Game Notes: Canucks vs. Sabres

The Canucks face off against the Buffalo Sabres for their second of two match ups this season. The Canucks lost 4-3 in the shootout against Buffalo on Nov. 10/18. Vancouver is 3-1-1 in their last five games versus the Sabres (6-3-1 in their last 10 meetings).
Tonight marks the fourth of a six-game home stand that also sees visits from Detroit (Jan. 20) and Carolina (Jan. 23). The Canucks are 1-0-2 on the homestand to date.

MORNING SKATE UPDATE

It's Demko time. The 23-year-old netminder will make his season debut Friday night against the Buffalo Sabres; this will be the second start of Demko's NHL career. Goalies are not made available to the media on game days, so we'll just assume he's very excited and focused on what he needs to do to find success tonight.
Antoine Roussel, on the other hand, spoke to the media. He remembers Vancouver's unfortunate loss in Buffalo earlier this season and said the Canucks will be ready to go tonight. Roussel is expected to skate alongside Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser on Vancouver's top line.

LAST MEETING - NOV. 10/18: VAN 3 at BUF 4 SO

Loui Eriksson collected the Canucks first goal of the night to tie things up at 18:16 in the second period...Jake Virtanen notched a goal at 19:26 to give the Canucks the lead heading in to the third period...Erik Gudbranson recorded his second goal of the season...Antoine Roussel tied a career high for most assists in a game (2)...Bo Horvat won 18 face-offs...Jacob Markstrom faced 37 shots.

LAST GAME - JAN. 16/18: VAN 2 vs EDM 3 (SO)

Brandon Sutter got the Canucks on the board with a power play goal at 8:53 in the first...With an assist, Ben Hutton extended his scoring streak to 3 straight games, which ties a career high...Markus Granlund notched the Canucks second goal of the night and led Canucks skaters with two points (1-1-2)...Jacob Markstrom faced 30 shots...Tyler Motte led the Canucks in hits with six.

THE ROOKIE

Elias Pettersson was named to Team Pacific Division for the 2019 NHL All-Star Game. He becomes the youngest Canucks player and just the third Canucks rookie (Tallon, Boeser) named to the honour.
With his seventh GWG Jan. 2 at OTT, Pettersson established a new Canucks single-season record for most GWG scored by a rookie.
With three goals on Jan. 2 at OTT, Pettersson became just the fourth active player to accumulate 40 or more career points within his first 40 NHL games.
With his performance on Jan. 2, he also became the first rookie in Canucks franchise history to score a hat trick that included an OTG (seventh NHL rookie to accomplish the feat). He is the eighth Canucks rookie to net a hat trick.
Pettersson leads all rookies in goals (22), points (42), power-play goals (6), power-play assists (7), power-play points (13), game- winning goals (7) and shooting percentage (27.8%; this also ranks third in the NHL (min. 15 GP)). He also leads Canucks skaters in goals, points, points per game (1.11), power-play goals, power-play assists (tied), power-play points, game-winning goals and shooting percentage.
Pettersson was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month recipient for the month of December after leading all rookies in goals (6), assists (11), points (17), game-winning goals (4) and plus/minus (tied, +8) in 14 games.
Pettersson, who led all rookies with seven goals and 10 points in eight games (7-3-10) in October, was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for October. He was named the NHL's second star of the week ending November 4th (sharing the League lead with four goals and ranked third overall with seven points in three games) and was named first star of the week ending December 9th (after leading the NHL with eight points (2-6-8) in three games).
Pettersson tied Lars Molin for the second longest rookie point streak in franchise history, going 4-9-13 from Dec. 6-16.
With five points (1-4-5) on Dec. 9 at STL, Pettersson became the sixth rookie since 1967-68 to record multiple outings with at least five points in a single season. He joined Bryan Trottier as the only NHL rookies to accomplish the feat before the end of December. He also registered five points (2-3-5) on Nov. 2 vs COL.

SWEDE RECORD

Playing in his 783rd career game Dec. 22 vs WPG (all with Vancouver), Alex Edler passed Harold Snepsts for most games played by a defenceman in Canucks franchise history.
Edler also leads the way among Canucks defencemen in career points (353), power play points (163) and shots (1742). He ranks second among Canucks blueliners in goals (88; 5 behind Mattias Ohlund), second in assists (265; 25 behind Dennis Kearns) and second in power play goals (43; 5 behind Sami Salo).
Edler also currently ranks 3rd in the NHL in blocks per game (2.9; min. 10 GP).

FACE THE FACTS

Bo Horvat ranks first in the NHL in face-off wins (624), first in even-strength face-off wins (511) and first in face-offs taken (1186). He also ranks ninth in PP face-off wins (81).
Horvat ranks second on the team in points (37), and power play points (11) and first in shots (138), face-off win percentage (52.6%; min. 10 GP) and TOI (among forwards; 20:56). He also ranks second in goals (17) and power play goals (5) and tied for first in assists (20).

THE GOING RATE

• Markus Granlund has three points (2-1-3) over the past two games
• Ben Hutton has three points (1-2-3) over the past two games
• Brock Boeser has six points (3-3-6) over the past nine games
• Chris Tanev has three assists/points over the past eight games
• Alex Edler has five points (1-4-5) over the past eight games
• Antoine Roussel has three points (1-2-3) over the past nine games
• Elias Pettersson has six points (5-1-6) over the past five games (two GWG during this span)
• Sven Baertschi has five points (3-2-5) over the past eight games
• Bo Horvat has nine points (3-6-9) over the past 15 games