OTTAWA SENATORS NOTES:
LAST GAME: Nov. 19, 5-1 loss vs. New Jersey: The Devils registered their 12th consecutive win (and eighth consecutive road victory) with a 5-1 defeat of the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre. The streak sits as the second longest in New Jersey franchise history and saw the club become the first American-based franchise to ever record a road winning streak of six-plus games, all against Canadian teams. Goals from Haula, Bastian and Boqvist saw the visitors with a 3-0 advantage by the 3:00 mark of the second period. Brassard’s second of the season pulled Ottawa to within two before a shorthanded tally from Sharangovich and an empty net marker from McLeod pushed New Jersey to the victory. Schmid earned the win for New Jersey in turning aside 25 shots. Forsberg started for Ottawa and took the loss by way of making 15 saves in 17:45 of action before being replaced by Talbot who stopped 16 of 17 shots in relief. Scratches: Kastelic, Larsson; Injuries: Chabot, Norris; Shots: OTT – 26, NJD – 36; PP: OTT – 0-2, NJD – 1-4.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: This evening’s game against San Jose 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 four-game road trip against Vegas on Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST. The contest will mark the second of two regular-season meetings and the lone matchup at T-Mobile Arena.
INJURY REPORT: D Bernard-Docker, D Chabot and C Norris are on IR and will not oppose the Sharks this evening. Total man games lost: 34.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS: Assigned D Zaitsev to Belleville (AHL) on Nov. 18.
OTTAWA vs. SAN JOSE – History:
2022-23 (0-0-0): Nov. 21 @ San Jose, Dec. 3 @ Ottawa
2021-22 (0-2-0): 10/21/21 @ Ottawa (2-1 loss), 11/24/21 @ San Jose (6-3 loss)
Series record: Overall: 18-16-4-2; Home: 9-6-4-1; Away: 9-10-0-1
Last Ottawa win: @ Ottawa: 10/27/19 (5-2); @ San Jose: 3/7/20 (2-1 OT)
Last San Jose win: @ Ottawa: 10/21/21 (2-1); @ San Jose: 11/24/21 (6-3)
Last OT result: 3/7/20 (2-1 OT win) @ San Jose
Last shootout: 12/14/16 (4-3 SO loss) @ Ottawa
Most goals, game: Scored: 9, (12/19/02, 9-3 win); Allowed: 5, (5x, Last: 1/5/18, 6-5 OT win); Both teams: 12, (2x, Last: 12/19/02, 9-3 win)
Last Game: 11/24/21, 6-3 loss @ San Jose; OTT Goals: Norris, Tkachuk, C. Brown; SJS Goals: Nieto, Hertl, Bonino, Meier, Couture, Middleton; OTT Scratches: Del Zotto, Gustavsson, Shaw; OTT Injuries: Batherson*, Brannstrom, J. Brown, Pinto, White; OTT Goalie: Murray; SJS Goalie: Reimer; OTT PP: 0-4; SJS PP: 1-5; Shots: 29-29.
Career vs. San Jose: Brassard leads all players in career games played (40), in assists (17) and in points (20); Grioux leads in goals (eight); Watson leads in penalty minutes (38) against San Jose.
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 61-77-12 all-time record (6-10-1 this season) while wearing its current sweater. Ottawa unveiled their Reverse Retro jersey on Oct. 20 and will wear the sweater on five occasions in 2022-23 (0-0-0 this season). The Senators hold an all-time record of 112-75-7-25 when wearing an alternate; 27-19-2-5 when wearing a red alternate, 84-55-5-19 when wearing a black alternate and 1-1-0-1 when wearing a cream alternate.
HOME ON THE RANGE: Ottawa has a record of 5-6-0 at home this season … Claude Giroux is the Senators leader with six goals at home while Tim Stützle and Brady Tkachuk maintain the club lead with 10 assists at Canadian Tire Centre … Through 11 home games, Stützle and Tkachuk lead the team with 15 points on home ice … The Senators earned a record of 15-22-4 at home through 41 home contests in 2021-22.
ROAD SCHOLARS: The Senators have a record of 1-4-1 on the road this season … Shane Pinto leads with four goals on the road this season while Giroux ranks first with five assists while the Senators serve as visitors … Through six road games this season, Giroux maintains the club lead with seven points … The Senators registered an 18-20-3 record over 41 road contests in 2021-22.
FRANCHISE RECORD: Ottawa has posted an all-time record of 1,010-992-115-177 over 2,294 games … The Senators are 553-441-60-97 through 1,151 all-time home games and 457-551-55-80 through 1,143 all-time road games.
BACK-TO-BACK GAMES: Ottawa will play back-to-back games on 12 occasions in 2022-23 and will do so for the first time on Dec. 2 when the team visits the N.Y. Rangers ahead of welcoming San Jose to Canadian Tire Centre 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 (0-0-0 this season) while posting an 8-8-1 record (0-0-0 this season) in the second half of games on consecutive days.
ON THE POWER PLAY: The Senators are 14 for 63 (22.2%) on the power-play in 2022-23 … Drake Batherson and Pinto lead with three power-play goals while Alex DeBrincat, Giroux and Tkachuk maintain the club lead with six points while the team enjoys a man advantage … Ottawa has recorded multiple power-play goals three times in an individual contest in 2022-23 after having done so 11 times in 2021-22.
ON THE PENALTY KILL: Ottawa has overcome 53 of the 68 occasions the team has been shorthanded in 2022-23 to maintain an efficiency of 77.9% through 17 regular-season games … The team has registered one (Joseph) shorthanded marker this season after recording nine such goals in 2021-22.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
COACH SMITH: D.J. Smith was introduced as the Senators’ 14th head coach in franchise history on 5/23/19. A native of Windsor, Ont., Smith spent the four previous NHL seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Prior to joining the Maple Leafs (which was also the team for which he made his NHL playing debut in 1996-97), Smith guided the Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa Generals to a record of 135-53-3-13 over three campaigns which included his having been recognized as the OHL’s Coach of the Year in 2013- 14. One year later, he helped the team capture the Mastercard Memorial Cup. His 87 head coaching victories with Ottawa see him rank sixth in franchise history.
SECOND SEASON AS CAPTAIN FOR CHUCKY: Two-time NHL All-Star Brady Tkachuk was appointed the 10th captain in Senators franchise history on 11/5/21. A native of St. Louis, Tkachuk succeeded Erik Karlsson who served in the role for four seasons from 2014-15 to 2017-18. The bronze medal winner with Team U.S.A. at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship is the first American-born skater to serve as team captain. Tkachuk is assisted by full-time alternates Thomas Chabot and Claude Giroux.
STALKING VICTORY IN SAN JOSE: Ottawa will be looking for their first win at San Jose since the 2019-20 season this evening when they take on the Sharks. A 2-1 overtime victory by Ottawa on 3/7/20 saw Ottawa earn a franchise record third consecutive win over San Jose at SAP Center in what was the club’s third to last game prior to the COVID-19 league postponement. Goals from Nick Paul and Chris Tierney powered the Senators to victory in sending the team to a home-and-home sweep of the Sharks for the fifth time in franchise history. Ottawa’s nine all-time wins in San Jose mark their most against any of the California-based teams while their 18 total wins against the Sharks are also the Sens’ most against any of the left coast teams.
ALL-TIME LEADERS: Chris Phillips is the Senators’ all-time leader in games played (1,179) … Daniel Alfredsson leads in goals (426), assists (682) and points (1,108) … Following Phillips is Alfredsson (1,178), Chris Neil (1,026), Wade Redden (838), Radek Bonk (689), Jason Spezza (686) and Mike Fisher (675) … Neil leads in penalty minutes (2,522) while Patrick Lalime holds the lead in shutouts (30) and ranks second (283) to Craig Anderson (435) in games played among goaltenders. Anderson leads in wins (202).
SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
LAST GAME
Game 20 – 11/19 – SJS 1 vs. NYR 2…James Reimer matched his season high with 41 saves, including stops on the first 40 shots he faced in the game, and Logan Couture (1g, 0a) scored his fifth goal in the past six games in a 2-1 setback against the New York Rangers. Tomas Hertl (0g, 1a) and Timo Meier (0g, 1a) registered assists on San Jose’s lone goal, which came in the final minute of regulation. Mario Ferraro skated in his 200th NHL game.
SJ Goals: Couture (9)
SF: 23
SA: 43
SJ PP: 01
SJ PK: 3/3
W: Shesterkin
L: Reimer
RECENT SHARKS TRANSACTIONS
11/18 Assigned D Scott Harrington to the San Jose Barracuda
11/14 Placed D Radim Simek on IR; recalled D Nick Cicek from the San Jose Barracuda
10/18 Activated F Alexander Barabanov off IR
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: OTTAWA SENATORS
The San Jose Sharks close out their brief three-game home stand against the Ottawa Senators, a club on the first leg of a four-game western trip with stops in San Jose, Vegas (11/23), Anaheim (11/25) and Los Angeles (27). The Senators have alternated wins and losses in their past four and are 2-2-1 in their last five, most recently suffering a 5-1 setback against the New Jersey Devils. Ottawa is paced offensively by Brady Tkachuk with 21 points (7g, 14a), with veteran Claude Giroux (8g, 10a) and third-year pro Tim Stützle (6g, 11a) trailing close behind. Ottawa is 2-3-0 on the year against teams from the Western Conference, all games played at home, with losses in each of the last three.
Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m. PT
SAN JOSE SHARKS vs. OTTAWA SENATORS
6-11-3 (15 pts), 7th in Pacific 2022-23 RECORD 6-10-1 (13 pts), 8th in Atlantic
3-2-0 LAST 5 GAMES 2-2-1
First Meeting SEASON SERIES First Meeting
18-16-4-2 ALL-TIME RECORD AGAINST OPPONENT 18-15-4-3
2022-23 PLAYER STATS
10 players (20) GAMES PLAYED LEADER 12 players (17)
Erik Karlsson (11) GOALS LEADER Shane Pinto & Claude Giroux (8)
Erik Karlsson (17) ASSISTS LEADER Brady Tkachuk (14)
Erik Karlsson (28) POINTS LEADER Brady Tkachuk (21)
STORYLINES
IN RARE ER…Erik Karlsson continued his torrid stretch with his second four-point game (1g, 3a) of the season on Thursday (11/17) against Detroit. It was his second four-point game of the season and seventh of his career, matching him with Roman Josi for most among active defensemen. With his effort, the blue-liner moved to a tie for second in the NHL in scoring as of Friday morning, his 28 points matching the total of Leon Draisaitl (9g, 19a) and trailing only Connor McDavid (15g, 17a). The Sharks blue-liner’s 28 points through 19 games is the second-most since the turn of the century among defensemen, trailing only John Carlson’s 29 (8g, 21a) in the 2019-20 campaign. Karlsson has factored into 28 of 56 goals scored for San Jose this season (50.0-percent). Per NHL PR, the highest-ever rate in the NHL’s modern era (since the 1943-44 season) at which a defenseman factored into team goals for a season was Bobby Orr, 43.3-percent in 1969-70.
IT’S TIMO TIME… Timo Meier’s seven-game scoring streak ended on Sunday (11/13), finishing with a total of seven goals and five assists in the seven-game run. Meier took sole possession of 10th on the Sharks all-time ranks in goals scored with his marker last Thursday (11/10), surpassing Marco Sturm (128). The forward lit the lamp in five consecutive games, matching his career long (previously 10/20/18 – 10/30/18, 6g) with six goals in that span, and with a power play goal at Vegas (11/15) has found the back of the net in seven of the past nine contests. He added an assist on Saturday (11/19) against the New York Rangers to push his scoring marks to 15 points (8g, 7a) in the past 11 games. Meier leads the NHL with 95 shots on goal coming into Monday’s matchup with Ottawa.
HERTL HEATING UP… Tomas Hertl has registered points in six of the past seven games and has four multi-point efforts in the past nine entering 11/21 vs. Ottawa. The forward registered a season-high three points in San Jose’s 11/5 game against the Anaheim Ducks, including a goal and two assists and has 16 points in the team’s previous 15 games dating back to October 20 at New York Rangers. He had goals in three consecutive contests for the first time this season from 11/5 – 11/11 and notched his 400th career NHL point last Friday (11/11) with an assist.
CAPTAIN COUTURE…Logan Couture has been finding his groove on the offensive end, lighting the lamp in five of the past six contests with two multi-point efforts and seven points (5g, 2a) in that span. Since a season-best three-point outing on 10/27 vs. Toronto, Couture has operated at a point-per-game clip over the past 11 contests, claiming seven goals and four assists. He has 17 points and seven goals in 17 games against Ottawa in his career.
CRANK THE POWER… The Sharks’ power play has been hot of late, cashing in on eight of 27 (29.6%) trips to the man-advantage since the start of a six-game home stand on October 25, the sixth-best in the NHL in that span. San Jose has gone empty in four games in that stretch, including Nov. 10 at St. Louis when the team had zero power play opportunities. The game-winning goal Thursday (11/15) at Vegas came from Timo Meier on the power play.
PRIME PENALTY KILL…San Jose killed off its first 22 penalties of the season before finally allowing a power play goal on Oct. 22 at New Jersey, and enters Monday’s game on the heels of clean sheets in five consecutive contests. The Sharks have taken over the top spot in the NHL at 92.5-percent for the year. San Jose has been operating at a league-best 88.8% shorthanded efficiency since the 2022 NHL All-Star break, and the Sharks have the league’s second-best penalty kill percentage since the start of the 2020-21 season (84.1%).
COMEBACK KIDS…The Sharks overcame a two-goal deficit en route to a 3-2 shootout victory Sunday (11/13) at Minnesota, the team’s first multi-goal comeback win of the season and first since 4/24/22 at Vegas, a 5-4 shootout decision. San Jose has come from behind in four of six wins on the year, including each contest of a three-game win streak Friday (11/11) at Dallas (trailed 1-0), Sunday (11/13) at Minnesota (trailed 2-0) and Tuesday at Vegas (trailed 1-0 and 2-1). San Jose was the first team to earn a win over Vegas when trailing after two periods on the year (the Knights had been 7-0-0). Per NHL PR, the three-game road trip was the first time since March 14-17, 2018 that the Sharks earned three consecutive come-from-behind wins in one road stint. San Jose has erased a third-period deficit in three of the past four games entering Monday (11/21) against Ottawa, going 2-2-0 in that span.
WORKING OVERTIME… San Jose has been logging plenty of ice time of late, going beyond the 60 minutes of regulation in five of the past 11 games, including shootouts in three straight (11/1 – 11/5). The recent run was the fourth time in Sharks history that the team has reached a shootout in three straight, including February 5-9, 2021 (2-1), December 21-27, 2013 (3-0), and January 29-February 2, 2013 (2-1). Entering Saturday vs. New York (11/19), the Sharks are 2-0 in games decided in 3-on-3 overtime and are 1-3 in games decided in a shootout.
REIM TIME…Sharks goaltender James Reimer earned his first shutout of the season on Oct. 23 with a 30-save performance at Philadelphia. Reimer’s shutout, his fifth as a Shark, moved him into a tie with Aaron Dell for eighth on the franchise’s all-time shutouts list. He recorded his third 41-save effort of the season on Saturday (11/19) against the New York Rangers, including saves on the first 40 shots he faced in the game. Reimer also owns a .940 shorthanded save percentage since joining the Sharks at the start of the 2021- 22 season, the best in the NHL in that span (min. 10 games played) and the best two-season stretch by a goaltender since the NHL began tracking the statistic in 1997-98 (min. 30 games played, second best is Cory Schneider from 2010-12 with a .936 SV% in 58 GP). STURM WARNING…Nico Sturm netted his sixth goal of the season during Sunday’s (11/13) game at Minnesota, giving him his third-best season total of the year through just 17 games. Sturm had three goals and four points in a five-game stretch from 10/23-11/1, lighting the lamp against Tampa (10/29), Vegas (10/25) and Philadelphia (10/23), and his five-goals-in-eight-games stretch from 10/15-10/29 was the best of his career.
QUICK START KUNIN…Sharks forward Luke Kunin tallied points in each of his first two regular games with the Sharks, recording the secondary assist on Tomas Hertl’s goal on Oct. 7 and scoring his first goal as a member of the Sharks the next day. Kunin’s 21:23 minutes of ice time on Oct. 7 is the second highest he’s logged in his career and the most he has logged since 2019. His power-play marker on Oct. 8 was the first power-play goal of his career and the first special teams goal scored in the 2022-23 NHL season. Kunin had points on each of the Sharks first two power play strikes (1g, 1a) of the season, matching his career high for power play points in a season. Including exhibition and preseason, Kunin scored one point in each of the first six games he played with the Sharks.
GRIER’S GAMEPLAN…On July 5, Sharks president Jonathan Becher and assistant general manager Joe Will introduced Mike Grier as the team’s fifth General Manager and first black general manager in NHL history. The 47-year-old appeared in 221 games with the Sharks from 2006 through 2008 as part of a 14-season, 1,060 game NHL playing career. Just two days later, Grier was with the team as they selected center Filip Bystedt with the 27th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. On July 13, the Sharks traded longtime defenseman Brent Burns and signed Matt Benning, Oskar Lindblom, Markus Nutivaara and Nico Sturm on the first day of free agency. A full list of players under NHL contract that have joined the organization since July 5 is below:
QUINN FOR THE WIN…On July 26, Grier introduced David Quinn as Head Coach of the Sharks and later named Scott Gordon, Ryan Warsofsky and Brian Wiseman as Assistant Coaches, Thomas Speer NHL Goaltending Coach and Nick Gialdini Video Coach. Quinn, who most recently served as head coach for Team USA at both the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2022 World Championship, spent three seasons as head coach of the New York Rangers from 2018 to 2021, earning a 96-87-25 record. In his three years, the Rangers held the league’s eighth-best power-play percentage (22.1%), ranked seventh in team blocked shots (4,195) and takeaways (2,244), and were tied for tenth in wins when trailing first (52). Adam Fox, who made his NHL debut under Quinn in 2019-20, was awarded the Norris Trophy following the 2020-21 season. Quinn’s first NHL win was a 3-2 overtime victory against the Sharks at Madison Square Garden with the Rangers on Oct. 11, 2018. His first NHL win with the Sharks was a 3-2 overtime victory against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 21, 2022. The 56- year-old recorded his 100th career NHL win on 11/11 at Dallas, a 5-4 final.
