CANUCKS VS PREDATORS PREVIEW
TV: CBC, Sportsnet 360
Radio: Sportsnet 650
MATCH-UP INFO
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Tonight marks the first of three meetings between the Canucks and Predators this season: Nov. 5 (home), Feb. 21 (away), Mar. 6 (home).
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The Canucks are 45-28-2-5 all-time against the Predators, including a 23-13-1-2 record at home.
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Vancouver is 5-3-2 in their last 10 games vs Nashville (3-2-0 in their last 5).
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Among active Canucks skaters, Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the team in career points vs Nashville with 17 points (6-11-17) in 33 games.
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Brock Boeser (6-6-12 in 11 GP), Quinn Hughes (0-9-9 in 7 GP), and Elias Pettersson (5-6-11 in 9 GP) have all registered more than a point per game in their careers vs Nashville.
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Thatcher Demko is 2-2-0 in his career against Nashville with a 2.81 GAA and .912 save-percentage.
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Spencer Martin has yet to face the Predators in his career.
LAST MEETING – FEB. 1/22: VAN 2 at NSH 4
Matthew Highmore opened the scoring at 7:56 in the first period, assisted by Juho Lammikko…Oliver Ekman-Larsson tied the game at 17:36 in the first period to cap off a four-goal period…Brock Boeser and Tanner Pearson registered the assists…Tanner Pearson led the team in shots (6)…Luke Schenn recorded a team-high in hits (7)…Thatcher Demko faced 28 shots.
LAST GAME PLAYED – NOV. 3/22: VAN 8 vs ANA 5
Bo Horvat tied the game with his fifth powerplay goal in three games, at 19:40 in the first period…Elias Pettersson, and J.T. Miller each notched second period goals to give Vancouver a 3-2 lead after two periods…Dakota Joshua tallied his second goal of the season at 5:30 in the third period before Andrei Kuzmenko recorded a natural hat-trick for the first three-goal outing of his career…Horvat added an empty netter to seal an 8-5 victory for Vancouver…Elias Pettersson recorded his third career five-point game (1-4-5) and tied a career high for shots in a game (8)…Andrei Kuzmenko (3-1-4), Bo Horvat (2-1-3), and Quinn Hughes (0-2-2) also all recorded multi- point games…11 Canucks skaters factored on the scoresheet…Luke Schenn led the team in hits (5), while Ethan Bear led in blocks (5)…Vancouver had their most shots in a game (47) since Oct. 30/19 at LAK (49)…Spencer Martin faced 31 shots.
LAST 5 vs NASHVILLE
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Feb. 1/22: VAN 2 at NSH 4
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Jan. 18/22: VAN 3 at NSH 1
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Nov. 5/21: VAN 2 vs NSH 3
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Feb. 10/20: VAN 6 vs NSH 2
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Nov. 21/19: VAN 6 at NSH 3
POWER PLAY SPECIALIST
Scoring his fifth power play goal in his last three games on Nov. 3 vs ANA, Bo Horvat tied Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin for 10th most power play goals in franchise history (61), accomplishing the feat in 64 fewer games than Kesler (583 GP vs 647 GP) and 588 fewer games than Henrik (1,171 GP).
HATS OFF TO KUZ
Recording a natural hat-trick with three consecutive goals, including the game-winner, on Nov. 3 vs ANA, Andrei Kuzmenko became
just the fourth Russian-born skater in Canucks history to record a hat-trick, joining Pavel Bure (9x), Alexander Mogilny (4x), and Igor Larionov (2x). The winger became the fourth Canucks player in the past 20 years to record three goals in a single frame joining Horvat (Oct. 22/19), Mikael Samuelsson (Mar. 9/10) and Markus Naslund (Oct. 21/02).
FIVE-POINT PETEY
Posting one goal and four assists on Nov. 3 vs ANA, Elias Pettersson recorded his third career five-point game, joining Alexander Mogilny as the only other player in Canucks history to do so. He currently leads the team in assists (10) and points (15) in 11 games so far this season.
SCORING MACHINE
Tallying six goals in his last three games, Bo Horvat became the third player in franchise history to notch multiple goals in three consecutive games, joining Alexander Mogilny and Petri Skriko. He now ranks tied for second in goals in the NHL this season with Erik Karlsson, only two behind Connor McDavid for first place.
• With 24 goals in 29 games since March 9, 2022, Horvat has the highest goals per game (0.83) in the League during that stretch (minimum 5 GP).
MARTIN’S MAGICAL RUN
Turning aside 26 shots in an 8-5 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 3, Spencer Martin improved his record with the Canucks to 5-0-4, passing Curt Ridley (6-0-2 in 1975.76) as the only goaltender in franchise history to earn at least a point in each of his first nine starts with the team.
BOUDREAU REACHES 600 WINS
Thanks to Vancouver’s 5-3 win on Oct. 27 at SEA, Canucks Head Coach Bruce Boudreau became the 22nd coach in NHL history and just the fifth active head coach to reach 600 regular season wins with a record of 600-322-127. Among coaches with 600 wins to their name, Boudreau’s 1,049 games coached were the second-fewest required to reach the mark, while his .633 points percentage ranks second only to Scotty Bowman (.657).
ELIAS PETTER-CENT
Netting his third goal of the season on Oct. 18 at CBJ, Elias Pettersson registered his 100th career NHL goal, requiring the second- fewest games in Canucks history to reach the mark among players to debut with the franchise, trailing only Pavel Bure (154 GP).
• The goal also tied Pettersson with Jake Guentzel (PIT) and Brayden Point (TBL) as the ninth-fastest active player to reach 100 career goals. He also is the first player from the 2017 NHL draft class to reach the milestone.