Canucks vs. Canadiens game notes

CANUCKS VS CANADIENS PREVIEW: (TV: Sportsnet Pacific; Radio: Sportsnet 650)

VS. CANADIENS NOTES:

• Thomas Vanek leads Canucks skaters in career points against the Canadiens. He also spent part of one season playing for Montreal (2013-14) where he recorded 15 points (6-9-15) in 18 GP.
• Reid Boucher collected his first career point in his first NHL game Dec. 4/13 vs MTL.
• Michael Del Zotto collected his 100th NHL assist Oct. 11/14 vs MTL.
• Loui Eriksson notched his 100th NHL goal Dec. 21/10 vs MTL.
• Jake Virtanen collected his first NHL point on Oct. 27/15 vs MTL.

LAST GAME: DEC. 17/17: VAN 1 vs CGY 6

Markus Granlund notched a power play goal for the second straight game...Alex Edler and set a Canucks season high for most blocked shots in a game (7)...Jacob Markstrom and Anders Nilsson each faced 19 shots.

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 804 assists. Henrik Sedin each tallied an assist...Edler With his 15th career overtime goal on Dec. 15/17 vs SJ, Daniel Sedin moved in to a tie for most OTG in League history. Only Ovechkin (21), Jagr (19) and Elias (16) have more goals in overtime.

QUICK HITS (Through Dec. 17):

• 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.
• Brock Boeser's 17 goals are tied for 5th most in the League while his 4 GWG are also tied for 10th most. According to NHL PR, Boeser is 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 10th in defensive zone faceoff wins at 52.01%. When ahead, Vancouver has had 376 faceoff wins, good for 1st in the League.
• The Canucks are 15th for allowing the fewest shots against per game at 31.62.
• The Canucks road power play ranks tied for 4th in the League at 25.45% (14-55).

THE GOING RATE:

• Brock Boeser has 30 points (17-13-30) over 31 games played; he has 16 points (12-4-16) over his past 16 games including points in 5 straight from Dec. 7-15.
• Henrik Sedin has 18 points (1-17-18) over the past 17 games including at least one assist in 11 of the last 14 games. He is currently on a 4-game scoring streak (0-6-6 from Dec. 11 - present).
• Since returning from injury on Nov. 11, Loui Eriksson has collected 10 points (5-5-10) over his past 18 games.
• Thomas Vanek has 12 points (3-9-12) over the past 21 games.
• Daniel Sedin has 13 points (3-10-13) over the past 14 games.