 24 svs on 31 shots
SJS Goalie: Kahkonen (W) – 29 svs on 31 shots
PP: 1-2 PK: 4-7
Notes: ARI fell to SJ and dropped all four games of the homestand…Matias Maccelli assisted on JJ Moser’s goal for his 34th helper of the campaign and widened his lead in assists among NHL rookies on the campaign…Moser (7-22-29) now holds sole possession of the third-most points among Coyotes defensemen…Milos Kelemen registered his first career NHL goal; He’s the second Coyote to notch his first goal in the NHL with the club this season (Guenther, 10/22 at OTT)…Victor Soderstrom also picked up an assist on Moser’s goal, his seventh of the season…Soderstrom has registered 1-2-3 in three career games vs SJS…Jack McBain chipped in an assist and has tallied four helpers in his last four games…Brett Ritchie notched his fifth assist of the season, his highest total in a campaign since 2017-18 (7)…Clayton Keller saw his Coyotes-record 14-game point streak come to an end; He registered 11-12-23 over the course of the run that dated back to 3/5…Patrik Nemeth skated in his 500th career game, playing 20:07 with two shots on goal
MAN GAMES LOST (Name/Roster Status/Injury Type/Games Missed/Last Game Played)
Zack Kassian…Day-to-Day…Upper-Body (7 / 3/18)
Total man games lost: 147 games
Liam O’Brien – 23 (12/17 – 2/6) – Upper-Body | 2 (2/11 – 2/13) – Upper-Body
Jakob Chychrun – 16 (10/13 – 11/17) – Upper-Body
Matias Maccelli – 16 (12/27 – 1/24) – Lower-Body
Nick Schmaltz – 15 (10/15 – 11/17) – Upper-Body | 1 (12/31) – Upper-Body | 3 (3/12 – 3/16)
Zack Kassian – 9 (11/1 – 11/21) – Lower-Body
Connor Timmins – 9 (10/15 – 11/5) – Upper-Body
Shayne Gostisbehere – 8 (1/26 – 2/18) – Upper-Body
Andrew Ladd – 6 (N/A) – Undisclosed
Laurent Dauphin – 4 (3/24 – 3/31) – Upper-Body
Josh Brown – 3 (11/23 – 11/27) – Upper-Body | 4 (2/26 – 3/3) – Upper-Body | 6 (3/16 – 3/26)
Ben McCartney – 3 (10/13 – 10/17) – Lower-Body
Juuso Valimaki – 1 (11/23) – Upper-Body
Lawson Crouse – 1 (12/1) – Illness | 4 (1/19 – 1/24) – Upper-Body
Christian Fischer – 1 (3/3) – Illness | 1 (3/12) – Lower-Body
Connor Ingram – 1 (1/8) – Illness
Patrik Nemeth – 1 (3/14) – Lower-Body
Brett Ritchie – 1 (3/22) – Upper-Body | 1 (3/26) – Illness
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
-4/1 – Assigned F Nathan Smith to Tucson (AHL)
-3/27 – Assigned F Bokondji Imama to Tucson (AHL)
-3/27 – Assigned D Michael Kesselring to Tucson (AHL)
-3/27 – Recalled F Bokondji Imama from Tucson (AHL)
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
DATE TIME (AZ) OPPONENT VENUE TV RADIO
Thur, April 6 7:30pm at SEA Climate Pledge Arena Bally Sports Arizona Extra 92.3 FM
Sat, April 8 2:30pm vs ANA Mullett Arena Bally Sports Arizona Extra ESPN 620
Mon, April 10 7pm vs SEA Mullett Arena Bally Sports Arizona Extra ESPN 620
YOTES & KRAKEN
- Tonight is the first of three ARI-SEA matchups this season. They’ll play again at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday and conclude the season series at Mullett on 4/10
- The Yotes edged Seattle by a 2-1-0 clip last year in the season series, the Kraken’s inaugural campaign…ARI holds a +2 (12-10) goal differential against the Kraken from last season
- Nick Schmaltz played in two of the games last season and managed to tally three goals, including two the last time the Coyotes were in Seattle (2/9/22)…His second goal was his 200th career point
- Lawson Crouse also tallied a two-goal game against the Kraken, his coming on 11/6/21 – his first career multi-goal game
SCORING NOTABLES AGAINST THE KRAKEN
Clayton Keller…0-3-3…3 career GP
Lawson Crouse…2-0-2…3 career GP
Travis Boyd…1-0-1…3 career GP
Nick Schmaltz…3-0-3…2 career GP
Connor Mackey…0-1-1…2 career GP
Career Leaders
Goals (Schmaltz, 3)… Assists (Keller, 3)…Points (Keller/Schmaltz, 3)
Career Leaders Among Defensemen
Goals (-)… Assists (Moser/Mackey, 1)…Points (Moser/Mackey, 1)
SEATTLE KRAKEN NOTES:
LAST GAME
Los Angeles 3 at Seattle 1
Goals: Bjorkstrand
Goalie: Jones (16/18)
PP: 1/2 PK: 1/1 Shots: Los Angeles 19 – Seattle 26
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 216)
Joonas Donskoi (upper body; IR) – 75 games – no timeline for return
Andre Burakovsky (lower body) – 25 games – week-to-week
John Hayden (lower body) – 6 games – week-to-week
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, April 4: Seattle at Vancouver, 7 p.m. PT
Thursday, April 6: Arizona at Seattle, 7 p.m. PT
Saturday, April 8: Chicago at Seattle, 7 p.m. PT
Monday, April 10: Seattle at Arizona, 7 p.m. PT
Tuesday, April 11: Seattle at Vegas, 7 p.m. PT
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Tonight’s matchup is the first of three games Seattle will play against Arizona this season. The Coyotes are only team this season that the Kraken have yet to play a game against.
• Tonight’s game is also the 21st of 25 games the Kraken will play against Central Division teams this season, with Seattle holding an 10-4-6 record against the Central Division this year.
• Tonight’s game against the Coyotes and tomorrow’s game against the Canucks is the seventh of eight back-to-back sets the team will play this season and the third of which where the set is a home and road split.
• The Kraken have allowed 20 or fewer shots in each of their last four games played, the longest such streak in franchise history. Seattle is averaging 27.2 shots against per game this season, which was the second-best mark in the NHL entering play Sunday, trailing only the Carolina Hurricanes (25.9).
• Seattle has seven players on its roster that have appeared in all 75 of the team’s games: Oliver Bjorkstrand, Will Borgen, Vince Dunn, Jordan Eberle, Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson and Brandon Tanev. Entering play Sunday, only three other teams (Calgary [8], Dallas [8], NY Rangers [7]) have had as many or more players appear in each of their games this season.
• Vince Dunn, who has already set a career high with 61 points (13 goals, 48 assists) this season, enters tonight’s game as the Kraken’s leading scorer. He was ranked in the top 15 among all NHL defensemen in goals (tied 10th), assists (11th), points (10th), even-strength goals (13, tied second) and even-strength points (46, second) entering play Sunday. Dunn enters tonight’s game two points shy of totaling 200 career points. When he reaches the milestone, he will become the 22nd skater and fifth defenseman from the 2015 NHL draft class to record 200 NHL points.
• With the Kraken’s four-goal outing in their game on March 3 against Columbus, they surpassed their goal total from all of last season in 20 fewer games. Seattle has scored 259 goals in 75 games this season compared to 213 goals in 2021-22. The team’s 259 goals this season were tied for seventh in the NHL entering play Sunday.
• Jordan Eberle’s goal in the Kraken’s game on March 3 at Columbus was his 50th point of the season. It is the sixth time in his career and first time since 2017-18 that Eberle has recorded 50 or more points in a season.
SEATTLE SHOWDOWN
• Tonight’s game is the third of seven times this season that the Kraken will be playing the same day as the Mariners, and also the final of three times the Kraken and Mariners will be playing in Seattle on the same day. The teams both played in Seattle on March 30 and on April 1. Since the start of last season, the Kraken have played on the same day as the Mariners 12 times, owning a 4-8-0 record in those games.
• The Kraken and Mariners have won on the same day twice. The Kraken defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on April 20, 2022, the same day the Mariners topped the Texas Rangers 4-2. The Kraken then won their game on March 30, a 4-1 victory over the Ducks, overlapping with the Mariners’ 3-0 opening-day win over the Cleveland Guardians.
• After tonight, the Kraken and Mariners will play on the same day four more times during the regular season this year: On April 3, 4, 8, 10 and 11.
• The Kraken have yet to play opponents from the same city on the same day
