OTTAWA SENATORS NOTES:
INJURY REPORT:
Forwards Rourke Chartier and Mathieu Joseph are on IR and won’t oppose the Kraken this evening.
Total man-games lost: 84.
OTTAWA vs. SEATTLE – History:
2023-24 (1-0-0): Dec. 2 @ Ottawa (2-0 win), Jan. 4 @ Seattle
2022-23 (1-1-0): 1/7/23 @ Ottawa (8-4 loss), 3/9/23 @ Seattle (5-4 win)
Series record: Overall: 3-2-0-0; Home: 2-1-0-0; Away: 1-1-0-0
Last Ottawa win: @ Ottawa: Dec. 2 (2-0); @ Seattle: 3/9/23 (5-4)
Last Seattle win: @ Ottawa: 1/7/23 (8-4); @ Seattle: 4/18/22 (4-2)
Last OT result: 3/10/22 (4-3 OT win) @ Ottawa
Last shootout: None
Most goals, game: Scored: 5, (3/9/23, 5-4 win); Allowed: 8, (1/7/23, 8-4 loss); Both teams: 12, (1/7/23, 8-4 loss)
Last Game: Dec. 2, 2-0 win @ Ottawa; OTT Goals: Joseph, Batherson; SEA Goals: None; OTT Scratch: Highmore; OTT Injuries: Greig, Kastelic; OTT Goalie: Forsberg; SEA Goalie: Daccord; OTT PP: 0-3; SEA PP: 0-3; Shots: 28-39.
Career vs. Seattle: Kubalik and Tarasenko are tied for the lead in career games played (six); Tkachuk and Stützle are tied for the lead in goals (three); Stützle and Tarasenko are tied for the lead in assists (five); Stützle leads in points (eight); Kelly and Kubalik are tied for the lead in penalty minutes (six) against Seattle
ROAD SCHOLARS:
The Senators have a record of 4-9-0 on the road this season … Drake Batherson, Dominik Kubalik and Claude Giroux are tied for the team lead with six goals each on the road this season … Tim Stützle maintains the road assist lead with 13 to date this season … Stützle (three goals, 13 assists) is the team’s road scoring leader with 16 points while the Senators have served as visitors in 2023-24 … Ottawa registered a 15-21-5 record in 2022-23.
BACK-TO-BACK GAMES:
The Senators will play back-to-back games on 14 occasions in 2023-24. The fifth set is scheduled to begin when the team hosts Winnipeg for the only time this season on Jan. 20 before it heads to Philadelphia to oppose the Flyers the following afternoon … The Senators played 12 back-toback sets last season and earned a record of 7-5-0 in the first half of contests on consecutive nights (2-2- 0 this season) while posting an 6-5-1 record (2-2-0 this season) in the second half of games on consecutive days.
ON THE POWER PLAY:
The Senators are 22-for-126 (17.5%) on the power play in 2023-24 … Josh Norris maintains the team lead with five power-play goals … Jakob Chychrun owns the power-play assist lead with eight to date this season … Chychrun (two goals, eight assists) holds the team lead with 10 points on the power play this season … Ottawa has tallied multiple power-play goals in an individual contest on three occasions this season after having done so 18 times in 2022-23 … The Senators were 72-for-306 (23.5%) on the power play in 2022-23.
ON THE PENALTY KILL:
Ottawa has allowed 32 power-play goals this season while having overcome 80 of 112 shorthanded situations to maintain an efficiency rating of 71.4% … Parker Kelly’s first two shorthanded goals of his career account for the team’s two shorthanded tallies in 2023-24 after it notched nine such markers in both of the past two seasons.
SEATTLE KRAKEN NOTES:
CURRENT INJURIES – (MAN GAMES LOST: 86)
Jaden Schwartz (upper body; LTIR) – 16 games – day-to-day
Philipp Grubauer (no designation; IR) – 10 games – week-to-week
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (lower body; IR) – 5 games – week-to-week
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
Jan. 2, 2023: Placed defenseman Jaycob Megna on waivers with the intent to reassign him to Coachella Valley (AHL)
Jan. 3, 2023: Defenseman Jaycob Megna claimed off waivers by Chicago
GAME NOTES
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Tonight is the final game the Kraken will play at home before embarking on a six-game road trip, the team’s longest road trip of the season. • A win or overtime loss tonight would give the Kraken points in six consecutive home game for the first time in franchise history. • Yanni Gourde and Jared McCann both enter tonight’s game three points shy of totaling 300 career points. o When Gourde reaches the milestone, he will become the seventh active, undrafted player to record 300 NHL points. o McCann, who was selected by Vancouver with the 24th-overall pick in the 2014 draft, is on pace to become the 12th player from his draft class to reach the 300-point milestone. • The line of Matty Beniers, Jordan Eberle and Tomas Tatar have played 71:43 of 5-on-5 ice time together since Tatar was acquired in a trade from Colorado on Dec. 15. When the trio has been on the ice during 5-on-5 play since Dec. 15, the Kraken have outscored their opponents 5-0, outshot them 46-36 and have 23 high-danger scoring chances for to their opponents’ 23. • If he plays, tonight will mark Joey Daccord’s second career game against Ottawa. He was originally selected by the Senators in the seventh round (199th overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft and was a member of the Senators organization until he was selected by the Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. o Daccord, who played three seasons of collegiate hockey at Arizona State University, became the first player in program history to sign an NHL entry-level contract when he did so on April 1, 2019 with the Senators.
INSTANT CLASSIC
• The Kraken defeated the Golden Knights 3-0 in the 2024 Discover Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park in front of a sold-out crowd of 47,313 people. The event marked the first NHL outdoor game ever to be played in Seattle. • Seattle became the second team in NHL history to defeat a reigning Stanley Cup champion in a regular-season outdoor game, following the Wild in the 2016 Stadium Series at TCF Bank Stadium, according to NHL Stats. • Joey Daccord became the first goalie in Winter Classic history and the fifth goalie in NHL history to record a shutout during an outdoor game. It extended his point streak to nine games, setting a franchise record for the longest point streak by a goalie passing Martin Jones’ previous record from Jan. 1 to 14, 2023. • According to NHL Stats, Seattle became the third franchise in League history with a shutout win in its outdoor game debut, following Anaheim in the 2014 Stadium Series at Dodger Stadium and Calgary in the 2011 Heritage Classic at McMahon Stadium. • With the opening and eventually game-winning goal of the Winter Classic, Eeli Tolvanen registered his 100th career point. He’s the 15th skater from the 2017 NHL Draft class to total 100 career points.
A-OKAY
• Joey Daccord has stopped 241 of the 252 shots he has faced in his last eight games played, posting a 6-0-2 record with a 0.956 save percentage, a 1.35 goals-against average and two shutouts during that span. o Daccord’s success during that span comes despite the Kraken being outshot 253-216 in those games. • His 0.956 save percentage is the best of any goaltender since Dec. 12 and his 1.35 goals-against average during that span tops all goalies that have started at least three games. • Daccord has won each of the last four games he has played, which was tied for the longest active win streak in the NHL entering play Wednesday. If Daccord wins his next game, it would make him the first Seattle goaltender to win five consecutive games since Martin Jones won a franchise-record seven straight from Jan. 1 to 14, 2023. • He has not allowed a goal against in the last 106:14 of game play. If he does not allow a goal against in the next 9:05 he plays, he will set a record for the longest shutout streak in franchise history, which is currently owned by Martin Jones (115:18; Oct. 29 to Nov. 5, 2022). • According to Natural Stat Trick, Daccord has saved 13.34 goals above average this season, which ranked second in the NHL entering play Wednesday. He trailed only Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck (17.20) for the league lead. • Among goaltenders that have started at least 10 games this season, Daccord ranked in the top 10 in goals-against average (2.35, sixth) and save percentage (0.919, tied seventh) entering play Wednesday. • Daccord’s nine wins in December tied Martin Jones (January 2023) for the most wins by a goaltender in a single month in franchise history. o His .939 save percentage and 1.80 goals-against average in December 2023 were both the third-best mark by a Kraken goaltender in a single month in franchise history, trailing only Philipp Grubauer who played four games in both January 2023 (.940 SV%, 1.72 GAA) and April 2023 (.941 SV%, 1.40 GAA). • Daccord made 42 saves in Seattle’s game on Dec. 20 at Los Angeles, tying the franchise record for saves in a game, a record he previously set on Oct. 28 against the Florida Panthers. • Daccord recorded his first NHL shutout in Seattle’s game on Dec. 12, making 24 saves to blank the Florida Panthers 4-0. It was only the second-ever shutout at Climate Pledge Arena and the first since Chris Driedger made 24 saves against the San Jose Sharks on April 29, 2022. • He then posted the second shutout of his career with 35 saves on Jan. 1, 2024 against Vegas. It marked the first shutout ever in the history of the Winter Classic. His 35 saves were the most in a shutout in franchise history, surpassing Philipp Grubauer’s 29 in Seattle’s 2-0 win over Seattle on April 7, 2022. • If Daccord records a third shutout this year, it will tie the franchise record for most shutouts by a Kraken goaltender in a single season, which Martin Jones set last year. • Daccord has already set NHL career highs this season in games played (23), games started (20) and wins (nine). His .919 save percentage and 2.35 goals-against average are currently the best marks of his career.
