Vancouver Canucks

GAME NOTES | CANUCKS AT SHARKS - DEC. 7/22

December 7, 2022



CANUCKS @ SHARKS PREVIEW

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

  • Tonight marks the second of four meetings between the Canucks and Sharks this season: Nov. 27 (4-3 OTW), Dec. 7 (away), Dec. 27 (home), and Mar. 23 (home).
  • The Canucks are 62-55-9-7 all-time against the Sharks, including a 34-29-5-2 record on the road.
  • Vancouver is 8-2-0 in their last 10 games against San Jose (5-0-0 in their last 5).
  • Among active Canucks skaters, Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the team in points (8-17-25) and games played (53) against the Sharks.
  • Ilya Mikheyev has four career points (2-2-4) in two games against the Sharks.
  • J.T. Miller has 18 career points (6-12-18) in 16 games against San Jose.
  • Quinn Hughes has eight career points (3-5-8) in eight games against San Jose.
  • Spencer Martin is 0-1-1 in two career games against the Sharks, posting a 4.02 GAA and .857 SV%.
  • Collin Delia has yet to face San Jose in his career.

QUICK NUMBERS

  • Bo Horvat has seven goals and 10 points (7-3-10) in his last 10 games and is third in the NHL in goals scored this season with 20, three back of league-leader Jason Robertson (23).
  • Quinn Hughes has 24 points (0-24-24) this season and leads the NHL in assists among defencemen (24 in 22 GP).
  • Elias Pettersson leads the team with the most multi-point games this season at 10 (10-15-25 in those 10 games).
  • J.T. Miller has 11 points (2-9-11) in his last 10 games.
  • Luke Schenn holds the NHL all-time record of most hits (2,948) by a defenceman.

LAST MEETING - NOV. 27/22: VAN 4 at SJS 3 (OT)

Kyle Burroughs opened the scoring 7:26 into the first period, his second goal of the season...Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller picked up the assists...Ilya Mikheyev tied the game at two 8:14 into the third period...the assists went to Andrei Kuzmenko and Elias Pettersson...Pettersson gave the Canucks their second lead of the game just 2:30 later...Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mikheyev recorded the helpers...Kuzmenko struck just 1:12 into overtime to propel the Canucks to victory...Miller and Quinn Hughes were credited with the assists...Luke Schenn and Dakota Joshua tied for the team lead in hits with four...Burroughs matched the team's season-high with five blocked shots...Thatcher Demko made 32 saves.

LAST GAME PLAYED - DEC. 5/22: VAN 7 vs MTL 6 (OT)

Conor Garland scored the Canucks first goal at 16:44 in the second period...Andrei Kuzmenko recorded his 11th assist of the season...Ilya Mikheyev doubled the Canucks score with his first goal of the evening 1:44 later...Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser were credited with the assists...Bo Horvat opened the scoring in the third with his 20th of the season...Nils Höglander and Riley Stillman tallied assists on the play...Less than two minutes later, Mikheyev scored his second goal to tie the game at 4-4...Pettersson and Stillman both recorded their second assists of the night...Jack Studnicka scored his second goal of the season, unassisted, to take the lead...Kuzmenko scored the Canucks sixth goal at 18:35 in the third to send the game into overtime...J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes were credited with the assists...Pettersson scored the game winning goal 13 seconds into overtime, unassisted...Collin Delia registered his first win as a Canuck, stopping 15 shots in relief...Mikheyev led the team in shots (4)...Eleven Canucks registered points in the contest, including four Canucks who had multi-point games.

LAST 5 vs SAN JOSE

  • Nov. 27/22: VAN 4 at SJS 3 (OT)
  • Apr. 9/22: VAN 5 vs SJS 1
  • Feb. 17/22: VAN 5 at SJS 4 (OT)
  • Dec. 16/21: VAN 5 at SJS 2
  • Jan. 29/20: VAN 5 at SJS 2

PERISTENT PETEY

Scoring one goal and tallying two assists on Dec. 5 vs MTL, Elias Pettersson registered 32 points in (12-20-32) 26 games played, becoming the first Canuck to reach this mark in 26 or fewer games played since Daniel and Henrik Sedin in 2010.11 (30 points in 24 GP). Monday night also marked Pettersson's team-leading 10th multi-point game this season and his 20th career 3+ point game, tying him with Stan Smyl (1978-1983) for fifth-most 3+ point games in a player's first five NHL seasons in franchise history.

  • Scoring at 3-on-3 in overtime on Dec. 5 vs MTL, Pettersson tallied his 12th goal of the season, all of which have come at even strength. He ranks tied for second among NHL skaters for most even strength goals this season (12), trailing Jason Robertson (17).

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

Scoring his team-leading 20th goal on Dec. 5 vs MTL, Bo Horvat is the fourth skater in Canucks history to score as many goals in the team's first 26 games of the season. Horvat is only the third player this season to reach the 20-goal mark (Robertson, 23; McDavid, 22).

  • With 34 goals in 44 games since March 9, 2022, Horvat has the highest goals per game (0.77) in the League during that stretch (minimum 5 GP).
  • Earlier this season, Horvat became the first player in franchise history to have five multi-goal games in the first 13 games.

BELIEVING IN BRUCE

With the team's 7-6 OT victory on Dec. 5 vs MTL, the Canucks overcame a 4-0 deficit for only the third time in franchise history to secure a 4-goal comeback win (Jan. 16/73 vs TOR 6-4 W & Oct. 15/71 vs CAL 9-6 W). Coincidentally, Bruce Boudreau also earned his third career win in a game where his team trailed by four-plus goals (Dec. 23/08 w/ WSH & Mar. 31/14 w/ ANA).

  • With the team's 7-6 OT victory on Dec. 5 vs MTL, Bruce Boudreau (43 wins) is now only one win away from tying Hal Laycoe (44) for 12th place on the Canucks all-time coaches wins list.

PUTTING THE 'SUDDEN' IN SUDDEN DEATH

Elias Pettersson's game-winning overtime goal on Dec. 5 vs MTL came just 13 seconds into OT, making it the fastest goal to start a regular season overtime period in Canucks history. The previous record was held by Dixon Ward who scored 15 seconds into OT on Nov. 29/93.

PRODUCTION LINE

With multi-point efforts on Dec. 5 vs MTL, Andrei Kuzmenko, Elias Pettersson, and Ilya Mikheyev have collectively tallied 33 points in the team's last 10 games (15-18-33). Between the trio, they have had 22 multi-point efforts this season including three games (Oct. 27 @ SEA, Nov. 27 @ SJS, Dec. 5 vs MTL) where all three skaters put up at least two points.

SCHENN'S GREATEST HITS

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. Schenn has collected the second-most hits in the NHL this season (108 in 26 GP). 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.

POWER PLAY PROWESS

Netting 22 power play goals on 70 opportunities in their last 20 games played, including a tally on the man-advantage on Dec. 5 vs MTL, the Canucks' power play ranks second in the NHL since Oct. 24, producing at a rate of 31.4%.

HUGHES' HELPING HANDS

  • 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.
  • Collecting his 20th assist of the season in 17 games on Nov. 26 at VGK, Hughes trailed only Henrik Sedin (21 assists in 2010.11) for most assists by a Canucks player through their first 17 games of a season.
    • Previously, on Nov. 21 vs VGK, 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 now one assist away from tying Rick Lanz (171) for 8th.

RECENT CANUCKS MILESTONES

  • 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
  • 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

  • Christian Wolanin assigned to Abbotsford, Dec. 6
  • Christian Wolanin recalled from Abbotsford, Dec. 5
  • Thatcher Demko placed on injured reserve, Dec. 5
  • Jack Studnicka activated from injured reserve, Dec. 3
  • Collin Delia recalled from Abbotsford under emergency conditions, Dec. 2
  • Phillip Di Giuseppe assigned to Abbotsford, Nov. 30
  • Phillip Di Giuseppe recalled from Abbotsford, Nov. 29
  • Vasily Podkolzin assigned to Abbotsford, Nov. 28
  • Jack Rathbone assigned to Abbotsford, Nov. 28

THREE STARS - DECEMBER

  • Pettersson (10 pts)
  • Horvat (5 pts)
  • Mikheyev (5 pts)

NOVEMBER WINNER - Horvat (40 pts)
OCTOBER WINNER - Horvat, Kuzmenko (10 pts)

*5 points are awarded for each Three Stars selection