OTTAWA SENATORS NOTES:
LAST GAME: March 4, 5-2 win vs. Columbus: The Senators scored at least five goals for a fifth consecutive game to establish their first five-game winning streak since the 2016-17 season with a 5-2 win at Canadian Tire Centre. The home side saw five skaters realize multi-point contests powered by Hamonic who registered two goals for the first time in his NHL career while skating in his 780th career regular season game. Stützle also registered two goals (including the second shorthanded goal of his career) to reach the 30-goal mark and establishing a new career-high with a marker in a fourth consecutive game. Chychrun (in his first home with Ottawa) added one goal and one assist while Joseph and Sanderson earned two assist nights. Roslovic and Laine scored for Columbus as Ottawa earned a third consecutive win against the Blue Jackets. Talbot earned the win for Ottawa with 19 saves. Merzlikins made 19 saves on 23 shots before being replaced by Hutchinson who allowed one goal on 16 shots in 36:56 of action. Scratches: Brown, Holden, Kelly; Injuries: Forsberg, Norris; Shots: OTT – 39, CBJ – 21; PP: OTT – 0-2, CBJ – 1-2.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: This evening’s game against Chicago will be broadcast regionally on TSN5 and RDS. On the radio, the game will be available locally via TSN 1200 (English) and 94,5 Unique-FM (French).
WHAT’S NEXT: Ottawa continues a five-game road trip at Seattle on Thursday evening at 10 p.m. ET. The contest will mark the second of two regular-season meetings and the lone matchup at Climate Pledge Arena.
INJURY REPORT: G Forsberg and C Norris are on IR and will not oppose the Blackhawks this evening. Total man-games lost: 215.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS: Acquired C Brown from Philadelphia for a draft pick on March 3.
OTTAWA vs. CHICAGO – History:
2022-23 (0-0-1): Feb. 17 @ Ottawa (4-3 OT loss), March 6 @ Chicago
2021-22 (0-2-0): 11/1/21 @ Chicago (5-1 loss), 3/12/22 @ Ottawa (6-3 loss)
Series record: Overall: 10-19-2-9; Home: 7-9-0-6; Away: 3-10-2-3
Last Ottawa win: @ Ottawa: 2/3/15 (4-3 OT); @ Chicago: 12/20/16 (4-3)
Last Chicago win: @ Ottawa: Feb. 17 (4-3 OT); @ Chicago: 11/1/21 (5-1)
Last OT result: Feb. 17 (4-3 OT loss) @ Ottawa
Last shootout: 2/21/18 (3-2 SO loss) @ Chicago
Most goals, game: Scored: 7, (2/18/19, 8-7 loss); Allowed: 8, (2x, Last: 2/18/19, 8-7 loss); Both teams: 15, (2/18/19, 8-7 loss)
Last Game: Feb. 17, 4-3 OT loss @ Ottawa; OTT Goals: Pinto, Giroux, Tkachuk; CHI Goals: Kane (x2), Lafferty, Athanasiou; OTT Scratches: None; OTT Injuries: Forsberg, Holden, Norris, Sanderson, Talbot, Watson*; OTT Goalie: Sogaard; CHI Goalie: Mrazek; OTT PP: 0-3; CHI PP: 0-3; Shots: 32-31.
Career vs. Chicago: Brassard leads all players in career games played (41) and in goals (13); Giroux leads in assists (18) and in points (25); Kelly leads in penalty minutes (15) against Chicago.
SWEATER WEATHER: The Senators enter their third season of wearing a primary logo which sees the organization return to its roots with the implementation of the modified original “2D” logo. The team has earned a 83-92-15 all-time record (28-25-4 this season) while wearing its current sweater. Ottawa unveiled their Reverse Retro jersey on Oct. 20 and wore the sweater on five occasions in 2022-23 (4-1-0 this season). The Senators hold an all-time record of 116-76-7-25 when wearing an alternate; 27-19-2-5 when wearing a red alternate, 88-56-5-19 when wearing a black alternate and 1-1-0-1 when wearing a cream alternate.
ROAD SCHOLARS: The Senators have a record of 13-14-2 on the road this season … Brady Tkachuk leads with 12 goals on the road this season while also ranking first with 19 assists while the Senators serve as visitors … Through 29 road games this season, Tkachuk maintains the club lead with 31 points … The Senators registered an 18-20-3 record over 41 road contests in 2021-22.
BACK-TO-BACK GAMES: Ottawa will play back-to-back games on 12 occasions in 2022-23 and will open their 10th set of the season on Saturday when the team visits Vancouver ahead of visiting Calgary the following evening … The Senators played 17 back-to-back sets last season and earned a record of 6-9-2 in the first half of contests on consecutive nights (6-3-0 this season) while posting an 8-8-1 record (6-3-0 this season) in the second half of games on consecutive days.
ON THE POWER PLAY: The Senators are 58 for 233 (24.9%) on the power-play in 2022-23 … Drake Batherson leads with 12 powerplay goals while Alex DeBrincat maintains the club lead with 25 points while the team enjoys a man advantage … Ottawa has recorded multiple power-play goals 15 times in an individual contest in 2022-23 after having done so 11 times in 2021-22.
ON THE PENALTY KILL: Ottawa has overcome 187 of the 226 occasions the team has been shorthanded in 2022-23 to maintain an efficiency of 82.7% through 62 regular-season games … The team has registered seven (Watson x3, Joseph x2, Motte, Stützle) shorthanded markers this season after recording nine such goals in 2021-22.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV: NBCSCH – Chris Vosters (PxP), Troy Murray (analyst) and Caley Chelios (analyst)
RADIO: WGN-AM 720 – John Wiedeman (PxP) and Joe Brand (analyst)
SPANISH RADIO: Univision Sports Radio 1200 AM – Miguel Esparza (PxP) and Jorge Moreno (analyst)
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 8 at DET, 6:30 p.m. CT (TNT, WGN Radio)
Friday, March 10 at FLA, 6:00 p.m. CT (NBCSCH, WGN Radio)
Saturday, March 11 at TBL, 6:00 p.m. CT (NBCSCH, WGN Radio)
Tuesday, March 14 vs. BOS, 7:30 p.m. CT (NBCSCH, WGN Radio, Univision (Spanish))
Thursday, March 16 at NSH, 7:00 p.m. CT (ESPN+/Hulu, WGN Radio)
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
March 3 – Recalled Anders Bjork from Rockford … Activated MacKenzie Entwistle from IR … Activated Nikita Zaitsev from non-roster … Assigned David Gust, Brett Seney and Isaak Phillips to Rockford … Feb. 27 – Activated Jarred Tinordi from IR … Feb. 26 – Activated Alex Stalock off IR and assigned Jaxson Stauber to Rockford … Feb. 25 – Placed Reese Johnson on IR retroactive to Feb. 20 … Activated Jujhar Khaira from IR … Feb. 23 – Signed David Gust to a two-year, two-way contract and recalled him from Rockford … Feb. 21 – Placed MacKenzie Entwistle on IR.
LAST TIME OUT
Score: Chicago (1) vs. Nashville (3) – Sat., March 4 – United Center
CHI Goals: Jones (8)
NSH Goals: Tomasino (2; PP), Barrie (11), Sissons (10; EN)
Goalies: CHI – Mrazek (22/24, 58:28) NSH – Saros (27/28, 59:09)
CHI PP: 0/2; PK: 2/3
NSH PP: 1/3; PK: 2/2
Recap: The Blackhawks fell to the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Saturday at the United Center … Seth Jones scored the lone goal just 37 seconds into the game, giving him tallies in consecutive games … His goal is the fastest game-opening goal by a Blackhawks defenseman since Brent Seabrook (0:34) on Feb. 6, 2016 … Andreas Athanasiou notched an assist, the 100th of his NHL career … Lukas Reichel also tallied an assist, his third of the season … Andreas Englund posted a career-best nine hits.
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – OTTAWA SENATORS
The Blackhawks face the Senators in their final of two matchups this season … Chicago has won their last nine-straight games against Ottawa and have points in 16 of their last 18 games against them (15-2-1) … The Blackhawks have won seven of their last eight games against the Senators at the United Center, including their last three … Andreas Athanasiou has points in his last three games against Ottawa (2G, 1A) and five points over his last five games (4G, 2A) … Andreas Englund was originally drafted by Ottawa in the second round (40th overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft, playing in 33 games and notching three assists … Nikita Zaitsev played in 203 career games with the Senators from 2019-23, nothing 45 points (7G, 38A) … Head Coach Luke Richardson hails from Ottawa, Ontario and served as an assistant coach with the Senators from 2009-12.
2022-23 Schedule/Results: HOME: March 6 | AWAY: Feb. 17 (4-3 OT)
All-Time Record: 28-9-3 | Home: 13-3-2 | Road: 15-6-1
Last Home Win: Nov. 1, 2021 (5-1) | Last Road Win: Feb. 17, 2023 (4-3 OT)| Last Home Loss: Dec. 20,
2016 (3-4) Last Road Loss: Dec. 3, 2015 (3-4 OT)
ACTIVE BLACKHAWKS VS. OTT ALL-TIME
GOALS: Tyler Johnson, 9; Andreas Athanasiou, 8; Caleb Jones/Jujhar Khaira, 2
ASSISTS: Seth Jones, 15; Tyler Johnson, 13; Connor Murphy/Jujhar Khaira, 3
POINTS: Tyler Johnson, 22; Seth Jones, 16; Andreas Athanasiou, 10
BLACKHAWKS RECORD ON…
One-Day Rest: 12-15-1
Two-Days Rest: 4-4-0
Three+ Days Rest: 2-2-2
First Game of a B2B: 2-6-1
Second Game of a B2B: 1-9-1
BLACKHAWKS RECORD BY DAY
Monday: 0-2-0
Tuesday: 3-8-1
Wednesday: 1-6-0
Thursday: 4-5-1
Friday: 5-2-1
Saturday: 5-7-1
Sunday: 3-6-1
