PREVIEW | Canucks at Hurricanes
MATCH-UP INFO
QUICK NUMBERS
LAST MEETING - DEC. 12/21: VAN 2 vs CAR 1
Brock Boeser opened the scoring at 18:29 in the first period...J.T. Miller and Tanner Pearson collected assists on the play...Elias Pettersson scored the GWG at 7:44 in the second period to collect the Canucks 4th straight win of the season...The team recorded a season-high in blocked shots (24) and Tucker Poolman led the game with 7...Tyler Myers led the Canucks in TOI (25:05)...Bo Horvat led in shots (6) and won 14 face-offs...Thatcher Demko made 28 saves and was named First Star.
LAST GAME PLAYED - JAN. 13/22: VAN 2 at TBL 4
Matthew Highmore tied the game with his first goal of the season at 12:05 in the first period, assisted by Tyler Motte...Motte cut Vancouver's deficit to one goal at 15:46 in the third period, cementing two-point nights for himself (1-1-2) and Highmore (1-1-2)...Juho Lammikko also recorded an assist...Motte (2-2-4) and Lammikko (1-2-3) each established career-high three-game point streaks...Oliver Ekman-Larsson led the team in shots (5) and blocks (3)...Thatcher Demko faced 30 shots.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
CLOSING IN ON 1,000
Entering Saturday's contest vs Carolina, Bruce Boudreau is just five games shy of 1,000 games coached (575-304-116), having coached 995 career regular season games with Vancouver (11), Minnesota (303), Anaheim (352), and Washington (329). He is poised to become the 29th coach in NHL history and sixth active Head Coach (Trotz, Ruff, D. Sutter, Laviolette, Tippett) to reach the milestone.
GOOD COMPANY
Thatcher Demko appeared in his 100th career game on Jan. 11 at FLA, becoming the 13th goaltender in Canucks history to reach the century mark in games played. His 49 career wins at the time tied him with Dan Cloutier (2001.02) for second-most wins by a Canucks goalie through 100 games, trailing only Roberto Luongo (59, 2007.08).
DEMKO'S DECEMBER
Making 22 saves in the 2-1 OT win at ANA on Dec. 29, Demko extended his career-best winning streak to six games (later seven games). During the month of December, Demko posted a record of 7-1-0 to go along with a .946 SV% and 1.72 GAA, ranking first in the NHL in saves (243), shots faced (257), and t-1st in wins (7). On Dec. 13, he was named the NHL's First Star of the Week and on Jan. 1, he was named the NHL's Third Star of the Month.
MAGNIFICENT MILLER
Collecting an assist on Jan. 1 at SEA, J.T. Miller set a career-high nine-game point streak (3-10-13), besting his previous eight-game mark (twice). Miller also ranks fourth for highest points-per-game (0.97) by a player with the Canucks franchise (min. 20 GP), trailing only Pavel Bure (1.12) and Alexander Mogilny (0.99), and Mike Walton (0.98).
A SWEDE ACHIEVEMENT
Oliver Ekman-Larsson appeared in his 800th career game on Jan. 1 at SEA, making him the 34th skater and 17th defenceman from Sweden to reach that mark in NHL history.
BRUCE BOOST
Thanks to Vancouver's 5-2 win on Jan. 1 at SEA, Bruce Boudreau (8-0-1) became the third coach in NHL history to begin his tenure with a new team on a nine-game point streak, joining Peter Laviolette (11 games w/ NYI in 2001.02, 9 games w/ WSH in 2020.21) and Bob Berry (10 games w/ MTL in 1981.82). In December, Boudreau also tied the NHL coaching record for most consecutive wins (7) to start a tenure with a new team.
BROCK STAR
Brock Boeser collected his 14th career game-winning goal on Dec. 16 at SJS, ranking t-4th with Bo Horvat and Patrik Sundstrom for most franchise GWG before turning 25 years old, trailing only Tony Tanti (26), Pavel Bure (26), and Trevor Linden (22).
TRIPLE THREAT
Contributing assists on three of Vancouver's four goals on Dec. 14 vs CBJ, Quinn Hughes registered his 10th career game with three or more points, tying Rick Lanz for fourth-most by a Canucks defenceman in franchise history. He now only trails Jyrki Lumme (16), Alex Edler (12), and Dennis Kearns (11).
RECENT CANUCKS MILESTONES
CURRENT INJURIES
NHL COVID-19 PROTOCOL
Total man games lost (due to injuries or illness): 166 games
