Vancouver Canucks

GAME NOTES | CANUCKS AT ISLANDERS - FEB. 9/23

February 10, 2023



CANUCKS AT ISLANDERS

TV: Sportsnet Pacific, MSGSN

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

  • Tonight marks the second and final meeting between the Canucks and Islanders this season: Jan. 3 (6-2 L @ VAN) and Feb. 9 (away).
  • Vancouver is 46-55-13-3 all-time against New York, including a 18-28-10-2 record on the road.
  • The Canucks are 4-5-1in their last 10 games against the Islanders, including 3-2-0 in their last five.
  • Recent Canucks acquisition Anthony Beauvillier played 457 games with the Islanders from 2016 to 2023, recording 209 points (102-107-209).
  • J.T. Miller leads all active Canucks in career scoring vs the Islanders with 14 points (8-6-14) in 29 games.
  • Quinn Hughes has six points (2-4-6) in six career games against the Islanders.
  • Conor Garland has four points (2-2-4) in six career games against the Islanders.
  • Vasily Podkolzin has registered a point in each of his two career games against the Islanders (1-1-2), including netting the GWG in New York last season.
  • Luke Schenn leads active Canucks in career games played (38) against New York.
  • Spencer Martin has played one career game vs the Islanders, turning aside 23 of 28 shots earlier this season.
  • Collin Delia registered an overtime loss in his only career game vs the Islanders (Jan. 3/19), setting career-highs in shots faced (50, t-1st) and saves (47).

QUICK NUMBERS

  • Quinn Hughes has 16 points (4-12-16) in his last 12 games.
  • Elias Pettersson has 16 points (5-11-16) in his last 14 games.
  • J.T. Miller has 16 points (5-11-16) in his last 15 games.
  • Andrei Kuzmenko has 12 points (7-5-12) in his last 14 games.
  • Conor Garland has six points (2-4-6) in his last six games.

LAST MEETING - JAN. 3/23: VAN 2 vs NYI 6

Bo Horvat opened the scoring with his team-leading 27th goal of the season at 18:23 in the first period to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead entering the second period...Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brock Boeser collected the assists...Horvat notched his second goal of the game at 18:54 in the second period, on the power play, for his ninth multi-goal game of the season...J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes assisted on the play...William Lockwood led the team in hits (4) in his third game of the season...J.T. Miller won 10 of 13 faceoffs...Spencer Martin faced 28 shots.

LAST GAME PLAYED - FEB. 8/23: VAN 3 at NYR 4

Conor Garland got the Canucks on the board off a Quinn Hughes pass with his 10th goal of the season at 17:36 in the first period to cut the deficit to one goal...Vasily Podkolzin scored his first goal of the season at 16:06 in the second period to bring the Canucks back within one...former New York Ranger J.T. Miller collected his 500th NHL point on the play with the lone assist...Elias Pettersson beat an icing call to strike just 11 seconds after a Mika Zibanejad tally at 16:16 in the third period...Quinn Hughes picked up his second assist of the night while Brock Boeser registered the other assist...Luke Schenn and Riley Stillman co-led Vancouver skaters in hits (3) while six Canucks recorded two blocks...Elias Pettersson went 13-6 in the face-off circle...Spencer Martin faced 21 shots.

LAST 5 vs NEW YORK ISLANDERS

  • Jan. 3/23: VAN 2 vs NYI 6
  • Mar. 3/22: VAN 4 at NYI 3
  • Feb. 9/22: VAN 3 vs NYI 6
  • Mar. 10/20: VAN 5 vs NYI 4 (SO)
  • Feb. 1/20: VAN 4 at NYI 3 (OT)

FAMILIAR TERRITORY

Newly acquired Canucks forward Anthony Beauvillier will face his former team tonight for the first time since he was acquired alongside Aatu Räty and a 2023 first-round draft pick on January 30th. Beauvillier, who was drafted in the first round, 28th overall by the Islanders in 2015, played his first 457 regular season NHL games with New York, ranking 39th on the team's all-time games played list at the time of his departure.

  • Beauvillier recorded 209 points (102-107-209) in 457 regular season games with the Islanders and added 29 points (15-14-29) in 49 playoff contests.
  • The 25-year-old winger will look to add the Islanders to the list of all 31 other NHL teams that he has registered at least one point against in his career.

MILLSY'S MILESTONE

Recording the lone assist on Vasily Podkolzin's first goal of the year on Feb. 8 at NYR, J.T. Miller registered his 500th career NHL point (187-313-500), becoming the eighth player and second American-born skater from the 2011 NHL Draft class to achieve the milestone. Miller, who was drafted by the Rangers, recorded 172 points (72-100-72) with New York, before collecting 65 (23-42-65) with Tampa Bay and 263 (92-171-263) with Vancouver to reach the 500-point mark.

GOING FOR TWO

Posting two assists on Feb. 8 vs NYR, Quinn Hughes collected his 20th career multi-point game on the road, passing Kevin Bieksa for sole possession of sixth-most such occurrences by a defenceman in franchise history. In those 20 games, Hughes has amassed 47 points (2.35 points per game), the highest points per game average among defenceman with 10 or more multi-point road games in Canucks history.

  • The occasion also marked Hughes' 48th career multi-point game (home and road), passing Rick Lanz for sole possession of sixth-most such occurrences. In those 48 games, Hughes has 111 points (15-96-111).

PETEY'S ALL-STAR WEEKEND

All-Star Game: Despite a 6-4 loss to the Central Division in the semi-final, Elias Pettersson notched two goals to lead the Pacific Division in goals, points (2-0-2; t-1st), and shots (6).

Skills Competition: Elias Pettersson was crowned as the NHL Hardest Shot winner at the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills competition on Feb. 3 in Sunrise, Florida with his winning blast registering at 103.2 mph. Pettersson was the only player to break 100 mph on both of his shots, and his winning shot was the second-hardest ever by a forward at the event, just behind Steven Stamkos' 103.9 mph shot in 2016.

IN SHORT ORDER

Opening the scoring with a shorthanded marker just 1:25 into the first period on Jan. 27 vs CBJ, Elias Pettersson scored the third earliest shorthanded goal in Canucks history (85 seconds in), trailing only Alex Burrows (37 seconds in on Mar. 6/08 vs NSH) and Jere Gillis (80 seconds in on Mar. 28/84 vs WIN).

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT

Registering 48 shots in the team's 5-2 victory over Chicago on Jan. 24, the Canucks recorded a shot differential of +34. This has tied the team's highest recorded shot differential in franchise history with two other occasions:

  • November 18, 1980, vs original Winnipeg Jets
  • February 20, 1976, vs Minnesota North Stars

Chicago's 14 shots on goal are also tied for the seventh-fewest shots allowed in a game in franchise history and mark the fewest allowed in a game since Dec. 12/10 at Edmonton (12 SA).

'TOC' OF THE TOWN

On January 22nd, Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin announced that Rick Tocchet had been named the 21st Head Coach in franchise history. Tocchet joins the Canucks having most recently served four seasons as head coach of the Arizona Coyotes from 2017.18 to 2020.21. During his tenure in Arizona, Tocchet led the Coyotes to their first trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs (2020) in eight years, when the team defeated the Nashville Predators in four games to advance from the Qualifying Round. That same season, he was selected to coach the Pacific Division at the NHL All-Star Game in St. Louis. Prior to his appointment in Arizona, Tocchet spent three seasons (2014.15 to 2016.17) as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017.

  • In addition to Tocchet's appointment as Head Coach, the Canucks also introduced former NHL defencemen Adam Foote as an Assistant Coach and Sergei Gonchar as a Defensive Development Coach.
  • Tocchet, Foote, and Gonchar played a combined 3,596 regular season games in the NHL, winning four Stanley Cups between them as players, and an additional three Stanley Cups in coaching capacities.