Game 38 Hub: Ottawa Senators vs San Jose Sharks
The road trip is over but this season, unfortunately, isn't.
Crucial game today: The San Jose Sharks are only five points ahead of the Ottawa Senators for that sweet, sweet, second-overall pick.
Hey, if we're talking about tanking at this stage, that's not our fault. These Sens are at a worse place than the 2019-20 incarnation featuring top-six forwards Chris Tierney and Vladislav Namestnikov. That same group featured Nikita Zaitsev as a top-pairing defenseman and Scott Sabourin as a bottom-six forward. They were looking at the 2020 NHL Draft from the start (a rare instance of good management by the organization), and they're almost doing as good of a job by accident this time.
The fact that today's opponents are statistically the worst in goals for, goals against, shots for, shots against, PK%, and 5v5 Corsi and expected goals percentage means this might actually be an interesting game to watch for once.
Rourke Chartier will draw back into the lineup after being activated from LTIR today. Mads Sogaard, who's sporting a .920 save percentage in 16 AHL games this season, has been recalled. Expect a lineup similar to yesterday's practice lines:
Lines at #Sens practice:
— Claire Hanna (@clahanna) January 12, 2024
Tkachuk-Greig-Giroux
Tarasenko-Stützle-Batherson
Kubalik-Chartier-Joseph
Kelly-Kastelic-MacEwen
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Hamonic
Brannstrom-Chychrun
JBD-Pinto
Korpisalo
*extra goalie is Tye Austin from the Carleton Ravens
Puck drop is scheduled for 4:00 pm today, and the game is available on RDS2, TSN5, and TSN1200.
Stats:
| Game 38 | Senators | Sharks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Brady Tkachuk | 17 | Tomas Hertl | 13 |
| Assists | Tim Stützle | 27 | Mikael Granlund | 23 |
| Points | Stützle, Giroux | 34 | Tomas Hertl | 29 |
| Shots | Brady Tkachuk | 165 | Tomas Hertl | 101 |
| Time on Ice/GP | Thomas Chabot | 23:55 | Mario Ferraro | 22:38 |
| Game 38 | Senators | Sharks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | # | Rank | # | Rank |
| Goals/GP | 3.27 | 13th | 2.00 | 32nd |
| Goals Against/GP | 3.68 | 31st | 4.05 | 32nd |
| Shots/GP | 32.2 | 8th | 25.5 | 32nd |
| Shots Against/GP | 31.6 | 23rd | 35.5 | 32nd |
| Powerplay % | 16.4 | 24th | 18.9 | 20th |
| Penalty Kill % | 71.3 | 31st | 71.2 | 32nd |
| Corsi % (5v5 SVA) | 48.21 | 22nd | 41.22 | 32nd |
| xGF % (5v5 SVA) | 46.71 | 24th | 40.54 | 32nd |
