Game Notes: Canucks vs Maple Leafs (4/9)

Canucks will wear lavender jerseys in honour of #HockeyFightsCancer. They will be autographed and available in an online auction with proceeds supporting oncology research at BC Children's Hospital. Click here for more information.

PRE-GAME UPDATE

Demko starts.

QUICK NUMBERS

LAST MEETING - FEB. 8/21: VAN 1 at TOR 3

Elias Pettersson tied the game with his 5th goal of the season, on the power play at 9:59 in the second period...Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser recorded assists on the play...All three players (Pettersson, 2-2-4; Hughes, 0-6-6; Boeser, 1-3-4) extended their point streaks to four games...Adam Gaudette recorded a team-high 5 shots...Alex Edler led all Canucks in hits (7) and blocked shots (3)...Bo Horvat won 10 face-offs...Braden Holtby faced 19 shots.

LAST GAME PLAYED - MAR. 2/21: VAN 2 at WPG 5

Elias Pettersson became the second Canuck to reach 10 goals this season when he knotted the game 1-1 at 8:34 in the first period...Brock Boeser recorded the lone assist on the marker...J.T. Miller cut Vancouver's deficit to one goal at 19:55 in the second period, on the power play...Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser recorded the assists on the play...J.T. Miller fired a team-high 6 shots on goal...Zack MacEwen and Alex Edler each registered 3 hits...Alex Edler blocked a team-high 4 shots...Braden Holtby faced 38 shots.

HELPING HAND

Registering an assist on J.T. Miller's power play goal on Mar. 2/21, Quinn Hughes became the first NHL defenceman to collect 20 assists this season, and the fifth player to do so behind Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Mitch Marner, and Patrick Kane. Requiring only 26 games to reach the mark, he matched his games needed to hit 20 assists last season, which ranks as the 5th-fewest in Canucks history behind Jiri Bubla (21 GP), Paul Reinhart (22 GP, 23 GP), and Jeff Brown (24 GP).

SHUTTING THE DOOR

Thatcher Demko turned aside all 27 shots faced on Mar. 1/21 at Winnipeg to record his first career regular season shutout (one postseason shutout on Sep. 3/20 vs VGK). In doing so, Demko became the 35th goaltender in Canucks history to post a regular season shutout. He also joined Dan Cloutier (Feb. 25/03) as the only other Canucks goalie to record a shutout against the Jets/Thrashers franchise.

KILLER INSTINCT

Since Jan. 21/21, the Canucks are ranked 6th in the NHL and 1st in the North Division in penalty kill percentage (85.3%), having killed off league-high 64 penalties in 75 chances against during that time.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Adding another first period goal (Pettersson) on Mar. 2/21 at Winnipeg, the Canucks have now posted 26 first period goals this season, t-2nd in the NHL with the Blue Jackets and Maple Leafs. Since Feb. 13, Vancouver is tied with Minnesota and Toronto for the most first period goals (12) in the NHL and has the 3rd-best first period goal differential (+7), trailing only Minnesota and Toronto (both +9).

TAKING CENTRE STAGE

Tallying a late third period goal on Mar. 1/21 at Winnipeg, Elias Pettersson tied Mika Zibanejad for the 4th-most career goals by a Swedish-born centre before the age of 23 in NHL history. He trails only Mats Sundin (125), Nicklas Backstrom (76), and Patrik Sundstrom (68). At 22 years, 109 days, Pettersson also tied Zibanejad and Mikael Renberg for the 6th-most career goals by a Swedish-born player of any position before age 23.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Despite starting the month with two games on the road in Winnipeg, the Canucks will play a season-high eight games at Rogers Arena in March, including a five-game homestand from Mar. 4-13. The eight games will be the most Vancouver has played at home in a single month since playing 10 games (7-3-0) at home in December 2019