Game Notes: Canucks vs. Sharks

CANUCKS VS SHARKS

TV: Amazon Prime Video, NBCSCA

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

• Tonight marks the second of four meetings between the Canucks and Sharks this season: Nov. 2 (road, 3-2 W), Dec. 23 (home), Feb. 6 (road), and Apr. 14 (home).
• Vancouver is 69-56-9-7 all-time against San Jose, including a 32-26-4-5 record at home.
• The Canucks are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games against the Sharks (4-1-0 in their last 5).
• J.T. Miller leads all active Canucks skaters in scoring against San Jose with 29 points (9-20-29) in 24 career games.
• In 25 career games against the Sharks, Conor Garland has 24 points (9-15-24).
• Quinn Hughes has 22 points (7-15-22) in 16 career games against San Jose.
• In 20 career games against the Sharks, Elias Pettersson has 20 points (5-15-20).
• Pius Suter has seven goals in seven career games against San Jose, including four goals in three games as a member of the Canucks.
• Thatcher Demko is 11-0-0 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in 11 career appearances against the Sharks.
• Kevin Lankinen has four career starts against San Jose, holding a record of 3-1-0 with a 2.94 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage.

QUICK NUMBERS

• Quinn Hughes has 14 points (2-12-14) in his last 11 games.
• J.T. Miller has nine points (1-8-9) in his last nine home games.
• Brock Boeser has seven points (4-3-7) in his last seven home games.
• Kiefer Sherwood has eight points (7-1-8) in his last 10 home games.

LAST MEETING – NOV. 2/24: VAN 3 at SJS 2

Nico Sturm opened the scoring early in the second period…Pius Suter scored his third of the season at 14:41 of the second…Nils Höglander and Conor Garland had the assists…Jake DeBrusk scored his first as a Canuck with 4:22 remaining in the third…Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek had the helpers…Mikael Granlund tied the game with just over a minute to play in regulation…Suter scored his second of the game with 26 seconds left in regulation time to put the Canucks ahead…Garland and Carson Soucy were credited with the assists…Hughes led the team with six shots on goal…Kiefer Sherwood had five hits…Elias Pettersson and Tyler Myers each had four blocked shots…Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves.

2024.25 TEAM RANKS

LAST GAME PLAYED – DEC. 21/24: VAN 4 vs OTT 5 (OT)

Claude Giroux opened the scoring for Ottawa before Shane Pinto doubled the lead…Brock Boeser got Vancouver on the board with just under two minutes remaining in the first…Quinn Hughes and Phillip Di Giuseppe had the assists…Hughes scored his eight of the campaign to tie the game at two with 18 seconds left in the first…Conor Garland and J.T. Miller had the helpers…Pinto got his second of the game at 4:24 of the second…Jake DeBrusk evened the game again at 13:36 of the second…Hughes and Tyler Myers were credited with the assists…Josh Norris gave Ottawa the lead before the end of the second…Boeser tied the game with just under five minutes remaining in regulation…Di Giuseppe and Pius Suter had the assists…Jake Sanderson scored the overtime winner 15 seconds into the extra frame…Hughes had a game-high five shots…Dakota Joshua had five hits…Derek Forbort blocked three shots…Kevin Lankinen made 17 saves.

LAST 5 – vs SAN JOSE

• Nov. 2/24: VAN 3 at SJS 2
• Dec. 23/23: VAN 7 vs SJS 4
• Nov. 25/23: VAN 3 at SJS 4
• Nov. 20/23: VAN 3 vs SJS 1
• Nov. 2/23: VAN 10 at SJS 1

QUINN-TASTIC

• Scoring a goal and adding two assists on Dec. 21/24 vs OTT, Quinn Hughes tied the franchise record (set by himself in 2023.24) for the fewest games to 40 points in a season by a defenceman (33 games). He also became the seventh defenceman in NHL history to accomplish this feat multiple times, joining Paul Coffey, Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin, Brian Leetch, Randy Carlyle, and Steve Duchesne.
• Recording two assists on Dec. 18/24 at UTA, Quinn Hughes reached the 70-assist mark in 2024, becoming the fifth defenceman in NHL history to record multiple calendar years with at least 70 assists, joining Paul Coffey, Bobby, Orr, Ray Bourque, and Brian Leetch.
• With an assist on Dec. 16/24 vs COL, Quinn Hughes now has 28 assists through 30 games this season, tied for the third-most assists through 30 games in a season in franchise history.
• Recording two assists on Dec. 12/24 vs FLA, Quinn Hughes now has 81 points since the start of 2024, and became the seventh defenceman in NHL history to record consecutive calendar years with at least 80 points.
• Scoring his seventh goal of the season on Dec. 8/24 vs TBL, Quinn Hughes now has 50 in his career, passing Adrian Aucoin for the 10th most in franchise history.
• Putting home the 50th goal of his career on Dec. 8/24 vs TBL, Quinn Hughes became both the second fastest defenceman to 50 goals with the franchise and second youngest to 50 goals with the Canucks, behind Rick Lanz in both instances.
• With two assists on Dec. 6/24 vs CBJ, Quinn Hughes reached the 30-point mark in just his 25th game, the second-fewest number of games to do so in franchise history, trailing only himself (19 games, 2023.24).
• Chipping in with two assists on Dec. 6/24 vs CBJ, Quinn Hughes joined Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, and Nathan MacKinnon as the only players with 100 or more assists since the start of the 2023.24 season.
• Recording a league-leading nine points (1-8-9) in four games from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1, Quinn Hughes was named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week.
• With three assists on Dec. 1/24 at DET, Quinn Hughes passed Alex Edler for the most assists by a defenceman in franchise history (313).
• By recording three assists on Dec. 1/24 at DET, Quinn Hughes passed Roman Josi for the second-most three-point games by a defenceman since the start of the 2019.20 season (30, now 31). Cale Makar tops the list (33).
• Opening the scoring just 34 seconds into the game on Nov. 19/24 vs NYR, Quinn Hughes tied Jyrki Lumme and Dan Hamhuis for the fourth-fastest goal by a defenceman to open a game in franchise history.

BOES-T IN CLASS

• With his two-goal performance on Dec. 21/24 vs OTT, Brock Boeser became the seventh player in Canucks history to have 30 or more multi-goal games.
• By scoring the game-tying goal with 4:50 remaining in regulation on Dec. 21/24 vs OTT, Brock Boeser tied Daniel Sedin for the third-most game-tying goals in the final five minutes of regulation (7). Elias Pettersson and Markus Naslund lead the list (8).
• Scoring a goal in his 500th career game on Dec. 12/24 vs FLA, Brock Boeser became the 14th player in Canucks history to score a goal in his 500th career game.
• Recording a goal and an assist on Dec. 6/24 vs CBJ, Brock Boeser reached the 400-point mark in his career, becoming the 15th player in Canucks history to record at least 400 points with the franchise. He also became the 10th player from the 2015 draft class to hit the milestone.

JAKE ‘N BAKE

• Thanks to a goal on Dec. 21/24 vs OTT, Jake DeBrusk now has 15 goals since November 2, tied for the second-most in the NHL.
• With a goal on Dec. 3/24 at MIN, Jake DeBrusk now has 11 road goals this season, tied with four other players for the fourth-most in the NHL.
• Recording his second career hat-trick on Dec. 1/24 at DET, Jake DeBrusk became the eighth player in Canucks history to finish a regular-season hat-trick with an overtime goal.
• Returning to Boston on Nov. 26/24 for the first time since signing with Vancouver on July 1, Jake DeBrusk continued his strong play on the road, scoring in his fifth-consecutive road contest, helping the Canucks to improve to 5-0-0 on the road when he scores (now 6-0-0 after scoring on Nov. 29/24 at BUF).

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

• Since entering the NHL as an expansion franchise in 1970.71, the Canucks have faced off against a new expansion franchise on 21 occasions, holding a record of 11-8-1-1 (including a 2-7-1-1 record on the road).

“KIE-FER SHER-WOOD”

• Scoring three goals on Dec. 16/24 vs COL, Kiefer Sherwood recorded his first career hat-trick, and set a new career-high in goals (11) with his third goal of the contest.
• In recording his first career hat-trick on Dec. 16/24 vs COL, Kiefer Sherwood also became the 13th player in franchise history to record a natural hat-trick and first since Brock Boeser on Dec. 12/23 vs TBL.

PUSH IT TO THE MAX

• Scoring his first career NHL goal on Dec. 14 vs BOS, Max Sasson became the second Canuck to score their first NHL goal this season, following Jonathan Lekkerimäki on Nov. 14/24 vs NYI.
• Recording an assist in his second-career game on Nov. 27/24 at PIT, Max Sasson became the first Canucks player to begin their career with points in at least two straight games since Elias Pettersson.
• Making his NHL debut on Nov. 23/24 at OTT, Max Sasson became the 46th player in franchise history to record a point in his NHL debut.

KEVIN BLANKINEN

• Recording a shutout on Dec. 12/24 vs FLA, Kevin Lankinen tied Connor Hellebuyck and Sam Montembeault for the most among goaltenders in 2024.25 and set a new career-high for most shutouts in a season.
• Defeating Detroit in overtime on Dec. 1/24, Kevin Lankinen tied Evgeni Nabokov (2007.08) and Carey Price (2014.15) for the third-longest road winning streak in NHL history (10 games).
• With his victory on Dec. 1/24 at DET, Kevin Lankinen is now 10-0-0 on the road this season, passing Glenn Hall (1965.66) and Cam Talbot (2023.24) for the most road wins to start a season in NHL history.
• Stopping all 32 shots he faced on Nov. 26/24 at BOS, Kevin Lankinen became the second Canucks goaltender to post a shutout against the Bruins, joining Corey Hirsch.
• Recording his fifth-career shutout on Nov. 26/24 at BOS, Kevin Lankinen is now 8-0-0 on the road to start the 2024.25 season, the fifth goaltender in NHL history to start a season with such record.

5 CANUCKS, 4 NATIONS

• As announced on Wednesday, Dec. 4, Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Kevin Lankinen will join Quinn Hughes and Rick Tocchet in representing their countries at the 4 Nations Face-Off, taking place from February 12-20 in Montreal, QC and Boston, MA.

PETTERSSZN

• Recording his seventh multi-point game of the season on Dec. 3/24 at MIN, Elias Pettersson now has 115 such games in his career, passing Todd Bertuzzi and entering the Top 10 most multi-point games in franchise history.
• Assisting on two goals on Nov. 23/24 at OTT, Elias Pettersson now has 22 points (10-12-22) in 14 career games against Ottawa (1.57 P/GP), the fourth-highest points-per-game rate amongst active players (min. 5 GP).
• Recording two assists on Nov. 23/24 vat OTT, Elias Pettersson passed Dennis Kearns for the 10th-most multi-assist games in franchise history (54).

SHOOTER SUTER

• With his 66th career goal on Dec. 1/24 at DET, Pius Suter tied Sven Baertschi for the seventh-most goals by a Swiss-born player in NHL history.
• Scoring his second goal of the game with just 26 seconds remaining in regulation on Nov. 2/24 at SJS, Pius Suter recorded the sixth-latest game-winning goal on the road in Canucks franchise history.
• With two goals on Nov. 2/24 at SJS, Pius Suter now has seven goals in seven-career games against the Sharks, including four in three games as a member of the Canucks.

ROAD WARRIORS

• Emerging victorious on Nov. 26/24 at BOS, the Vancouver Canucks extended their road win streak to eight games, tied for the second-longest run in franchise history.
• Defeating Ottawa by a score of 4-3 on Nov. 23/24, the Canucks have begun the 2024.25 season 7-1-0 on the road for the first time in franchise history.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

• Phillip Di Giuseppe recalled from Abbotsford, Dec. 17
• Linus Karlsson recalled from Abbotsford, Dec. 17
• Artūrs Šilovs reassigned to Abbotsford, Dec. 17
• Mark Friedman reassigned to Abbotsford, Dec. 17
• Aatu Räty reassigned to Abbotsford, Dec. 15
• Artūrs Šilovs recalled from Abbotsford on emergency basis, Dec. 14.
• Max Sasson recalled from Abbotsford, Dec. 14
• Aatu Räty recalled from Abbotsford, Dec. 14
• Mark Friedman recalled from Abbotsford, Dec. 14
• Max Sasson reassigned to Abbotsford, Dec. 13
• Aatu Räty reassigned to Abbotsford, Dec. 13
• Mark Friedman reassigned to Abbotsford, Dec. 13
• J.T. Miller placed on the Active Roster, Dec. 12
• Derek Forbort activated from Injured Reserve, Dec. 12
• Mark Friedman recalled from Abbotsford, Dec. 12

THE LAST TIME…

• The Canucks won when leading after 1P: Dec. 16/24 vs COL
• The Canucks lost when leading after 1P: Dec. 19/24 at VGK
• The Canucks lost in OT/SO when leading after 1P: Dec. 3/24 at MIN
• The Canucks won when leading after 2P: Dec. 16/24 vs COL
• The Canucks lost when leading after 2P: Feb. 19/24 at MIN
• The Canucks lost in OT/SO when leading after 2P: Dec. 18/24 at UTA
• The Canucks won when trailing after 1P: Dec. 6/24 vs CBJ
• The Canucks lost when trailing after 1P: Dec. 14/24 vs BOS
• The Canucks lost in OT/SO when trailing after 1P: Dec. 10/24 vs STL
• The Canucks won when trailing after 2P: Feb. 24/24 vs BOS
• The Canucks lost when trailing after 2P: Dec. 14/24 vs BOS
• The Canucks lost in OT/SO when trailing after 2P: Dec. 21/24 vs OTT
• The Canucks won when tied after 1P: Nov. 26/24 at BOS
• The Canucks lost when tied after 1P: Nov. 19/24 vs NYR
• The Canucks lost in OT/SO when tied after 1P: Dec. 21/24 vs OTT
• The Canucks won when tied after 2P: Dec. 6/24 vs CBJ
• The Canucks lost when tied after 2P: Dec. 19/24 at VGK
• The Canucks lost in OT/SO when tied after 2P: Dec. 21/23 at DAL

2024.25 SEASON HIGHS AND LOWS

• Most Goals Scored, Game: 6, Oct. 22/24 at CHI
• Most Goals Scored, Period: 4, 3x, Latest Oct. 26/24 vs PIT, 2nd period
• Most Goals Allowed, Game: 7, Nov. 9/24 vs EDM
• Most Goals Allowed, Period: 4, 2x, Latest Nov. 27/24 at PIT, 1st period
• Fewest Goals Scored, Game: 0, Oct. 30/24 vs NJD
• Fewest Goals Allowed, Game: 0, 3x, Latest Dec. 12/24 vs FLA
• Most PPG Scored, Game: 2, 3x, Latest Dec. 1/24 at DET
• Most PPG Allowed, Game: 2, 3x, Latest Dec. 8/24 vs TBL
• Most SHG Scored, Game: 1, Dec. 16/24 vs COL
• Most SHG Allowed, Game: 1, 4x, Latest Dec. 21/24 vs OTT
• Most Shots, Game: 37, Nov. 5/24 at ANA
• Most Shots, Period: 20, Nov. 14/24 vs NYI, 3rd period
• Most Shots, OT: 3, 3x, Latest Dec. 18/24 at UTA
• Fewest Shots, Game: 15, Nov. 26/24 at BOS
• Fewest Shots, Period: 2, 2x, Latest Dec. 19/24 at VGK, 2nd period
• Fewest Shots, OT: 0, 3x, Latest Dec. 21/24 vs OTT
• Most Shots Allowed, Game: 34, 2x, Latest Nov. 29/24 at BUF
• Most Shots Allowed, Period: 18, 2x, Latest Dec. 8/24 vs TBL, 2nd period
• Most Shots Allowed, OT: 3, 2x, Latest Dec. 18/24 at UTA
• Fewest Shots Allowed, Game: 21, Dec. 19/24 at VGK
• Fewest Shots Allowed, Period: 2, Nov. 17/24 vs NSH, 3rd period
• Fewest Shots Allowed, OT: 0, Oct. 17/24 at FLA
• Most Hits, Game: 43, Oct. 30/24 vs NJD
• Fewest Hits, Game: 13, Oct. 9/24 vs CGY
• Most Blocked Shots, Game: 26, Nov. 26/24 at BOS
• Fewest Blocked Shots, Game: 7, Nov. 5/24 at ANA
• Largest Margin of Victory: 4 goals, 2x, Latest Dec. 12/24 vs FLA
• Largest Margin of Defeat: 6 goals, Oct. 30/24 vs NJD
• Longest Win Streak: 4 games, Oct. 17-26/24
• Longest Point Streak: 5 games, Oct. 17-28/24 (4-0-1)
• Longest Winless Streak: 3 games, 2x, Latest Dec. 18-21/24 (0-1-2)
• Longest Pointless Streak: 2 games, Nov. 17-19/24

VANCOUVER 2024.25 RECORD WHEN…

• Score 4+ Goals: 10-1-2
• Score 3 Goals or Less: 6-9-5
• Allow 4+ Goals: 1-9-4
• Allow 3 Goals or Less: 15-1-3
• Scoring First: 7-4-5
• Allowing First Goal: 9-6-2
• On 0 Days Rest: 0-3-0
• On 1 Day Rest: 8-6-6
• On 2 Days Rest: 6-0-0
• On 3+ Days Rest: 2-1-1
• Score a PPG: 10-3-4
• Give up a PPG: 4-7-4
• 25 or More Shots on Goal: 10-5-6
• Less than 25 shots: 6-5-1

THREE STARS – DECEMBER

• Lankinen – 15 pts
• Hughes – 15 pts
• Pettersson – 5 pts
• Demko – 5 pts
• Miller – 5 pts
• DeBrusk – 5 pts
• Boeser – 5 pts
• Garland – 5 pts
• Sasson – 5 pts
• Sherwood – 5 pts

NOVEMBER WINNER – DeBrusk (20 pts)

OCTOBER WINNER – Lankinen (25 pts)

*5 points are awarded for each Three Stars Selection