Canucks vs. Kings game notes

CANUCKS VS KINGS PREVIEW: (TV: Hockey Night in Canada; Radio: Sportsnet 650)

VS. KINGS NOTES:

• Henrik Sedin (11-36-47 in 66 GP) leads the team lead for most career points against Los Angeles.
• Markus Granlund made his NHL debut on Feb. 24/14 vs LA.
• Jake Virtanen made his NHL debut on Oct. 13/15 at LA.
• Erik Gudbranson collected his first NHL assist/point on Dec. 1 at LA.
• Three Canucks players enter tonight's game having played 99 career games: Nic Dowd, Brendan Gaunce and Jake Virtanen.
• Nic Dowd previously played for the LA Kings, collecting 23 points (6-17-23) in 91 games.

LAST GAME: DEC. 28/17: VAN 5 vs CHI 2

Thomas Vanek set a Canucks 2017.18 season high for most points in a game (5) and tied his personal career high for most points in a game (the last time he accomplished the feat was on Jan. 31/13 vs BOS)...Brock Boeser tied personal highs for most assists (3) and points (4) in a game...Sam Gagner extended his scoring streak to four games by recording two goals and an assist...Alex Edler blocked four shots...Jacob Markstrom faced 32 shots.

TIP OF THE HAT:

Thomas Vanek notched his 10th career hat trick against Montreal on Dec. 19. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Vanek ranks tied for 6th, alongside Sidney Crosby, for most career hat tricks. Only Ovechkin (20), Jagr (15), Gaborik (14), E. Staal (13) and Malkin (11) have more. According to Sportsnet Stats, he is also tied for the 3rd most in the NHL since the start of 2007-08.

800 AND COUNTING:

Henrik Sedin notched his 800th career assist on Dec. 13 vs NSH. In doing so, he became the first Canucks player, the 31st player in NHL history, the 3rd active player and the 2nd Swedish-born player to accomplish the feat. He is now at 805 assists.

WORKING OVERTIME:

Daniel Sedin is in a tie for fourth for most OTG in League history. Only Ovechkin (21), Jagr (19) and Elias (16) have more goals in overtime.

QUICK HITS (Through Dec. 28):

• Thomas Vanek collected his 54th career GWG on Dec. 28 vs CHI to place him in 4-way tie for 16th among active NHL players. Daniel Sedin is the only Canuck with more GWG (82) and ranks fifth among active NHLers for most GWG.
• According to Elias Sports Bureau, Brock Boeser's 20th goal in game #37 broke the Canucks record for quickest 20 goals scored in a rookie season, previously held by Trevor Linden in 1988-89 (20 in game #52).
• Brock Boeser ranks t-4th in the NHL goal-scoring race and leads all rookies with 21 goals. According to Sportsnet Stats, Boeser has scored 20.4% of the Canucks 103 goals this season which is the second highest percent of team goals scored in the NHL (behind Ovechkin - 20.9%).
• According to NHL PR, Boeser's 17 goals through the first 30 games are the most by a Canuck through his first 30 games of a season in franchise history.
• Of Brock Boeser's 21 goals, 4 have been GWG, tied for 10th most in the NHL. According to NHL PR, Boeser is also the 8th rookie in the past 28 years to score 16+ goals within his first 28 games of a season.
• Boeser's 15 goals through the Canucks first 30 games are also the 2nd most by a US-born rookie through his team's first 30 games of a season (behind Tony Granato's 16 goals through the Rangers first 30 games during the 1988.89 season).
• According to Elias Sports, with Derrick Pouliot's opening goal on Dec. 5/17 vs CAR, he is now the only player in NHL history with (at least) 4 career goals, all being game winners.
• Jacob Markstrom's shutout on Dec. 5/17 was his first career shutout in 129 games (115 starts) over parts of 8 NHL seasons. The record for most games in an NHL career without a shutout is 132 by Pokey Reddick who played for Winnipeg, Edmonton and Florida from 1986-94.
• The Canucks rank 11th in defensive zone faceoff wins at 51.9%. When ahead, Vancouver has had 416 faceoff wins, tied for t-3rd in the League.
• The Canucks road power play ranks 4th in the League at 23.7% (14-59). Their home power play ranks 15th at 19.4%. Overall, the Canucks are 8th on the power play at 21.4%.

THE GOING RATE:

• Brock Boeser has 38 points (21-17-38) over 35 games played; he has 16 points (10-6-16) over his past 13 games including points in 4 straight games from Dec. 19-present.
• Henrik Sedin has 19 assists/points over the past 18 games including at least one assist in all but 5 of those games. He had a 6-game assist/point streak (0-9-9 from Dec. 11 - 21).
• Thomas Vanek has 19 points (7-12-19) over the past 21 games.
• Sam Gagner is on a four game scoring streak, collecting 2-4-6 from Dec. 19-28.
• Daniel Sedin has 12 points (3-9-12) over the past 13 games.