Thursday, March 28, 2024
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NHL Preview: Seattle Kraken (32-18-6) at San Jose Sharks (17-29-11)

SEATTLE KRAKEN NOTES:

LAST GAME
Detroit 2 at Seattle 4
Goals: Eberle (2), Oleksiak, Tolvanen
Goalie: Grubauer (21/23)
PP: 0/2 PK: 3/3 Shots: Detroit 23 – Seattle 26

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 150)
Chris Driedger (ACL; IR) – 56 games – month-to-month
Joonas Donskoi (upper body; IR) – 56 games – no timeline for return
Andre Burakovsky (lower body) – 6 games – week-to-week

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
Feb. 17, 2023: Reassigned F John Hayden to Coachella Valley (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Thursday, Feb. 23: Boston at Seattle, 7 p.m. PT
Sunday, Feb. 26: Toronto at Seattle, 4 p.m. PT
Tuesday, Feb. 28: Seattle at St. Louis, 5 p.m. PT
Thursday, March 2: Seattle at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. PT
Friday, March 3: Seattle at Columbus, 4 p.m. PT

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Tonight’s matchup is the second of three games the Kraken will play against the Sharks this season and the first time the teams are playing in San Jose this year. The Kraken previously defeated the Sharks 8-5 on Nov. 23 in Seattle.

• A win tonight would make the Sharks the first team that the Kraken has defeated five times. Seattle owns a 4-1-0 all-time record against San Jose.

• Jared McCann (1.89) was leading the NHL in goals-per-60 at five-on-five this season among players that have played in at least six games this year entering play Sunday.

• Entering play Sunday, Adam Larsson and New York’s Jacob Trouba were the only two players to have at least 150 hits and 100 blocks this season.

• The Kraken have played 13 games this season in which they have had at least five different goal scores, most recently on Feb. 16 vs. Philadelphia when Yanni Gourde (2), Jared McCann, Justin Schultz, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Matty Beniers all scored.

• Since the start of the New Year, the Kraken are tied for the league lead in wins (14) and rank second in points (30). The team’s 80 goals and 3.64 goals-per-game rank second and seventh in the league, respectively, since Jan. 1.

• With 56 games played, the Kraken have already surpassed their win (27) and point (60) totals from last season.

• Despite only playing in 56 games this season, the Kraken are the first team to have scored at least eight goals in a game four different times since the Pittsburgh Penguins also has four eight-goal games in 2011-12.

DAD’S ON DECK
• Tonight’s game marks the second leg of the Kraken’s 2023 Father’s/Mentor’s Trip. Each player and member of the hockey
traveling party has invited their dad and/or mentor to join the team for Saturday’s game against Detroit and tonight’s game at
San Jose.

• Five Kraken fathers have previously played hockey on a professional level in North America or abroad: Todd Bjorkstrand, Robert
Burakovsky, Ted Donato, Craig Geekie and Hannie Sprong. Adam Larsson’s late father Robert also played professionally in
Sweden.

• Robert Burakovsky and Ted Donato are the two Kraken dads with NHL experience. Robert played in 23 games for the Ottawa Senators before continuing his professional career in Europe. Ted totaled 796 regular-season games over 13 NHL seasons that he played with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues. Ted has been the head coach of the Harvard men’s hockey team since 2004-05, his and Ryan’s alma mater.

• The Mentor’s Trip will include a visit to Pike Place Market, whiskey tasting, trip to the Filson store and more.

SHARK TANK
• Matty Beniers has four points (one goal, three assists) in two career games against the Sharks.

• Chris Driedger recorded the first-ever shutout at Climate Pledge Arena on April 29, 2022 – a 3-0 Kraken win over the Sharks.

• Morgan Geekie has recorded a point in four of five career games he has played against the Sharks, scoring one goal and adding four assists.

• Philipp Grubauer owns a 9-4-1 career record against the Sharks with a .921 save percentage and a 2.09 goals-against average. His nine wins are tied with the Minnesota Wild for his most against a single opponent.

• Justin Schultz scored his first NHL goal against the Sharks on Jan. 22, 2013.

• Jaden Schwartz recorded his 100th NHL point on Jan. 3, 2015 against San Jose. He has three points (two goals, one assist) in his last three games against the Sharks.

• Daniel Sprong has a point in each of the last three games he has played against the Sharks, scoring one goal and adding two assists.

SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:

LAST GAME
Game 57 – 2/18 – SJS 2 vs BUF 4…Evgeny Svechnikov (1g, 0a) opened the scoring for San Jose with his sixth goal of the season. Jacob MacDonald (0g, 1a), who recorded five shots in the first period, earned his first point as a Shark with a primary assist. Alexander Barabanov (1g, 0a) tied the game at two with his fifth goal in the last seven games. San Jose outshot Buffalo 27-13 through the first two periods. Kaapo Kahkonen stopped a Peyton Krebs penalty shot, marking his first penalty shot save in his career and the first penalty shot save by a Shark this season.
SJ Goal: Svechnikov (6), Barabanov (11)
SF: 35
SA: 31
SJ PP: 0/1
SJ PK: 1/1
W: Luukkonen
L: Kahkonen

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
2/16 Recalled D Nick Cicek from the San Jose Barracuda
2/15 Assigned D Nick Cicek and G Eetu Makiniemi to the San Jose Barracuda
2/14 Placed F Jonah Gadjovich on IR; Recalled G Eetu Makiniemi from the San Jose Barracuda
2/11 Recalled G Aaron Dell from the San Jose Barracuda
2/9 Recalled D Nick Cicek from the San Jose Barracuda
2/5 Acquired a conditional 2023 fourth-round selection (Seattle’s choice) from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for D Jaycob Megna
2/5 D Nikolai Knyzhov returned from his long-term injury conditioning loan with the San Jose Barracuda; assigned Knyzhov to the Barracuda

TODAY’S OPPONENT – SEATTLE KRAKEN
San Jose looks to end a three-game winless skid with a matinee game against the Kraken on Monday. The Kraken are riding a four-game point streak (3-1-0) and come into today’s game on the heels of a 4-2 home win against the Detroit Red Wings. Seattle has held their opponents to two goals or fewer in each of their last three games. San Jose and Seattle will be facing off for the second time this season, with the Kraken earning the win in a wild 8-5 game at Climate Pledge Arena on Nov. 23. Timo Meier recorded a hat trick to lead the game in goal scoring while 14 different Kraken skaters logged a point.

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