Vancouver Canucks

GAME NOTES | CANUCKS AT KINGS - MAR. 18/23

March 19, 2023



CANUCKS @ KINGS

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO:

  • Tonight marks the second of four meetings between the Canucks and Kings this season: Dec. 3 (4-1 W @ VAN), Mar. 18 (away), Apr. 2 (home), Apr. 10 (away).
  • Vancouver is 117-101-32-11 all-time against Los Angeles, including a 47-63-16-5 record on the road.
  • The Canucks are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games against the Kings (4-0-1 in their last five).
  • J.T. Miller (5-13-18 in 17 GP) and Elias Pettersson (7-11-18 in 11 GP) co-lead active Canucks skaters in career points against
  • Los Angeles with 18.
  • Brock Boeser has 17 points (12-5-17) in 13 career games against the Kings.
  • Conor Garland has 12 points (3-9-12) in 16 career games against the Kings.
  • Quinn Hughes has nine points (1-8-9) in eight career games against the Kings.
  • Thatcher Demko is 3-0-0 in three career games against Los Angeles with a 0.97 GAA and a .972 SV%.
  • Collin Delia is 1-2-0 in three career games against Los Angeles with a 3.75 GAA and a .905 SV%.

QUICK NUMBERS

  • Elias Pettersson has 19 points (6-15-21) in his last 13 games.
  • Quinn Hughes has 16 points (0-16-16) in his last 17 games.
  • Andrei Kuzmenko has 17 points (12-5-17) in his last 14 games.
  • J.T. Miller has 14 points (7-7-14) in his last 12 games.
  • Anthony Beauvillier has 16 points (7-9-16) in his last 16 games.
  • Brock Boeser has seven points (1-6-7) in his last seven games.

LAST MEETING - NOV. 18/22: VAN 4 vs LAK 1

Elias Pettersson opened the scoring with his eighth goal of the season 5:40 into the second period...Andrei Kuzmenko and Ilya Mikheyev picked up the assists...Brock Boeser doubled the lead under five minutes later with his first of the season...J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes registered the assists on the power play tally...Pettersson scored his second of the evening with 5:10 remaining in the Vancouver Canucks: Media Notes second...Kuzmenko and Hughes each picked up their second assists of the night...Boeser batted home his second of the night 5:07 into the third...Sheldon Dries picked up his second assist of the season on Boeser's goal...Curtis Lazar led the team with seven hits in his return to the lineup...Boeser led the team with four shots on goal...Thatcher Demko made 37 saves.

LAST GAME PLAYED - MAR. 16/23: VAN 2 at ARI 3

Andrei Kuzmenko opened the scoring for third time in the last six games at 5:14 in the first period...His goal matched Pavel Bure's record of 34 goals for most by a Canucks player in their first NHL season...Anthony Beauvillier and Elias Pettersson recorded the

assists for their first of two points each on the night...Pettersson then tallied his 31st goal of the season at 11:41 in the third period, assisted by Beauvillier and Conor Garland...Pettersson led all Canucks skaters in shots (5)...Brock Boeser registered a team-high four hits...Guillaume Brisebois led the team in blocked shots (3)...Thatcher Demko faced 27 shots.

LAST 5 vs LOS ANGELES

  • Nov. 18/22: VAN 4 vs LAK 1
  • Apr. 28/22: VAN 3 vs LAK 2 (OT)
  • Dec. 30/21: VAN 1 at LAK 2 (SO)
  • Dec. 6/21: VAN 4 vs LAK 0
  • Dec. 28/19: VAN 3 vs LAK 2

A KING'S RANSOM

Entering play on Saturday night, the Vancouver Canucks are 9-0-2 in their last 11 games against the Los Angeles Kings, dating back to Nov. 24/18 for their longest active streak without a regulation loss against a single opponent. If the Canucks earn at least a point tonight, their 12-game streak without a regulation loss against the Kings would be tied for their fourth-longest such streak against an opponent in franchise history.

CAN'T STOP KUZY

Thanks to his opening tally on Mar. 16 at ARI, Andrei Kuzmenko now own's an NHL-best 27.9% shooting percentage (min. 50 shots) so far this season, and currently possesses the seventh-highest shooting percentage in NHL history (min. 100 shots) since the stat started being tracked in 1959.60. He is also just the second player in the League since 1994.95 with a minimum of 100 shots to hold a shooting percentage above 25.0%, joining Mike Ribeiro (25.2% in 2007.08).

• Opening the scoring on Mar. 16 at ARI, Andrei Kuzmenko notched his 34th goal of the season to match Pavel Bure for the most goals by a Canucks skater in their first NHL season. Previously on Mar. 14 vs DAL, he registered his 33rd goal in his 65th game to tie Ivan Boldirev for the third-most goals in a player's first 65 games as a Canuck, trailing only Pavel Bure (34) and Alexander Mogilny (52).

RAINING THREE'S FOR BOESER

Recording three assists on Mar. 14 vs DAL, Brock Boeser reached 300 career NHL points, becoming the 10th player from the 2015 NHL Draft class to reach this milestone. Boeser's three assists set a new career high for most assists in a season with 33 (previously 30 in 2018.19) and was his fifth career three-assist game (second this season).

KEEP IT SHORT

Thanks to J.T. Miller's fourth shorthanded marker of the 2022.23 campaign (tied Elias Pettersson and four others atop the League), on Mar. 11 vs OTT, the Canucks have now scored 11 shorthanded goals on the season, which are the most by a Canucks team since 2002.03 and now ranks tied for second-most in the NHL this season.

  • Vancouver's shorthanded goal on Mar. 11 vs OTT also marked the first time since Apr. 1-9, 1998 that the Canucks have scored four or more shorthanded goals in a four-game span.

  • In addition to co-leading the League in shorthanded goals, Elias Pettersson currently has solo possession of the most shorthanded points in the NHL with eight (4-4-8) so far this season. He now trails only Pavel Bure (1992.93, 1997.98) and Russ Courtnall (1995.96) for most shorthanded points in a season (9) by a Canucks skater.

EIGHTY FOR ELIAS

Registering two assists on Mar. 8 vs ANA, Elias Pettersson registered his 80th and 81st points on the season (30-51-81), becoming the fifth-fastest player (sixth-fastest occasion) in franchise history to collect 80 points (62 games), behind only Alexander Mogilny (54 GP), Pavel Bure (55 GP, 59 GP), Henrik Sedin (60 GP) and Daniel Sedin (61 GP).

HISTORY WAITS FOR NO ONE

Scoring the opening goal on Mar. 6 vs NSH, Elias Pettersson registered his 300th career NHL point becoming the first skater from the 2017 NHL Draft Class to reach this milestone. Pettersson achieved this feat in 306 games played also making him the second fastest Canuck in franchise history to reach 300 points, trailing only Pavel Bure who was able to do it in 264 games played.

DOWN A MAN, UP TWO GOALS

Burying back-to-back shorthanded goals in a span of just 44 seconds on Mar. 4 vs TOR, Elias Pettersson (6:49, 3rd period) and J.T. Miller (7:33, 3rd period) recorded the fourth-fastest pair of shorthanded goals in Canucks history to turn a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 lead. It also marked the sixth time in franchise history (second time this season: also Feb. 18 vs PHI) that the Canucks have scored multiple times on the same two-minute penalty against, and the first occasion not involving an empty net since Apr. 9/98 vs CGY.

HUGHES WRITES HISTORY

Thanks to one assist each on the power play and shorthanded on Mar. 4 vs TOR, Quinn Hughes registered his 200th career NHL assist in just his 263rd regular season game, becoming the fastest defenceman in NHL history to do so (previously Brian Leetch, 264 games). He is also the fastest player of any position in Canucks history to record 200 assists with the club (23 players total, six defencemen), smashing the previous record set by centre Cliff Ronning (333 games).

DOUBLE OR NOTHING

Collecting two assists on Mar. 4 vs TOR, Quinn Hughes registered his 17th multi-point game of the season, surpassing Doug Lidster (1986.87) and Paul Reinhart (1988.89) for the most such occurrences by a defenceman in a single season in franchise history. It also marked Hughes' 14th multi-assist game this season, tying Dennis Kearns (1976.77) for the most in one season by a defenceman in Canucks history.

Hughes is now also tied with Alexander Edler for most total multi-assist games in franchise history with 42, trailing only Dennis Kearns (53) for most all-time.