Vancouver Canucks

GAME NOTES | CANUCKS AT RANGERS - FEB. 8/23

February 8, 2023



CANUCKS AT RANGERS

TV: Sportsnet, MSG, TVA

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

  • Tonight marks the first of two meetings between the Canucks and Rangers this season: Feb. 8 (away), and Feb. 15 (home).
  • Vancouver is 38-78-8-3 all-time against New York, including a 17-41-5-2 record on the road.
  • The Canucks are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games against the Rangers, including 5-0-0 in their last five.
  • Recent Canucks acquisition Anthony Beauvillier leads active Canucks skaters in career points against New York with 23 (13-10-23 in 27 GP), his highest point total against a single team in his NHL career.
  • Oliver Ekman-Larsson has 10 points (2-8-10) in 17 career games against the Rangers.
  • J.T. Miller has nine points (4-5-9) in nine career games against the Rangers.
  • Luke Schenn leads active Canucks in career games played (37) against New York.
  • Spencer Martin has yet to face the Rangers in his NHL career.
  • Collin Delia has played one career game vs New York, turning aside 29 of 32 shots.

QUICK NUMBERS

  • Quinn Hughes has 14 points (4-10-14) in his last 11 games.
  • Elias Pettersson has 15 points (4-11-15) in his last 13 games.
  • J.T. Miller has 15 points (5-10-15) in his last 14 games.
  • Andrei Kuzmenko has 12 points (7-5-12) in his last 13 games.
  • Conor Garland has five points (1-4-5) in his last five games.

LAST MEETING - FEB. 27/22: VAN 5 at NYR 2

Tanner Pearson opened up scoring at 3:12 in the first period assisted by J.T. Miller...Tyler Myers followed up with a goal at 19:21 in the first...J.T. Miller and Matthew Highmore recorded assists on the play...Juho Lammikko scored the GWG at 6:06 in the second period assisted by Luke Schenn...Matthew Highmore scored a power play goal...Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Tyler Myers collected the assists...Elias Pettersson scored an empty netter at 17:51 in the third assisted by Thatcher Demko...J.T. Miller (0-2-2), Matthew Highmore (1-1-2), and Tyler Myers (1-1-2) each tallied multi-point games...Luke Schenn led the team in hits (3)...Quinn Hughes led the game in TOI (24:23)...Thatcher Demko made 31 saves.

LAST GAME PLAYED - FEB. 6/23: VAN 4 at NJD 5 (OT)

Andrei Kuzmenko opened the scoring 3:35 into the first period...Luke Schenn and Elias Pettersson recorded the assists...Schenn scored his third of the season with 4:31 left in the second period...Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland picked up the assists...Curtis Lazar slid home his second of the season with 27 seconds left in the second...Riley Stillman and Garland were credited with the assists...Phil Di Giuseppe scored his first as a Canuck just past the six-minute mark of the third to tie the game...J.T. Miller and Ekman-Larsson recorded the assists...Quinn Hughes led the team with five shots on goal...Lazar led the team with five hits...Delia made 29 saves.

LAST 5 vs NEW YORK

  • Feb. 27/22: VAN 5 at NYR 2
  • Nov. 2/21: VAN 3 vs NYR 2 (OT)
  • Jan. 4/20: VAN 2 vs NYR 1
  • Oct. 20/19: VAN 3 at NYR 2
  • Mar. 13/19: VAN 4 vs NYR 1

CANUCKS: LONGEST RUNNING SHOW ON BROADWAY

Having won their last five matchups against the Rangers, the Canucks enter Wednesday night's game on the cusp of setting a new record for the franchise's longest winning streak against the Rangers, currently tied with a five-game streak from Oct. 2/99-Nov. 16/02. No other team possesses as long of an active wining streak against the Rangers.

  • This is Vancouver's second-longest active win streak against a single franchise, training only the team's eight game streak against the San Jose Sharks (Jan. 18/20-present).

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT 'BEAU'

Acquired from the New York Islanders via trade on January 30, Anthony Beauvillier made his Canucks debut on Monday night vs New Jersey. Here are seven things to know about the newest Canucks forward:

  • Beauvillier will wear number 72 with Vancouver, becoming the third player in team history to wear that number, joining Peter Schaefer (2000-01) and Travis Boyd (2020-21).

  • He was drafted in the first round, 28th overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, five picks after Brock Boeser (23rd) and six picks ahead of Travis Dermott (34th).

  • Prior to the trade, he spent his entire career with the Islanders (457 GP), ranking 39th on the team's all-time list at the time of his departure.

  • The winger has achieved three major milestones this season, recording his 100th career NHL assist on Nov. 3 at STL, his 200th career NHL point on Dec. 4 vs CHI, and his 100th career NHL goal on Dec. 23 vs FLA.

  • Has appeared in 49 career NHL playoff games (15-14-29) and tied for the Islanders team-lead in goals (9) in the 2020 playoffs.

  • Beauvillier played three seasons of major junior in the QMJHL with the Shawinigan Cataractes, leading the team in scoring in his second season (42-52-94 in 67 GP) and points-per-game (1.61) in his final junior season (40-39-79 in 40 GP). He also served as team captain in 2015.16.

  • A native of Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Beauvillier has represented Canada internationally on numerous occasions, including the 2018 World Championships, 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships, 2015 U18 World Championships (Bronze), and 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament (Gold).

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.

QUICK QUINN

Registering two assists on Jan. 21 vs EDM, Quinn Hughes marked his 46th career multi-point game and is the fourth active defenceman to reach as many games before the age of 24 (Erik Karlsson [58 GP], Rasmus Dahlin [48 GP], and Cale Makar [47 GP]).

  • Recording one goal and one assist on Jan. 18 vs TBL, Quinn Hughes reached the 40-point mark this season in just 40 games, becoming the fastest defenceman in Canucks history to reach this mark, besting Paul Reinhart by four games (1988.98).

  • Thanks to his third period goal and assist on Jan. 12 at TBL, Quinn Hughes reached and surpassed the 200-point mark in his career (22-179-201) in just his 242nd NHL game, becoming the fastest defenceman in franchise history to ever reach this milestone, doing so in 106 fewer games than the next closest Canucks defenceman (Jyrki Lumme - 348 GP). Hughes is also the third-fastest active NHL defenceman to the mark behind only Cale Makar (195 GP) and Adam Fox (241 GP).

TYLER FINDS TWINE

Opening the second period scoring on Jan. 14 at FLA, Tyler Myers became only the fourth Canucks defenceman to score a goal within the first 39 seconds of a period joining Kevin McCarthy (0:19 of P2 on March 8, 1983), Rick Lanz (0:32 of P2 on Nov. 11, 1985) and Ed Jovanovski (0:36 of P2 on Dec. 21, 2000). Myers also registered seven shots on goal to match his career high for the second consecutive game (also Jan. 12 at TBL).

ROAD READY HUGHES

Posting a goal and two assists on Jan. 12 at TBL, Quinn Hughes collected his 19th career multi-point game on the road, tying Kevin Bieksa for sixth-most occurrences by a defenceman in franchise history. In those 19 games, Hughes has amassed 45 points (2.33 points per game), the highest points per game average among defenceman with 10 or more multi-point road games in Canucks history.

2022.23 CANUCKS MILESTONES

  • Ilya Mikheyev recorded his 100th career NHL point, Jan. 27 vs CBJ
  • Quinn Hughes recorded his 200th career NHL point, Jan. 12 at TBL
  • Oliver Ekman-Larsson recorded his 300th career NHL assist, Jan. 5 vs COL
  • Luke Schenn appeared in his 900th career NHL game, Jan. 3 vs NYI
  • J.T. Miller recorded his 300th career NHL assist, Dec. 5 vs MTL
  • Luke Schenn claimed the NHL record for most all-time hits by a defenceman (2,947), Dec. 3 vs ARI
  • Ethan Bear appeared in his 200th career NHL game, Nov. 21 vs VGK
  • Elias Pettersson recorded his 100th career NHL goal, Oct. 18 at CBJ

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

  • Phillip Di Giuseppe, Vasily Podkolzin, and Nils Aman recalled from Abbotsford, Feb. 4
  • Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty, and condition first-round pick (2023) acquired from New York Islanders in exchange for Bo Horvat, Jan. 30
  • Phillip Di Giuseppe reassigned to Abbotsford, Jan. 28
  • Ilya Mikheyev placed on injured reserve, Jan. 28
  • Lane Pederson placed on waivers, Jan. 27
  • Phillip Di Giuseppe recalled from Abbotsford, Jan. 25
  • William Lockwood placed on Injured Reserve, Jan. 25