PREVIEW | Canucks vs. Maple Leafs
MATCH-UP INFO
QUICK NUMBERS
LAST MEETING - NOV. 12/22: VAN 2 at TOR 3
Bo Horvat deflected home the game's first goal with his team-leading 13th goal of the season just 3:41 into the first period...Luke Schenn and Vasily Podkolzin drew the assists on the play...J.T. Miller added to Vancouver's lead with a power play market at 12:11 in the first period...Quinn Hughes (9 games) and Brock Boeser (3 games) both extended their assist streaks on the goal...Boeser led the team in shots (5)...Luke Schenn set an NHL-high for hits (12) so far this season, matching his personal career-high and Canucks franchise-high...Spencer Martin faced 35 shots.
LAST GAME PLAYED - MAR. 2/23: VAN 1 vs MIN 2
Brock Boeser evened the score at 14:03 in the first period with his 12th of the season...Vitali Kravtsov recorded his first point since being acquired by the Canucks with the first assist...Conor Garland was credited with the second assist...Thatcher Demko stopped 34 shots on the night...Sheldon Dries led the team in shots (4)...Dakota Joshua, Noah Juulsen, and Kyle Burroughs co-led the team in hits (6).
LAST 5 vs TORONTO
NEW YEAR, SAME QUINN
Entering play on Saturday night, Quinn Hughes has recorded 27 points (4-23-27) so far in in 2023. His 27 points put him tied for second place with Erik Karlsson for most points among all NHL defenceman since the turn of the calendar.
• Hughes' 23 assists over since January 1 rank first among NHL defenceman and tied for fifth among all skaters, behind Mitchell Marner (27), Connor McDavid (26), Matthew Tkachuk (25), and Nikita Kucherov (24).
"MR. CLUTCH"
Scoring the game-tying goal at 19:31 of the third period on Feb. 23 at STL, (just two days after he tied the game at 19:44 of the third period on Feb. 21 at NSH), Andrei Kuzmenko became the first player in Canucks history and fourth player in NHL history to score the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation in consecutive games. In doing so, he joined Sawn McEachern (Dec. 28-30, 1998 w/ OTT), Mikko Makela (Feb. 28 - Mar. 3, 1987 w/ NYI) and Phil Esposito (Jan. 7-9, 1977 w/ NYR) to accomplish the feat.
NO QUIT CANUCKS
Despite beginning the third period on Feb. 23 at STL with a 2-0 deficit, the Canucks notched two third period goals and the overtime winner to earn their seventh multi-goal comeback win this season, trailing only Chicago (8) for the most such instances in the NHL this season. The number is also the second-most in a single season Canucks franchise history behind only 2009.10 (8).
• The Canucks also earned their ninth third period comeback win of the 2022.23 campaign on Feb. 23 at STL, ranking second only to the Vegas Golden Knights (10) in that category.
PETEY KEEPS PUTTING UP THE POINTS
Elias Pettersson played in his 300th career NHL game on Feb. 21 at NSH, concluding the contest with 293 career points (124-169- 293). As a result, Pettersson ranks second in franchise history for the most points in a player's first 300 NHL games (trailing Pavel Bure with 348) and is ranked sixth among Swedish-born NHL players all-time (behind Mats Sundin [306], Nicklas Backstrom [308], Mats Naslund [313], Peter Forsberg [382], and Kent Nilsson [401]).
ONE IS NOT ENOUGH
Collecting three assists on Feb. 27 at DAL, Quinn Hughes registered his 13th multi-assist game this season, surpassing Paul Reinhart (1988.89) for second most multi-assist performances in one season, trailing Dennis Kearns with 14 GP in 1976.77.
JOINING THE RANKS
Scoring two goals on Feb. 21 at NSH, Andrei Kuzmenko registered his 25th career NHL goal and became the fourth fastest player in Canucks history to hit this milestone (56 GP), only trailing Pavel Bure (55 GP), Elias Pettersson (44 GP), and Brock Boeser (44 GP).
• Recording one goal and one assist on Feb. 15 vs NYR, Andrei Kuzmenko collected 47 points (23-24-47) in his first 54 career NHL games, ranking him tied for third for most points through as many games to start a career in franchise history. Kuzmenko is tied with Ivan Hlinka (47) and trails fellow teammates Brock Boeser (48) and Elias Pettersson (56).
FAST FIFTY
Registering two assists on Feb. 21 at NSH, Quinn Hughes became the fifth U.S.-born defenceman to record at least 50 multi-point games before the age of 24 and only the third active defenceman to hit this milestone, tying Rasmus Dahlin (50) and trailing Erik Karlsson (58). Hughes is also only one of six Canucks blueliners to reach at least 50 multi-point games in their career joining Doug Lidster (52), Mattias Ohlund (54), Dennis Kearns (59), Jyrki Lumme (67), and Alexander Edler (68).
FANTASTIC FIVE
Thanks to his fifth career five-point game (2-3-5) on Feb. 18 vs PHI, Elias Pettersson became the fifth-fastest player in franchise history to reach 70 points (27-44-71 in 54 GP) in a season, behind Pavel Bure (46 GP), Henrik Sedin (49), Alexander Mogilny (49), and Bure again (52).
- Collecting two shorthanded empty-net goals enroute to five points, Elias Pettersson joined Mario Lemieux as the only players in NHL history to have a 5-point game with multiple empty-net goals. Pettersson also broke a tie with Alexander Mogilny for the most five-point games in a single season (3) in franchise history.
- Pettersson's five-point outing also tied Nicklas Backstrom (WSH) for the third-most five-point games in NHL history by a Swedish-born player, trailing Peter Forsberg and Kent Nilsson (9 each).
- Among primary centremen in NHL history, Pettersson now ranks tied for seventh-most five-point games before the age of 25, trailing Wayne Gretzky (62), Mario Lemieux (29), Dale Hawerchuk (9), Bryan Trottier (8), Steve Yzerman (7), and Connor McDavid (7).
