PREVIEW | Canucks vs. Islanders

CANUCKS VS ISLANDERS PREVIEW

TV: Sportsnet Pacific, TVAS, MSGSN

Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

• Tonight marks the first of two meetings between the Canucks and Islanders this season: Jan. 3 (home) and Feb. 9 (away).
• The Canucks are 46-54-13-3 all-time against the Islanders, including a 28-26-3-1 record at home.
• Vancouver is 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs New York (3-2-0 in their last 5).
• Among active Canucks skaters, Luke Schenn leads the team in games played (37) against the Islanders and J.T. Miller leads in scoring with 13 points (8-5-13) in 28 games played.
• Quinn Hughes has five points (2-3-5) in three career games vs the Islanders.
• Conor Garland has four points (2-2-4) in five career games vs the Islanders.
• J.T. Miller has eight points (5-3-8) in his last eight games against the Islanders.
• Bo Horvat has seven points (2-5-7) in his last 10 games against the Islanders.
• Spencer Martin has yet to face the New York Islanders in his career.
• Collin Delia is 0-0-1 with a 2.93 GAA and .940 SV% in one career game against the Islanders, exactly four years ago today (career-high 47 saves on 50 shots against on Jan. 3/19).
• Luke Schenn is slated to appear in his 900th career regular season game.

QUICK NUMBERS

• Elias Pettersson has 17 points (6-11-17) in his last 10 games, as is currently on a five-game point streak (4-6-10).
• Bo Horvat has 16 points (9-7-16) in his last 12 games, including nine points (4-5-9) in his last four games.
• Andrei Kuzmenko has 11 points (4-7-11) in his last 11 games.
• Quinn Hughes has nine points (1-8-9) in his last 12 games.
• Conor Garland has eight points (3-5-8) in his last 11 games.

LAST MEETING – MAR. 3/22: VAN 4 at NYI 3

Brad Hunt notched his first goal of the season (unassisted) and first as a Canuck to even the score at 7:19 in the second period…J.T. Miller gave the Canucks their first lead of the game with his team-leading 21st goal of the season at 11:50 in the second…Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes assisted on the play…Nils Höglander pulled Vancouver even again at 9:34 in the third period, assisted by Conor Garland and Hughes…Vasily Podkolzin netted the GWG just 45 seconds later on a backhand pass from Bo Horvat…Luke Schenn led the team in hits (4)…Bo Horvat went 15-4 on face-offs…Thatcher Demko made 24 saves.

LAST GAME PLAYED – DEC. 31/22: VAN 2 at CGY 3

Sheldon Dries got Vancouver on the board at 15:28 in the second period to cut the team’s deficit to two goals…His fourth tally of the season was assisted by Conor Garland…Elias Pettersson extended his point streak to five games (4-6-10) with his 17th goal of the campaign to bring Vancouver within one…Bo Horvat and Ethan Bear registered the assists…Conor Garland led the team in shots (5)…Curtis Lazar recorded a team-high in hits (4)…Spencer Martin made 27 saves.

LAST 5 vs NY ISLANDERS

• Mar. 3/22: VAN 4 at NYI 3
• Feb. 9/22: VAN 3 vs NYI 6
• Mar. 10/20: VAN 5 vs NYI 4 (SO)
• Feb. 1/20: VAN 4 at NYI 3 (OT)
• Feb. 23/19: VAN 0 vs NYI 4

NO FLUKE FOR LUKE

Canucks defenceman Luke Schenn will appear in his 900th career regular season game tonight when his team takes on the New York Islanders. Once he takes to the ice, Schenn (fifth overall) will become the sixth player and only the fourth defenceman from the 2008 draft class to reach the milestone joining fellow first-round selections Drew Doughty (D), Josh Bailey (RW), Steven Stamkos (C), John Carlson (D), and Alex Pietrangelo (D).

2022 YEAR IN REVIEW

• Elias Pettersson led the Canucks in scoring for the calendar year of 2022 with 95 points (43-52-95 in 81 GP), besting J.T. Miller (34-60-94 in 83 GP) by just one point.
• J.T. Miller posted the most power play points among Canucks skaters in 2022 with 37 (11-26-37).
• Bo Horvat led all Canucks in goals in 2022 with 46 and is the sixth different player in franchise history to score at least 46 goals in a calendar year, joining Pavel Bure (2x), Tony Tanti (2x), Darcy Rota, Markus Naslund, and Todd Bertuzzi.
  • Horvat ranked t-10th in the NHL in goals in 2022.
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Luke Schenn tied for the most games played by a Canucks skater in 2022 with 85 GP.
• Quinn Hughes led the Canucks for most assists in 2022 (64 in 76 GP) and ranked fourth in the League among defencemen in this category.

HOW ABOUT THAT HORVAT

Registering two goals and two assists for the second consecutive night on Dec. 27 vs SJS, Bo Horvat became the first Canuck to have 4+ points in back-to-back games since 2002.03 (Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi, and Brendan Morrison each did it Feb. 23-25). Horvat is also only one of four Canucks to record at least two goals and two assists in two consecutive games, joining Todd Bertuzzi (Feb. 23- 25, 2003), Alexander Mogilny (Dec. 31-Jan. 3, 1996), and Petri Skriko (Mar. 13-17, 1987).

• Dec. 27 vs SJS was also Horvat’s career-high eighth multi-goal game of the season (previously six games), which is the most multi-goal games by a Canuck since Ryan Kesler in 2010.11 (9). Horvat is currently the League-leader in multi-goal games for the 2022.23 season.
• Earlier this season, Horvat became the first player in franchise history to have five multi-goal games in the first 13 games.
• Scoring his 25th and 26th goals on Dec. 27 vs SJS, Horvat ranks second in Canucks history with the most goals in a player’s first 34 games, trailing Pavel Bure with 29 in 1992.93.

SCHENN’S GREATEST HITS

Recording five hits on Dec. 29 at WPG, Luke Schenn became the first defenceman to reach 3,000 career hits. He currently leads all skaters in the NHL in hits this season (166 in 36 GP).

• Recording six hits on Dec. 3 vs ARI, Luke Schenn claimed the NHL all-time record for most hits by a defenceman (2,948), surpassing Brooks Orpik (2,946), and is now ranked sixth all-time among all skaters.
• On Nov. 12 at TOR, Schenn matched a franchise record with 12 hits in a game and became the first player in NHL history to record at least three games with 12+ hits in his career.

*The NHL began tracking hits in 2005.06.

MIKHEYEV’S MOVES

With one goal and three assists on Dec. 27 vs SJS, Ilya Mikheyev set a new career high for most points in a single game (4), with his previous record of three points coming in March of this year (Mar. 3 vs WPG – 1-2-3). Mikheyev also extended his point streak against the Sharks, now recording nine points (4-5-9) in just four career games vs San Jose.

EXCEPTIONAL ELIAS

Scoring on Dec. 31 at CGY, Elias Pettersson registered his 17th goal of the season, with all 17 having come at even-strength. Pettersson ranks t-4th in the NHL in even-strength goals and is the only player with 12+ tallies to have scored all of his goals at even- strength.

• Tallying two goals and three assists, in addition to the shootout winner, on Dec. 22 vs SEA, Pettersson registered his second five-point outing of the season and the fourth such occasion in his career, setting a new Canucks franchise record. The previous mark was held by Alexander Mogilny with three five-point games.

CANUCK’S DOZEN

Thanks to Ilya Mikheyev’s 12th goal of the season on Dec. 27 vs SJS, the Canucks had five 12+ goal-scorers on their roster (Horvat [26], Pettersson [16], Kuzmenko [15], Miller [13], Mikheyev [12]) through the team’s first 34 games for the first time since 1992.93 (also five).

• With Mikheyev’s goal, the Canucks also became just the 2nd team in the NHL to possess five or more 12+ goal-scorers this season, with Tampa Bay (5), and later joined by the Ottawa Senators (5).

SEATTLE CRACKIN’

With a 6-5 shootout victory on Dec. 22 vs SEA, the Canucks improved their record vs the Seattle Kraken to 6-0-0 all-time. This marks only the second time in franchise history that the Canucks have won each of their first six regular season games vs an opponent (also won first nine games vs the Washington Capitals from Dec. 17/74 – Oct. 13/76).

ALL ABOUT APPLES

Assisting on Brock Boeser‘s third period power play goal on Dec. 22 vs SEA, Quinn Hughes registered his 28th assist of the season in his 28th game of the season and the 32nd team game for Vancouver. In doing so, he became the second player (third occasion) in franchise history to record 28 or more assists in the team’s first 31 games, and first since Henrik Sedin (28) in 2011.12.

• With two assists on Dec. 3 vs ARI, Quinn Hughes surpassed Doug Lidster for fourth most multi-assist games among defencemen in Canucks history at 35 games.

RECENT CANUCKS MILESTONES

• Bo Horvat recorded his 400th career NHL point, Dec. 23 at EDM
• Bo Horvat appeared in his 600th career NHL game, Dec. 10 vs MIN
• J.T. Miller recorded his 300th career NHL assist, Dec. 5 vs MTL
• Luke Schenn claimed the NHL record for most all-time hits by a defenceman (2,947), Dec. 3 vs ARI
• Ethan Bear appeared in his 200th career NHL game, Nov. 21 vs VGK
• Bo Horvat recorded his 200th career NHL assist, Nov. 5 vs NSH
• Elias Pettersson recorded his 100th career NHL goal, Oct. 18 at CBJ

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

• William Lockwood recalled from Abbotsford, Dec. 30
• Nils Åman assigned to Abbotsford, Dec. 30
• Travis Dermott activated from LTIR, Dec. 29
• Travis Dermott recalled from Abbotsford (conditioning loan) and kept on LTIR, Dec. 27
• Collin Delia recalled from Abbotsford under emergency conditions, Dec. 22
• Arturs Silovs reassigned to Abbotsford, Dec. 22

THREE STARS – JANUARY

DECEMBER WINNER – Pettersson (20 pts)
NOVEMBER WINNER – Horvat (40 pts)
OCTOBER WINNER – Horvat, Kuzmenko (10 pts)

*5 points are awarded for each Three Stars selection