Vancouver Canucks

GAME NOTES | CANUCKS VS BLACKHAWKS - APR. 6/23

April 6, 2023



CANUCKS vs BLACKHAWKS

TV: Sportsnet Pacific, NBC Sports Chicago

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

  • Tonight marks the third and final meeting between the Canucks and Blackhawks this season: Jan. 24 (5-2 W @ VAN), Mar. 26 (4-2 W @ CHI), and Apr. 6 (home).
  • Vancouver is 88-83-22-7 all-time against the Blackhawks, including 54-31-15-1 at home.
  • The Canucks are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games against Chicago (4-1-0 in their last five).
  • J.T. Miller leads all active Canucks skaters in career points against the Blackhawks with 15 (2-13-15) in 19 games.
  • Brock Boeser has 12 points (4-8-12) in 12 career games against Chicago.
  • Elias Pettersson has 11 points (4-7-11) in 11 career games against Chicago.
  • Andrei Kuzmenko has four points (2-2-4) in two career games against Chicago.
  • Tyler Myers leads active Canucks skaters in career games played against the Blackhawks with 29 (1-8-9 in those 29 GP).
  • Thatcher Demko is 2-1-0 with a 1.35 goals against average and a .953 save percentage in three career games against Chicago.
  • Collin Delia is 2-0-0 with a 2.00 goals against average and a .911 save percentage in 2 career games against Chicago.

QUICK NUMBERS

  • Elias Pettersson has 21 points (9-12-21) in his last 16 games and is three points away from breaking 100 this season.
  • J.T. Miller has 20 points (8-12-20) in his last 14 games.
  • Andrei Kuzmenko has 16 points (9-7-16) in his last 15 games.
  • Quinn Hughes has 12 points (2-10-12) in his last 10 games.
  • Brock Boeser has seven points (4-3-7) in his last six games.
  • The Canucks are 16-11-4 since Rick Tocchet took over as Head Coach on January 22.

LAST MEETING - MAR. 26/23: VAN 4 at CHI 2

Phillip Di Giuseppe scored the Canucks' first goal at 19:43 in the second period to tie the game at one...J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes registered assists...Elias Pettersson scored his first of two goals at 12:06 in the third...Ethan Bear and Andrei Kuzmenko were both credited with the assists...Pettersson extended the Canucks' lead sixty-three seconds later on the power play...Kuzmenko tied the franchise record for most points in by a first year NHL-er (66) with the first helper...Brock Boeser recorded the second helper...Boeser regained the two goal lead with an empty netter at 18:57...Bear registered the sole assist on the play...Delia recorded his second Vancouver Canucks: Media Notes career win against his former team stopping 29 shots...Pettersson led the team in shots (7)...Dakota Joshua led the team in hits (4) and blocked shots (3).

LAST GAME PLAYED - APR. 4/23: VAN 2 vs SEA 5

Elias Pettersson opened the scoring 4:31 into the game with his 37th of the season...Andrei Kuzmenko and Dakota Joshua picked up the assists...Anthony Beauvillier scored just past the 13 minute mark of the period to extend the lead to 2-0...Conor Garland and Nils Åman recorded the assists...Brock Boeser led the team with five shots on goal...Jack Studnicka and Philip Di Giuseppe each had six hits...Kyle Burroughs had four blocked shots...Collin Delia made 23 saves.

LAST 5 vs CHICAGO

  • Mar. 26/23: VAN 4 @ CHI 2
  • Jan. 24/23: VAN 5 vs CHI 2
  • Jan. 31/22: VAN 3 at CHI 1
  • Nov. 21/21: VAN 0 vs CHI 1
  • Oct. 21/21: VAN 4 at CHI 1

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.

CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARD

Following his goal on Mar. 31 vs CGY, Elias Pettersson is only one point away from tying Todd Bertuzzi for eighth-most points by a Canucks skater in a single season, after surpassing Henrik Sedin's 94-point campaign in 2010.11 for the ninth-most on Mar. 28 at STL. He now sits just four points shy of becoming the sixth player (seventh instance) in team history to reach the 100-point mark. 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).

CAN'T STOP KUZY

Burying two goals for his team-leading 36th and 37th goals of the season on Mar. 28 at STL, Andrei 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. Previously, on Mar. 23 vs SJS, Kuzmenko scored his 35th goal of the season for the most in franchise history by a first-year player, surpassing Pavel Bure (34) in 1991.92.

  • Andrei Kuzmenko now owns an NHL-best 26.6% 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).
  • On Mar. 31 vs CGY, Kuzmenko registered his 32nd assist in 2022.23, making him only the second Canucks skater in the last 40 years to have at as many helpers in their first NHL season (trailing Pettersson who had 38 in 2018.19).

"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.

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).

2022.23 CANUCKS MILESTONES

  • 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

  • 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
  • Ethan Bear activated from injured reserve, Mar. 18
  • Aidan McDonough signed to a two-year entry level contract, Mar. 13
  • Phillip Di Giuseppe signed to a two-year contract extension, Mar. 12

THREE STARS - APRIL

  • Boeser (5 pts)
  • Garland (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