Game 34 Hub: Ottawa Senators @ Seattle Kraken
One step forward, one step back.
It's absolutely hilarious that Ottawa's PWHL team found a way to snatch a consolation point from an OT loss in their first ever game, while the Sens ca haven’t managed event one in 33 games.
After suffering a 6-3 defeat to the Vancouver Canucks, a team which over the course of a single offseason, went from being clearly worse than the Ottawa Senators (14-19-0), to miles ahead of them, the Sens continue their west coast road trip tonight with a tilt against the Seattle Kraken (15-14-9).
I would guess Joonas Korpisalo starts in goal, and for Angus Crookshank and/or Jiri Smejkal to draw back into the lineup after head coach Jacques Martin's recent comments about his team's performance.
Bernard Docker will be out tonight and MacEwen is sick so we'll play 12 forwards and 6 D
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) January 4, 2024
Game Notes
- Mathieu Joseph is practicing in a regular jersey, but due to his being placed on LTIR for cap-related reasons, he won't be eligible to play until January 9th against the Calgary Flames. Once he's back on the roster, we could see a move or two made to keep Ottawa cap-compliant.
- It's good that the core players are finally being held accountable. Last season, they played better than their record showed, and a similar level of play with better shooting luck would see them in a playoff spot this season. Unfortunately, every aspect of the team except for the 5-on-5 finishing became much worse, highlighted by every core players sans Drake Batherson and Thomas Chabot (albeit, in just 11 games) taking a step backwards. I suspect there was a sense of gross overconfidence, that the coaching staff failed to keep in check. This might not be an easy problem to fix.
- Brady Tkachuk has been rewarded for his season to-date by being named to the All-Star Game
- You can catch tonight's game on RDS, TSN5, and TSN 1200 at 10:00 PM EST. Alternatively, you can just go to sleep.
Stats
Game 34 | Senators | Kraken | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Category | Player | # | Player | # |
Goals | Brady Tkachuk | 16 | Jared McCann | 14 |
Assists | Tim Stützle | 27 | Vince Dunn | 25 |
Points | Tim Stützle | 34 | Vince Dunn | 31 |
Shots | Brady Tkachuk | 151 | Brock Boeser | 100 |
Time on Ice/GP | Thomas Chabot | 24:10 | Adam Larsson | 23:54 |