Vancouver Canucks

GAME NOTES | CANUCKS AT FLAMES - DEC. 31/22

December 31, 2022



CANUCKS @ FLAMES PREVIEW

TV: Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet ONE

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

  • Tonight marks the second of four meetings between the Canucks and Flames this season: Dec. 14 (4-3 SOW @ CGY), Dec. 31 (away), Mar. 31 (home), Apr. 8 (home).

  • The Canucks are 115-139-33-9 all-time against the Flames, including a 49-81-15-2 record on the road.

  • Vancouver is 4-4-2 in their last 10 games vs Calgary (2-2-1 in their last 5).

  • Among active Canucks skaters, Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the team in games played against the Flames at 43 (7-16-23 in those games).

  • J.T. Miller has the most career points against the Flames with 25 (6-19-25) in 27 games played, among active Canucks skaters.

  • Brock Boeser has 24 points (12-12-24) in 26 career games against Calgary.

  • Elias Pettersson has 17 points (7-10-17) in 19 career games against Calgary.

  • Andrei Kuzmenko has one point (0-1-1) in one career game against Calgary.

  • Spencer Martin is 1-0-0 with a 2.77 GAA and .921 SV% in one career game against the Flames.

  • Collin Delia is 0-1-0 with a 3.04 GAA and .929 SV% in one career game against the Flames.

QUICK NUMBERS

  • Bo Horvat has 15 points (9-6-15) in his last 11 games, including two consecutive nights with four points, and is tied for second in the NHL in goals (26) this season.

  • Quinn Hughes has nine points (1-8-9) in his last 10 games and ranks third in the NHL in assists among defencemen this season (29 in 31 GP).

    o Hughes is also ranked t-3rd among NHL defencemen in power play assists with 15.

  • Elias Pettersson has 16 points (5-11-16) in his last nine games and is tied for first in the NHL for even-strength goals (16), among centremen.

  • Ilya Mikheyev has six points (3-3-6) in his last five games.

  • Andrei Kuzmenko has 11 points (4-7-11) in his last ten games and is currently third among Canucks for points (32 in 34 GP).

  • Luke Schenn holds the NHL all-time record of most hits (3,004) by a defenceman and is the only defenceman to reach the 3,000 hits milestone.

LAST MEETING - DEC. 14/22: VAN 4 at CGY 3 (SO)

Bo Horvat scored his 21st goal of the season at 1:14 in the first period...Oliver Ekman-Larsson and J.T. Miller recorded assists on the play...Conor Garland notched the Canucks second goal just 34 seconds later to record the 5th fastest two goals to start a game in franchise history...Nils Höglander collected his first of two assists and Tyler Myers got the second helper...Sheldon Dries scored the tying goal at 5:31 in the second period...Höglander and Andrei Kuzmenko were credited with the assists...Spencer Martin stopped Mikael Backlund on a must-score attempt in the shootout giving Kuzmenko the game-winning goal...Martin faced 38 shots to claim his ninth win of the season...Garland led the team in shots (5).

LAST GAME PLAYED - DEC. 29/22: VAN 2 at WPG 4

Andrei Kuzmenko opened the scoring just 41 seconds into the first period...Elias Pettersson recorded the lone assist...Conor Garland would score at 13:11 in the third...Quinn Hughes got the first assist and Kuzmenko registered the second helper for his 11th multi-point game of the season...Luke Schenn became the first defenceman to break 3,000 career hits (5 total at WPG)...J.T. Miller led the team in shots (5)...Delia faced 38 shots on the night, including a season high of 20 shots in the second period.

LAST 5 vs CALGARY

  • Dec. 14/22: VAN 4 @ CGY 3 (SO)

  • Apr. 23/22: VAN 3 @ CGY 6

  • Mar. 19//22: VAN 2 vs CGY 5

  • Feb. 24/22: VAN 7 vs CGY 1

  • Jan. 29/22: VAN 0 @ CGY 1 (OT)

NEW YEAR'S EVE STORYLINES

  • Tonight's game marks the ninth consecutive time that the Canucks have played a game on New Year's Eve away from home, dating back to 2003. The team is 4-4-0 in those previous eight contests, including three wins in the last five of those games.

  • Forwards Elias Pettersson (42-52-94 in 80 GP) and J.T. Miller (34-60-94 in 82 GP) enter tonight's game at Calgary tied for the team-lead in scoring in the year 2022.

  • Bo Horvat leads all Canucks in goals in 2022 with 46 and is the sixth different player in franchise history to score at least 46 goals in a calendar year, joining Pavel Bure (2x), Tony Tanti (2x), Darcy Rota, Markus Naslund, and Todd Bertuzzi. Horvat is also tied for 10th-most goals in the NHL since Jan. 1, 2022.

  • Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Luke Schenn are tied for the most games played by a Canucks skater this season with 84 GP.

  • Quinn Hughes leads the Canucks for most assists in 2022 (64 in 75 GP).

HOW ABOUT THAT HORVAT

Registering two goals and two assists for the second consecutive night on Dec. 27 vs SJS, Bo Horvat is the first Canuck to have 4+ points in back-to-back games since 2002.03 (Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi, and Brendan Morrison each did it Feb. 23-25). Horvat is also only one of four Canucks to record at least two goals and two assists in two consecutive games with the likes of Todd Bertuzzi (Feb. 23-25, 2003), Alexander Mogilny (Dec. 31-Jan. 3, 1996), and Petri Skriko (Mar. 13-17, 1987).

  • Dec. 27 vs SJS was also Horvat's eighth multi-goal game this season, a career high (previously six games), and the most multi-goal games by a Canuck since Ryan Kesler in 2010.11 (9). Horvat is currently the league-leader in multi-goal games for the 2022.23 season, with Roope Hintz and Mark Scheifele sitting two back at six.

  • Earlier this season, Horvat became the first player in franchise history to have five multi-goal games in the first 13 games.

  • Scoring his 25th and 26th goals on Dec. 27 vs SJS, Horvat ranks second in Canucks history with the most goals in a player's first 34 games, trailing Pavel Bure with 29 in 1992.93.

SCHENN'S GREATEST HITS

Recording five hits on Dec. 29 at WPG, Luke Schenn became the first defenceman to reach 3,000 career hits (3,004) and leads all skaters in the NHL in hits this season (164 in 35 GP).

  • Recording six hits on Dec. 3 vs ARI, Luke Schenn claimed the NHL all-time record for most hits by a defenceman (2,948), surpassing Brooks Orpik (2,946), and is now ranked sixth all-time among all skaters.

  • On Nov. 12 at TOR, Schenn matched a franchise record with 12 hits in a game and became the first player in NHL history to record at least three games with 12+ hits in his career.

*The NHL began tracking hits in 2005.06.

MIKHEYEV'S MOVES

With one goal and three assists on Dec. 27 vs SJS, Ilya Mikheyev set a new career high for most points in a single game (4), with his previous record of three points coming in March of this year (Mar. 3 vs WPG - 1-2-3). Mikheyev also extended his point streak against the Sharks, now recording nine points (4-5-9) in just four career games.

EXCEPTIONAL ELIAS

Tallying two goals and three assists, in addition to the shootout winner, on Dec. 22 vs SEA, Elias Pettersson registered his second five-point outing of the season and the fourth such occasion in his career, setting a new Canucks franchise record. The previous mark was held by Alexander Mogilny with three five-point games.

  • Pettersson now has 43 points (16-27-43) in 33 games played this season, which is t-10th in the NHL. His 43 points are also the most by a Canucks skater through the team's first 35 games of a season since Henrik Sedin (47 pts) and Daniel Sedin (45 pts) in 2010.11.

  • With all 16 of his goals so far this season coming at even-strength, Pettersson ranks t-3rd in the NHL in even-strength goals and is the only player with 11+ tallies to have scored all of his goals at even-strength.

SEATTLE CRACKIN'

With a 6-5 shootout victory on Dec. 22 vs SEA, the Canucks improved their record vs the Seattle Kraken to 6-0-0 all-time. This marks only the second time in franchise history that the Canucks have won each of their first six regular season games vs an opponent (also won first nine games vs the Washington Capitals from Dec. 17/74 - Oct. 13/76).

SEEING DOUBLE (DIGITS)

Thanks to Ilya Mikheyev's 12th goal of the season on Dec. 27 vs SJS, the Canucks had five 12+ goal-scorers on their roster (Horvat [26], Pettersson [16], Kuzmenko [15], Miller [13], Mikheyev [12]) through the team's first 34 games for the first time since 1992.93 (also five).

• With Mikheyev's goal, the Canucks were just the 2nd team in the NHL to possess five or more 12+ goal-scorers this season, with Tampa Bay (5), and later joined by the Ottawa Senators (5).

ALL ABOUT APPLES

Assisting on Brock Boeser's third period power play goal, Quinn Hughes registered his 28th assist of the season in his 28th game of the season and the 32nd team game for Vancouver. In doing so, he became the second player (third occasion) in franchise history to record 28 or more assists in the team's first 31 games, and first since Henrik Sedin (28) in 2011.12. Henrik Sedin has the most assists through the team's first 32 games in a season with 32 (2010.11).

• With two assists on Dec. 3 vs ARI, Quinn Hughes surpassed Doug Lidster for fourth most multi-assist games among defencemen in Canucks history at 35 games.

LET'S GET IT STARTED

Scoring two goals just 34 seconds apart on Dec. 14 at CGY, Bo Horvat and Conor Garland recorded the fifth fastest two goals to start a game in Canucks history at 1:48 in the first.

MARTY MART AND THE WINNING BUNCH

Collecting his ninth victory of the season on Dec. 14 at CGY, Spencer Martin ranks third in Canucks history for most wins through the first 15 appearances in a season behind Ryan Miller (12 in 2014.15) and Kirk McLean (10 in 1991.92).