TV: Sportsnet

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

• Tonight marks the first of three meetings between the Canucks and Avalanche this season: Nov. 23 (away), Jan. 5 (home), Jan. 20 (home).
• The Canucks are 76-65-15-13 all-time against the Avalanche franchise including a 36-34-8-6 record on the road.
• Vancouver is 4-3-3 in their last 10 games vs Colorado (2-2-1 in their last 5).
• Among active Canucks skaters, Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the team in career points vs Colorado with 20 points (8-12-20) in 40 games played.
• Brock Boeser (5-5-10 in 10 GP) and Elias Pettersson (2-7-9 in 8 GP) have each registered more than one point per game in their careers vs Colorado so far.
• Thatcher Demko is 1-2-1 in four career appearances against the Avalanche, posting a 4.72 GAA and .845 save-percentage.
• Spencer Martin has yet to face Colorado in his career.

QUICK NUMBERS

• Brock Boeser has nine points (2-7-9) in his last nine games and is on a seven-game point streak (2-6-8) since returning from injury.
• Bo Horvat has 15 points (11-4-15) in his last 10 games and ranks second in the NHL in goals (15 in 19 GP).
• Quinn Hughes has 13 points (0-13-13) in his last 10 games and is tied for first in the NHL for assists among defencemen (18 in 15 GP).
• Andrei Kuzmenko has 11 points (6-5-11) in his last 10 games.
• J.T. Miller is has 11 points (5-6-11) in his last 10 games and is on a five-game point streak (3-2-5).
• Elias Pettersson has 14 points (6-8-14) in his last 10 games and is on a three-game goal streak.

LAST MEETING - MAR. 23/22: VAN 3 at COL 1

Brock Boeser opened up scoring with a goal at 1:23 in the third period...Elias Pettersson recorded an assist on the play...J.T. Miller scored the GWG shortly after at 3:15 in the third, assisted by Tanner Pearson and Conor Garland...Bo Horvat scored an empty- netter...J.T. Miller (1-1-2) and Tanner Pearson (0-2-2) both recorded assists to gain multi-point games...Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser both notched 5 shots each...Luke Schenn led the team in hits (4)...Tyler Myers led the team in TOI (24:34)...Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves and was named 1st star of the game

LAST GAME PLAYED - NOV. 21/22: VAN 4 vs VGK 5

Andrei Kuzmenko opened the scoring at 11:48 in the second period...Brock Boeser extended his point streak to seven games with an assist...Bo Horvat notched his team-leading 15th goal of the campaign at 1:47 in the third period to tie the game...J.T. Miller extended his point streak to five games with an assist while Riley Stillman recorded his first point as a Canuck on the play...Luke Schenn and Elias Pettersson each scored in quick succession in the third period to give Vancouver a two-goal lead...Quinn Hughes (0-2-2) and Andrei Kuzmenko (1-1-2) registered multi-point games...Six Canucks had three hits on the evening...Tyler Myers led in blocked shots (3)...Bo Horvat won 18 of 28 faceoffs...Thatcher Demko faced 38 shots.

LAST 5 vs COLORADO

• Mar. 23/22: VAN 3 at COL 1
• Nov. 17/21: VAN 2 vs COL 4
• Nov. 11/21: VAN 1 at COL 7
• Mar. 6/20: VAN 6 vs COL 3
• Nov. 16/19: VAN 4 vs COL 5 (OT)

CHALLENGING THE CHAMPS

The Canucks will take on the defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche for the first time this season. Dating back to 2002.03, Vancouver boasts a 24-18-0-3 regular season record against defending Stanley Cup Champions, including a record of 18-12- 0-3 vs Western Conference opponents.

AVALANCHE ANECDOTES

• Nils Åman was originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the sixth round, 167th overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
• Kyle Burroughs spent the 2020.21 season in the Avalanche organization, collecting one assist in five games.
• Sheldon Dries spent parts of three seasons in the Avalanche organization (2018.19 to 2020.21), making his NHL debut with the club and collecting six points (3-3-6) in 48 regular season games.
• Conor Garland scored his first NHL goal against Colorado on Dec. 22/18.
• Bo Horvat played his first career NHL game against Colorado on Nov. 4/14.
• Curtis Lazar recorded his first NHL assist against Colorado on Oct. 16/14.
• Spencer Martin was originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round, 63rd overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He played his first three career NHL games as a member of the Avalanche, posting a record of 0-2-1.

EV40

Scoring at 5-on-5 in the third period on Nov. 21 vs VGK, Elias Pettersson tallied his 10th goal of the season, all of which have come at even strength. He now ranks tied atop the league with three others (A. Svechnikov, J. Robertson, E. Karlsson) for most even strength goals this season (10).

POWER PLAY PROWESS

Netting 16 power play goals on 42 opportunities in their last 13 games played, the Canucks' power play ranks first in the NHL since Oct. 24, producing at a rate of 38.1%. Vancouver also has the fifth-ranked power play in the league this season at 29.2% and second-ranked power play on home ice at 38.5%.

HUGHES' HELPING HANDS

• Collecting two assists on Nov. 21 vs VGK, Quinn Hughes passed Sami Salo for sole possession of 9th place on the Canucks all-time assists list among defencemen (164) in 346 fewer games played.
  • Hughes is also now tied with San Jose's Erik Karlsson for the second-most multi-assist games (5) by a defencemen in the NHL so far this year, trailing only Vegas' Alex Pietrangelo (6).
• Picking up a power play assist to extend his personal assist streak to 10 games (0-13-13) on Nov. 13 at BOS, Hughes passed Jiri Bubla (1983.84) for the second-longest assist streak by a defenceman in Canucks history. He is only one of two Canuck defencemen to ever hit a double-digit streak, being one game short of tying Dennis Kearns for the franchise record (11 games in 1976.77).

BO'S BLAZING START

Scoring his team-leading 15th goal on Nov. 21 vs VGK, Bo Horvat became the third player in Canucks history to notch as many goals in the team's first 19 games of the season, trailing Pavel Bure (20 goals, 1992.93) and Tony Tanti (19 goals, 1983.84).

• Scoring his sixth power play goal of the season, Horvat surpassed Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin for 9th most power play goals in franchise history (62).
• Tallying eight goals in five games (Oct. 28-Nov. 8), Horvat tied Mikael Samuelsson (2009.10) and Alexandre Burrows (2009.10) as the only Canucks to do so in the last 26 years.
• Horvat is also the first player in franchise history to have five multi-goal games in the first 13 games.
• With 28 goals in 36 games since March 9, 2022, Horvat has the highest goals per game (0.78) in the League during that stretch (minimum 5 GP).

MOVIN' ON UP

With the team's 5-4 victory on November 15 at Buffalo, Bruce Boudreau passed John Tortorella for sole possession of 14th place on the Canucks all-time wins list with his 38th victory.

HARD HITTING SCHENN

Matching his personal career-high and the Canucks franchise-high (set by himself) with 12 hits on Nov. 12 at TOR, Luke Schenn became the first player in NHL history to record at least three games with 12+ hits in his career. With 2,924 career hits, Schenn is only 22 hits away from tying Brooks Orpik (2,946) for most in League-history by a defencemen. Schenn has collected the most hits in the NHL this season (84 in 18 GP).

*The NHL began tracking hits in 2005.06.

RECENT CANUCKS MILESTONES

• Ethan Bear appeared in his 200th career NHL game, Nov. 21 vs VGK
• Bo Horvat recorded his 200th career NHL assist, Nov. 5 vs NSH
• Elias Pettersson recorded his 100th career NHL goal, Oct. 18 at CBJ

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

• Curtis Lazar activated from injured reserve, Nov. 18
• William Lockwood assigned to Abbotsford, Nov. 18
• Karel Plasek on loan to HC Olomouc, Nov. 17
• William Lockwood recalled from Abbotsford, Nov. 15
• Jack Studnicka placed on injured reserve, Nov. 15

THREE STARS - NOVEMBER

• Horvat - 30 pts
• Pettersson - 10 pts
• Hughes - 5 pts
• Kuzmenko - 5 pts
• Martin - 5 pts

OCTOBER WINNER - Horvat, Kuzmenko (10 pts)

*5 points are awarded for each Three Stars selection