SEATTLE KRAKEN NOTES:
LAST GAME
Dallas 5 at Seattle 2
Goals: Gourde, Tolvanen
Goalie: Jones (27/32)
PP: 0/2 PK: 1/4 Shots: Dallas 32 – Seattle 28
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 192)
Joonas Donskoi (upper body; IR) – 67 games – no timeline for return
Andre Burakovsky (lower body) – 17 games – week-to-week
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
March 15, 2023: Recalled F John Hayden from Coachella Valley (AHL)
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, March 18: Edmonton at Seattle, 1 p.m. PT
Tuesday, March 21: Seattle at Dallas, 5:30 p.m. PT
Thursday, March 23: Seattle at Nashville, 5 p.m. PT
Saturday, March 25: Seattle at Nashville, 11 a.m. PT
Monday, March 27: Seattle at Minnesota, 5 p.m. PT
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Tonight’s matchup is the final time the Kraken will play the Sharks this season. The two teams have split their previous two games, and a win tonight would give Seattle its eighth series win of the season, having previously won its season series against Buffalo, Colorado, Columbus, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. The Kraken have one game remaining to play against Los Angeles, but they will record a series win regardless of the outcome after going 3-0-0 against the Kings in their first three meetings of the season. The Kraken have five season series that still could be won: Anaheim, Chicago, Minnesota, Nashville and Vegas.
• A win tonight would make the Sharks the first team that the Kraken has defeated five times. Seattle owns a 4-2-0 all-time record against San Jose.
• Seattle has a 10-7-2 record against Pacific Division opponents this season and have beaten each of their division rivals at least once.
• 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 234 goals in 67 games this season compared to 213 goals in 2021-22. o The team’s 234 goals this season were the fifth-most in the NHL entering play Wednesday, trailing only the Edmonton Oilers (264), Boston Bruins (246), Buffalo Sabres (241) and Tampa Bay Lightning (234).
• Since the start of the New Year, the Kraken are tied for fourth the league in wins (19) and rank fifth in points (41). The team’s 117 goals since Jan. 1 were the second-most in the league entering play Wednesday.
• Jaden Schwartz has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his last seven games played.
• 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.
SHARK TANK
• Matty Beniers has four points (one goal, three assists) in three career games against the Sharks.
• Morgan Geekie has recorded a point in four of six 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.
• 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 four games against the Sharks.
• Justin Schultz scored his first NHL goal against the Sharks on Jan. 22, 2013.
ROAD WARRIORS
• The Kraken have posted an 21-9-3 record while playing on the road this season. The team’s 21 road wins have nearly doubled their total from last season (11).
• Entering play Wednesday, the Kraken ranked in the top five in the NHL in road wins (21, tied third) and road regulation wins (18, fourth). The team’s 126 goals scored on the road and 3.82 goals-per-game-played on the road were both ranked third in the NHL entering play Wednesday.
• The Kraken’s 12 wins since Jan. 1 were second to only the Boston Bruins (13) for the most in 2023 and the team’s 25 points ranked third entering play Wednesday, trailing Boston and New Jersey, who both have 27 road points since the start of the new year.
• A win tonight over the Sharks would give the Kraken their third road winning streak of at least five games. The team previously recorded a six-game road win streak from Nov. 1 to 29, 2022 and a seven-game streak from Jan. 1 to 14.
• With 28 points in 33 games, Matty Beniers (13 goals, 15 assists) is the Kraken’s leading scorers when playing on the road this season. Beniers’ 13 goals, 28 points and 0.85 points per game on the road this year were the most among rookies who have played in at least two road games this season entering play Wednesday.
• Vince Dunn has totaled 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) in his last 17 games played on the road. Dunn’s seven goals scored on the road this season were tied for the fourth-most in the NHL among all defensemen entering play Wednesday.
• Jaden Schwartz has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his last seven road games and enters tonight’s game riding a three-game road point streak.
• Alex Wennberg enters tonight’s game riding a three-game road point streak, totaling four points (two goals, two assists) during that span.
SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
LAST GAME
Game 68 – 3/14 – SJS 5 vs CBJ 6 (OT)…Logan Couture (1g, 2a) paced the Sharks with three points while on a night of firsts, William Eklund (1g, 0a) recorded his first NHL goal, Nikolai Knyzhov (1g, 0a) netted his first of the season, Derrick Pouliot (0g, 2a) notched his first two points as a Shark and Fabian Zetterlund (0g, 1a) earned his first point as a Shark. Alexander Barabanov (1g, 1a) recorded his third power play goal of the season, a career high. Tomas Hertl (0g, 2a) tied Jeff Friesen for seventh in San Jose history with his 37th multi-assist game.
SJ Goals: Barabanov (14 pp), Eklund (1), Couture (24), Labanc (11), Knyzhov (1)
SF: 37
SA: 29
SJ PP: 1/3
SJ PK: 3/3
W: Tarasov
OTL: Kahkonen
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
3/7 Recalled D Derrick Pouliot from the San Jose Barracuda
3/6 Reassigned D Nick Cicek to the San Jose Barracuda
3/5 Recalled D Nick Cicek and D Nikolai Knyzhov from the San Jose Barracuda
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: SEATTLE KRAKEN
The Seattle Kraken look to snap a three-game skid as they head to San Jose for the season series finale against the Sharks. The teams have split the first two meetings of the campaign with the home side emerging victorious in each contest, most recently a 4-0 San Jose win in February.
Vince Dunn enters the contest with a 10-game point streak, a personal best and franchise record. Jaden Schwartz, Matty Beniers and Andre Burakovsky all bring three points in the season series into Thursday’s tilt.
PRIME PENALTY KILL…After going 3-for-3 shorthanded against Columbus on March 14, the Sharks boast the NHL’s sixth-best penalty kill, at 82.7-percent on the year. The Sharks have finished top-two in the NHL on the PK in two of the past three years, including second (85.2%) in 2021-22 and first (85.7%) in 2019-20.
