OTTAWA SENATORS NOTES:
LAST GAME: March 6, 5-0 loss at Chicago: Stalock stopped each of the 35 shots he faced to record his 11th career shutout in Ottawa’s 5-0 loss at United Center. It marked the Senators’ 10th consecutive loss to Chicago. The home side was paced by Seth Jones who scored twice the span of 3:29 during the second period to extend his goal streak to three games. Kurashev, Dickinson and Reichel also found the back for Chicago as Ottawa began their longest road trip of the season which comprises five games against Western Conference opponents over eight days. The game saw the return of DeBrincat to the city where he spent his first five NHL seasons. Sogaard took the loss for the Senators in making 16 saves. Scratches: Brown, Holden, Kelly; Injuries: Forsberg, Norris, Talbot; Shots: OTT – 35, CHI – 21; PP: OTT – 0-4, CHI – 0-5.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: This evening’s game against Seattle 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 Vancouver on Saturday evening at 10 p.m. ET. The contest will mark the second of two regular-season meetings and the lone matchup at Rogers Arena.
INJURY REPORT: G Forsberg, C Norris and G Talbot are on IR and will not oppose the Kraken this evening. Total man-games lost: 218.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS: Recalled G Mandolese from Belleville (AHL) on March 6.
OTTAWA vs. SEATTLE – History:
2022-23 (0-1-0): Jan. 7 @ Ottawa (8-4 loss), March 9 @ Seattle
2021-22 (1-1-0): 3/10/22 @ Ottawa (4-3 OT win), 4/18/22 @ Seattle (4-2 loss)
Series record: Overall: 1-2-0-0; Home: 1-1-0-0; Away: 0-1-0-0
Last Ottawa win: @ Ottawa: 3/10/22 (4-3 OT); @ Seattle: None
Last Seattle win: @ Ottawa: Jan. 7 (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: 4, (2x, Last: Jan. 7, 8-4 loss); Allowed: 8, (Jan. 7, 8-4 loss); Both teams: 12, (Jan. 7, 8-4 loss)
Last Game: Jan. 7, 8-4 loss @ Ottawa; OTT Goals: Stützle (x3), Tkachuk; SEA Goals: Bjorkstrand, McCann, Schultz, Sprong, Beniers, Dunn, Eberle, Burakovsky; OTT Scratches: None; OTT Injuries: Chariter, Joseph, Motte, Norris, Zaitsev; OTT Goalie: Forsberg (3 GA, 15:13), Talbot (5 GA, L, 44:17); SEA Goalie: Jones; OTT PP: 1-3; SEA PP: 0-1; Shots: 23-24.
Career vs. Seattle: DeBrincat leads all players in career games played (four); Tkachuk and Stützle are tied for the lead in goals (three); Chabot leads in assists (three); Stützle leads in points (five); Kelly leads in penalty minutes (six) against Seattle.
ROAD SCHOLARS: The Senators have a record of 13-15-2 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 30 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 237 (24.5%) 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 192 of the 231 occasions the team has been shorthanded in 2022-23 to maintain an efficiency of 83.1% through 63 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.
SEATTLE KRAKEN NOTES:
LAST GAME
Anaheim 2 at Seattle 5
Goals: Oleksiak, McCann, Sprong, Tolvanen, Schwartz
Goalie: Grubauer (20/22)
PP: 1/2 PK: 3/3 Shots: Anaheim 22 – Seattle 31
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 166)
Joonas Donskoi (upper body; IR) – 64 games – no timeline for return
Andre Burakovsky (lower body) – 14 games – week-to-week
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, March 11: Dallas at Seattle, 7 p.m. PT
Monday, March 13: Dallas at Seattle, 7 p.m. PT
Thursday, March 16: Seattle at San Jose, 7:30 p.m. PT
Saturday, March 18: Edmonton at Seattle, 1 p.m. PT
Tuesday, March21: Seattle at Dallas, 5:30 p.m.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Tonight’s matchup is the second and final the Kraken will play against the Senators this season and the first time the teams are playing in Seattle this year.
• A win or an overtime loss would give the Kraken points in four consecutive games against Ottawa. The team is 2-0-1 all-time against the Senators. The Senators are one of four teams that the Kraken have never lost to in regulation, the others being the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings.
• A win tonight would also give the Kraken their sixth sweep of the season after having previously swept the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Seattle topped Ottawa 8-4 in the two teams’ first meeting of the season on Jan. 7.
• The team’s five-game winning streak was the second longest in the NHL entering play Wednesday, trailing only the Boston Bruins, who have won 10 consecutive games. A win tonight would give the Kraken their third winning streak of at least six games this season.
• Tonight’s matchup is the final game the Kraken will play against an Atlantic Division team this season. Seattle has a 9-6-0 record against the Atlantic Division this year.
• 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 220 goals in 63 games this season compared to 213 goals in 2021-22. The team’s 225 goals this season were tied for the fourth-most in the NHL entering play Wednesday, trailing only the Edmonton Oilers (251), Boston Bruins (235) and Buffalo Sabres (232).
• Since the start of the New Year, the Kraken are ranked second the league in wins (19), points (40, tied) and goals (108) entering play Wednesday.
• Alex Wennberg is just one point shy of totaling 300 NHL points. When he reaches the milestone, he will become the 22nd active, Swedish skater and the 11th player from the 2013 draft class to total at least 300 career points.
• 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.
• Vince Dunn, who has already set a career high with 49 points (11 goals, 38 assists) this season, was ranked in the top 15
among all NHL defensemen in goals (tied 11th), assists (tied ninth), points (11th), even-strength goals (11, third) and even-strength points (35, tied fourth) entering play Wednesday.
• Entering play Wednesday, Alex Wennberg was tied for third in the NHL with 67 takeaways this season. With only 19 giveaways this year, Wennberg has a plus-48 takeaway to giveaway ratio, which topped the NHL entering play Wednesday. Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand both have a plus-32 takeaway to giveaway ratio, which was tied for the fifth-best mark in the NHL entering play Wednesday.
UNSEATING THE SENATORS
• Matty Beniers has scored in each of the two career games he has played against the Senators and has three career points (two goals, one assist) in total against Ottawa.
• Vince Dunn has eight points (two goals, six assists) in eight career games against the Senators. He has recorded at least a point in each of Seattle’s three meetings with the Senators since the start of the 2021-22 season, totaling six points (one goal, five assists) in those games.
• Jordan Eberle has five points (one goal, four assists) in his last four games played against Ottawa, including tallying three points (one goal, two assists) in the two teams’ last meeting on Jan. 7. Eberle scored his 100th NHL goal on Nov. 13, 2014 against the Senators.
• Philipp Grubauer has won his last four games against Ottawa dating back to Feb. 27, 2018. He has a career record of 5-2-0 with a .945 save percentage and a 1.72 goals-against average against the Senators.
• Adam Larsson has three assists in three games against Ottawa since becoming a member of the Kraken.
• Jared McCann has scored in each of the three games the Kraken have played against the Senators since the start of 2021-22.
• Daniel Sprong has scored in each of the two games he has played against Ottawa since being traded to Seattle. He has three points (two goals, one assist) in total in those two games.
