Vancouver Canucks

GAME NOTES | CANUCKS VS FLAMES - APR. 8/23

April 9, 2023



CANUCKS vs FLAMES

TV: CBC, City, Sportsnet, TVAS2

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

  • Tonight marks the fourth and final meeting between the Canucks and Flames this season: Dec. 14 (4-3 SOW @ CGY), Dec. 31 (3-2 L @ CGY), Mar. 31 (5-4 OTL @ VAN), Apr. 8 (home).
  • Vancouver is 115-140-33-10 all-time against the Flames, including 66-58-18-8 at home.
  • The Canucks are 3-4-3 in their last 10 games against Calgary (1-3-1 in their last five).
  • J.T. Miller leads all active Canucks skaters in career points against Calgary with 25 (6-19-25 in 29 GP).
  • Brock Boeser has 24 points (12-12-24) in 28 career games against the Flames.
  • Elias Pettersson has 19 points (9-10-19) in 21 career games against the Flames.
  • Quinn Hughes has 15 points (2-13-15) in 20 career games against the Flames.
  • Tyler Myers leads all active Canucks in career games played against Calgary at 33 (6-11-17 in those games).
  • Thatcher Demko is 4-5-3 in 12 career games against the Flames with a 3.12 GAA and .899 SV%.
  • Collin Delia is 0-1-0 in one career game against Calgary with a 3.04 GAA and .929 SV%.

QUICK NUMBERS

  • Elias Pettersson has 22 points (9-13-22) in his last 17 games and is two points away from breaking 100 this season.
  • J.T. Miller has 21 points (9-12-21) in his last 15 games.
  • Andrei Kuzmenko has 17 points (10-7-17) in his last 16 games.
  • Quinn Hughes has 12 points (2-10-12) in his last 11 games.
  • Brock Boeser has eight points (4-4-8) in his last seven games.
  • The Canucks are 17-11-4 since Rick Tocchet took over as Head Coach on January 22.
  • Vancouver possesses an 85.5% penalty kill percentage (47/55) since March 1, which ranks seventh in the NHL.

LAST MEETING - MAR. 31/23: VAN 4 vs CGY 5 (OT)

Conor Garland opened the scoring 8:30 into the contest on an unassisted breakway goal...Elias Pettersson doubled the lead 36 seconds into the second period on the power play...Quinn Hughes and Andrei Kuzmenko registered the assists...Aidan McDonough scored his first NHL goal at the 12:12 mark of the second period...Sheldon Dries and Jack Studnicka picked up the assists...Anthony Beauvillier put the Canucks up with 3:54 left in the second period...Pettersson led the team with five shots...Kyle Burroughs had seven hits...Tyler Myers blocked four shots...Thatcher Demko made 36 saves.

LAST GAME PLAYED - APR. 6/23: VAN 3 vs CHI 0

Andrei Kuzmenko netted the Canucks' first goal of the game for the 12th time this season (most on the team) at 16:16 in the first period...Elias Pettersson recorded the first assist and Akito Hirose collected the second assist for his first career NHL point in just his third game played...Vitali Kravtsov scored his first goal as a Canuck at 3:53 in the second period, assisted by Conor Garland and Hirose, who registered a two-point game (0-2-2)...J.T. Miller secured the victory with an empty net goal for his 30th of the season at 19:35 in the third period, assisted by Brock Boeser and Tyler Myers...Boeser led all Canucks in shots (5), while Myers led in blocks (4) and co-led in hits with Kravtsov (5)...Thatcher Demko made 33 saves for his first shutout of the season and third of his career.

LAST 5 vs CALGARY

  • Mar. 31/23: VAN 4 vs CGY 5 (OT)
  • Dec. 31/22: VAN 2 @ CGY 3
  • Dec. 14/22: VAN 4 @ CGY 3 (SO)
  • Apr. 23/22: VAN 3 @ CGY 6
  • Mar. 19//22: VAN 2 vs CGY 5

TIDYING UP AT HOME

The Canucks conclude their 2022.23 home schedule tonight against the Calgary Flames, marking the ninth time in history that the club has played their final home game of the season against the Flames. In the previous eight such games against Calgary, Vancouver has posted a 5-2-1-0 record, including winning the past three games dating back to 2009.10.

In their last 14 home season finales, Vancouver has posted a 12-2-0 record. Overall, the Canucks have a 29-17-5-0 record against 13 different teams in their final home game of the regular season since 1970.71.

NEARING THE CENTURY MARK

Collecting an assist on Andrei Kuzmenko's opening goal on Apr. 6 vs CHI, Elias Pettersson tied Todd Bertuzzi for eighth-most points by a Canucks skater in a single season. With 98 points (37-61-98) this season, he now sits just two points shy of becoming the sixth player (seventh instance) in team history to reach the 100-point mark and the first since Daniel Sedin (41-63-104) in 2010.11.

  • Pettersson is also just the second Canuck (third instance) to register at least 95 points in a season by age 24 or younger (trailing only Pavel Bure who had 107 points in 1993.94 and 110 points in 1992.93).

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Following Cole McWard's NHL debut on Apr. 6 vs CHI, a total of six players have made their NHL debuts with Vancouver this season, tied for third-most in the League (w/ NSH, NYI, OTT) behind only Chicago (7) and Columbus (7). The Canucks have now had 38 skaters appear in at least one game this season, matching the franchise record for most skaters dressed in a season (1987.88). McWard also became the 16th defenceman to play for the team, two more than the previous club record of 14 (1997.98, 2005.06, and 2018.19).

PETEY'S POINT STREAK

Scoring his 36th goal of the season on Mar. 31 vs CGY, Elias Pettersson extended his career-high point streak to 14 games (from Mar. 4 vs TOR to Mar. 31 vs CGY with 8-12-20 in those games), matching Clayton Keller (ARI) for the longest active point streak in the NHL during that time. He tied Darcy Rota (1982.83) for the third longest point streak in franchise history, only trailing Petr Nedved (1992.93) and Todd Bertuzzi (2001.02) who each had point streaks of 15 games.

  • Pettersson currently also holds a road point streak of 13 games (10-11-21), which is the second longest of its kind in franchise history behind Pavel Bure's 15-game road point streak (18-12-30) in 1993.94.

ANOTHER RECORD... BUT HUGHES COUNTING?

Recording two goals and adding an assist on Mar. 28 at STL, Quinn Hughes (7-65-72 in 70 GP) became the fifth NHL defenceman in the last 30 years to record a 70-point season before the age of 24. The three-point effort (2-1-3) was the 16th such occasion of Hughes' career, tying him with Jyrki Luume for the most three-point games by a Canucks blueliner in franchise history. Hughes has been on a tear all season, recently breaking the following records:

  • Mar. 28 at STL - Moved into seventh place for all-time points (238) by a Canucks defenceman, past Sami Salo (236). He is now just three points back of matching Kevin Bieksa's 241 points in a Canucks uniform for sixth-most by a Vancouver defenceman.
  • Mar. 26 at CHI - Notched his 69th point of the season for the most points by a defenceman in a single season (previously 68 in 2021.22).
  • Mar. 21 vs VGK - Broke his own franchise record for most assists in a single season by a defenceman with 62 (last set in 2021.22 at 60). The contest against the Golden Knights was also Hughes' 17th multi-assist game of the season to become only the second Canuck (fifth instance) in franchise history to register at least as many multi-assist performances in a single season (joining Henrik Sedin in 2006.07 [19], 2009.10 [23], 2010.11 [20], and 2011.12 [19]).
  • Mar. 4 vs TOR - Became the fastest defenceman in NHL history to reach 200 career NHL assists in just 263 games.

CAN'T STOP KUZY

Scoring the game-opening goal on Apr. 6 vs CHI, Andrei Kuzmenko regained sole possession of the team lead in goals this season (38), one up on Elias Pettersson. Kuzmenko's 38 goals are also tied for the sixth-most in an NHL player's first season since 1988.89, one goal behind Sidney Crosby's 39-goal rookie campaign in 2005.06.

  • Previously on Mar. 28 at STL, Kuzmenko became the Canucks' all-time leader for points in a season by a first year NHL player, surpassing Elias Pettersson's mark of 66 points in 2018.19, and on Mar. 23 vs SJS, he set the record for most goals (35) in a season in franchise history by a first-year player, surpassing Pavel Bure (34) in 1991.92.
  • Andrei Kuzmenko now owns an NHL-best 27.0% shooting percentage (min. 50 shots) so far this season, and currently possesses the 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% in a season, joining Mike Ribeiro (25.2% in 2007.08).

"SCORING ON THE PK" - A CANUCKS' SHORT

Opening the Canucks' scoring on Mar. 25 at DAL, Dakota Joshua registered the team's 14th shorthanded marker of 2022.23 to previously lead the NHL this season (now second to the Edmonton Oilers with 16) and is the most by a Canucks team since 2002.03.

  • Previously, 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.

MILLER'S SPECIAL SAUCE

Scoring both a shorthanded penalty shot and a power play goal on Mar. 21 vs VGK, J.T. Miller registered his fourth multi-goal game of the season, which ranks third on the team. This marked the fourth time in his career (four in 2016.17, four in 2021.22, five in 2019.20) that he has recorded at least four multi-goal games in the same season.

  • Miller's penalty shot on Mar. 21 vs VGK was the second successful penalty shot goal of his career to become only the fourth Canuck to have multiple penalty shot goals with the team (tying Henrik Sedin and Markus Naslund, and trailing Pavel Bure [4]).
  • The shorthanded marker on Mar. 21 vs VGK was Miller's fifth of the 2022.23 season to surpass Elias Pettersson and seven others to now lead the League in shorthanded goals.

2022.23 CANUCKS MILESTONES

  • Akito Hirose recorded his first NHL point (assist), Apr. 6 vs CHI
  • Cole McWard appeared in his first career NHL game, Apr. 6 vs CHI
  • Akito Hirose appeared in his first career NHL game, Apr. 2 vs LAK
  • Aidan McDonough recorded his first NHL goal, Mar. 31 vs CGY
  • Andrei Kuzmenko set the franchise record for most points by a first-year NHL player (67), Mar. 28 at STL
  • Aidan McDonough appeared in his first career NHL game, Mar. 26 at CHI
  • Guillaume Brisebois recorded his first NHL goal, Mar. 14 vs DAL
  • Brock Boeser recorded his 300th career NHL point, Mar. 14 vs DAL
  • J.T. Miller appeared in his 700th career NHL game, Mar. 8 vs ANA
  • Elias Pettersson registered his 300th career NHL point, Mar. 6 vs NSH
  • Tyler Myers appeared in his 900th career NHL game, Mar. 6 vs NSH
  • Quinn Hughes became the fastest defenceman in NHL history to reach 200 assists (263 GP), Mar. 4 vs TOR
  • Dakota Joshua appeared in his 100th career NHL game, Mar. 2 vs MIN
  • Conor Garland appeared in his 300th career NHL game, Feb. 27 at DAL
  • Sheldon Dries appeared in his 100th career NHL game, Feb. 27 at DAL
  • Elias Pettersson appeared in his 300th career NHL game, Feb. 21 at NSH
  • Arturs Silovs recorded his 1st career NHL win, Feb. 18 vs PHI
  • Conor Garland recorded his 100th career NHL assist, Feb. 13 vs DET
  • Vasily Podkolzin appeared in his 100th career NHL game, Feb. 13 vs DET
  • Oliver Ekman-Larsson appeared in his 900th career NHL game, Feb. 11 at DET
  • J.T. Miller registered his 500th career NHL point, Feb. 8 at NYR
  • 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
  • J.T. Miller recorded his 300th career NHL assist, Dec. 5 vs MTL
  • 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

  • Jack Rathbone reassigned to Abbotsford, Apr. 6
  • Cole McWard signed to a two-year, entry-level contract, Apr. 4
  • Nikita Tolopilo signed to a two-year, entry-level contract, Mar. 31
  • Jack Rathbone recalled under emergency conditions, Mar. 30
  • Akito Hirose signed to a one-year, entry-level contract, Mar. 29
  • Jack Rathbone reassigned to Abbotsford, Mar. 28
  • Max Sasson signed to a two-year, entry-level contract, Mar. 26
  • Jack Rathbone recalled under emergency conditions, Mar. 24
  • Christian Wolanin signed to a two-year contract extension, Mar. 23

THREE STARS - APRIL

  • Boeser (5 pts)
  • Demko (5 pts)
  • Garland (5 pts)
  • Hirose (5 pts)
  • Kravtsov (5 pts)

MARCH WINNER - Miller/Pettersson (25 pts)
FEBRUARY WINNER - Pettersson (15 pts)
JANUARY WINNER - Pettersson (20 pts)
DECEMBER WINNER - Pettersson (20 pts)
NOVEMBER WINNER - Horvat (40 pts)
OCTOBER WINNER - Horvat, Kuzmenko (10 pts)
*5 points are awarded for each Three Stars selection