Senators Call Up Yakemchuk, Donovan for NHL Debuts Against Detroit

Carter Yakemchuk scored a second-period goal and added an assist in his NHL debut as the Ottawa Senators edged the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Tuesday night. The 20-year-old defenseman was recalled from the Belleville Senators the same morning, hours before one of the most consequential games on Ottawa's schedule.

The call-up was born out of necessity. Multiple injuries to Ottawa defensemen, including Thomas Chabot (upper body) and Lassi Thomson (undisclosed) in a 2-1 win against the New York Rangers on Monday, meant Yakemchuk and Jorian Donovan each made his NHL debut against Detroit. He was called up earlier in the day with defencemen Thomas Chabot, Dennis Gilbert, Nick Jensen, Jake Sanderson and Lassi Thomson all sidelined by injuries. Coach Travis Green told reporters after the Rangers game that both Chabot and Thomson were expected to be "out for a while."

Yakemchuk wasted no time justifying the promotion. The Senators converted on a power play with 2:45 remaining in the first period when Tkachuk tipped in Tim Stützle's shot after a between-the-legs pass from Yakemchuk — his first NHL point. Yakemchuk then scored at 9:28 of the second period, skating in from the point to the right circle and beating Gibson on the glove side. "I saw I had a lot of space, so I decided to walk down and shoot," Yakemchuk said. "The coaches told me to just play my game when I got the puck."

Yakemchuk became the second Senators defenseman to record multiple points in his NHL debut, joining Maxime Lajoie, who also had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 4, 2018. The milestone came at the end of a dominant AHL season: the Alberta native carried 10 goals and 26 assists for 36 points in 50 games with Belleville, with his 36 points ranking second-highest among AHL rookie defensemen and his 10 goals tied for the most at that position. He had also been named the AHL's Player of the Week just days before the recall.

"I'm proud of both of them," Green said. "We got a big game from (Yakemchuk). He's a special player, and I thought (Donovan) did what we needed him to do."

Donovan, a 21-year-old defenseman from Calgary selected 136th overall in the 2022 draft, brought his own layer of significance to the night. His debut made a bit of franchise history, as he and his father Shean Donovan became the first father-son duo to each play for the Senators. Donovan had posted 4 goals and 17 assists for 21 points in 58 games with Belleville this season and had been dealing with an undisclosed injury that had him originally slated to return to the AHL lineup later in the week.

Brady Tkachuk scored his 20th goal of the season for the Senators, who had won four straight and nine of their last 11 games, while Lars Eller scored the other goal and Linus Ullmark made 32 saves. Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin scored on a third-period power play in his first game back after missing seven games with a lower-body injury, and Dominik Shine had Detroit's other goal while John Gibson stopped 18 shots.

Ottawa moved into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and sits one point ahead of the Red Wings, tied in points with the New York Islanders, who have played one more game. "This was a gutsy, gutsy game," Green said. "We came in after playing last night to face a rested team and found a way to win."

Tkachuk's 20th goal gave him his seventh 20-goal season with the Senators, surpassing Alexei Yashin's six for the third-most in franchise history, behind Daniel Alfredsson's 13 and Jason Spezza's eight. Ottawa hosts the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.