Game Notes: Canucks @ Flames

The Vancouver Canucks play the first road game of their 49th NHL campaign tonight with a visit to the division rival Calgary Flames. The Canucks and Flames play their second of five games this season tonight. The Flames return to Rogers Arena on February 9th and the March 23rd while the Canucks visit the Scotiabank Saddledome again on December 29th.

MORNING SKATE UPDATE

Coach Green said the Canucks will ice the same line-up that faced the Flames Wednesday night in Vancouver. He also said Antoine Roussel will make his season debut during the Canucks current six-game road trip, if he continues to progress well.

It may be the first road game of the year for the Canucks, and the first road game with the Canucks for Jay Beagle, but it's also a homecoming for the native of Calgary, Alberta. You guessed it, he's excited!

LAST MEETING - OCT. 3/18: VAN 5 vs CGY 2

Elias Pettersson registered his first career goal in his NHL debut finishing with a wrist shot under the crossbar at 13:48 of the first to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead...He set up Nikolay Goldobin at 1:52 of the third to make it 2-0...Brendan Leipsic converted a rebound at 2:20 to make it 3-0...Jake Virtanen scored on a breakaway to make it 4-1 at 5:46...Jacob Markstrom made 33 saves...Loui Eriksson notched two assists.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW

• Elias Pettersson became the fourth player in Canucks history to have a multipoint game in his NHL debut (other were Curt Fraser and Thomas Gradin on Oct. 11/78 and Jason Jaffray on Dec. 12/07).
• He is the third player in Canucks history to score in his NHL debut before celebrating his 20th birthday, joining Rick Lanz (Oct. 10/80) and Dan Woodley (Oct. 8/87).
• He is the sixth player in Canucks history to score a goal in the first period of his NHL debut.
• Finally, he is the 19th Canucks rookie to score in his NHL debut.

NEW FACES IN 2018.19

The Canucks have three new players on the Opening Night 23-man active roster since the conclusion of the 2016.17 campaign: C Jay Beagle, C Elias Pettersson, and C Tim Schaller. LW Antoine Roussel begins the season on injured reserve.
• Jay Beagle completed his seventh season with the Washington Capitals, recording 22 points (7-15-22) in 79 games played. He added 8 points (2-6-8) in 23 postseason games, helping the Capitals win their first Stanley Cup championship becoming the first player in history to win championships at the ECHL, AHL and NHL level. He ranked 5th in the NHL in faceoff win percentage with a career high 58.5% during the regular season and led the league in the postseason in this category (60.1%).
• Elias Pettersson completed his first season in Sweden's top SHL league with Vaxjo HC, recording 56 points (24-32-56) in 44 games played. He led his team in assists (32), points (56), plus/minus (+27), and tied for the lead in goals (24) as a rookie. His 56 points set an all-time record for most points by an SHL rookie and he was subsequently named SHL Most Valuable Player, Forward of the Year and Rookie of the Year. He added 19 points (10-9-19) in 13 games played in the playoffs, helping his team win the Championship where he was named SHL Playoff MVP.
• Tim Schaller completed his second season with the Boston Bruins, registering career-highs in games played (82), goals (12), assists (10) and points (22). He also registered career-highs in shots (133), blocked shots (59) and hits (132) and was one of two players on the Bruins to play all 82 games. He led the team with 3 shorthanded goals. • Antoine Roussel completed his sixth season with the Dallas Stars, recording 17 points (5-12-17) in 73 games played. He led Dallas and fnished third in the League in penalty minutes with 126.

2017.18 SEASON RECAP

• The Canucks finished the 2017.18 season with a 31-40-11 record and 73 points (7th in the Pacific Division).
• Sven Baertschi completed his fourth season with Vancouver collecting 29 points (14- 15-29) in 53 games. He led the team in shooting percentage (17.1% in 25 games played).
• Alex Biega finished his fourth season in the NHL registering nine points (1-8-9) in 44 games. He played his 100th NHL game Nov. 4 vs PIT and collected a career high 7 shots in a single game Dec. 19 vs. MTL.
• Brock Boeser finished his first full season in the NHL registering a team-high 55 points (29-26-55) in 62 games en route to being named Canucks MVP and Most Exciting. He became the first rookie since Mattias Ohlund in 1997.98 to be named to the NHL All- Rookie Team and represented the Canucks in the NHL All-Star Game, becoming the first Canucks player in history to win MVP honours.
• Michael Del Zotto completed his first season as a Canuck registering 22 points (6-16-22) in 82 games (which marked the first time in his career that he has played all 82 games). He led the team and finished fifth in the NHL in hits with 244 and finished second in blocked shots with 81 and second in defencemen shots with 128.
• Alex Edler finished his 12th season with Vancouver collecting 34 points (6-28-34) in 70 games. He finished third in the NHL in blocked shots with 203 and won the 2017.18 Babe Pratt Award as the Canucks best defencemen.
• Loui Eriksson completed his 12th season in the NHL registering 23 points (10-13-23) in 50 games. He recorded a 3 game point streak from Nov. 18-22 (2-3-5) and from Nov. 26-30 (3-1-4) and played in his 800th career game Nov. 22 at PIT.
• Nikolay Goldobin split the season between the Canucks (8-6-14 in 38 GP) and Comets (9-21-30 in 28 GP) . He set an NHL career- high for games played (38), goals (8), assists (6) points (14) and shots (39).
• Markus Granlund Finished his fifth season in the NHL collecting 12 points (8-4-12) in 53 games. He recorded a season high for most goals in a game (2) Dec. 15 vs. SJS and played his 200th NHL game Dec. 9 at CGY.
• Erik Gudbranson finished his second season with Vancouver collecting 5 points (2-3-5) in 52 games. He tied a career high for hits in a single game (8) Nov. 4 vs. PIT.
• Bo Horvat finished his fourth season with Vancouver collecting 44 points (22-22-44) in 64 games. He led the team in face-off wins (663) and also ranked 12th in the NHL in power play face-off wins (110).
• Ben Hutton finished his third season in the NHL recording six points (0-6-6) in 61 games. He had a season high for most assists in a game (2) Nov. 7 at CGY and Dec. 30 vs. LAK.
• Brendan Leipsic split his first full NHL season between Vancouver (2-11-13 in 44 games) and Vegas (3-6-9 in 14 games). He recorded six points (2-4-6) over his first four games as a Canuck.
• Jacob Markstrom finished his eighth season in the NHL recording a career-high 23 wins (23-26-7) and a .912 save percentage and 2.71 goals-against average in 60 games played. He won the Three Stars Award for the 2017.18 season and set a career high for games played (60), games started (57), wins (23), shutouts (2), and assists (4).
• Tyler Motte split the season between Vancouver (2-0-2 in 15 GP), Columbus (3-2-5 in 31 GP), Cleveland (9-2-11 in 17 GP) and Utica (0-0-0 in 2 GP). He also notched two goals in five playoff games for the Comets.
• Anders Nilsson finished his first season with Vancouver recording seven wins (7-14-4) and a .901 save percentage and 3.44 goals- against average in 27 games played. He recorded a career-high two shutouts on the season.
• Derrick Pouliot finished his 4th NHL season collecting 22 points (3-19-22) in 71 games. He set a career high for games played (68), goals (3), assists (19), and points (22).
• Troy Stecher finished his second season with Vancouver registering 11 points (1-10-11) in 68 games. He set career highs for hits (110) and blocks (69).
• Chris Tanev finished his 8th NHL season registering 11 points (2-9-11) in 42 games played. He scored in consecutive games for the first time in his career, Oct. 10-12 and recorded an assist in consecutive games, Oct. 19-20 and Jan. 14-20.
• Brandon Sutter finished his third season with Vancouver collecting 26 points (11-15-26) in 61 games. He had a career high (4) shorthanded assists and ranked sixth in the NHL in short-handed face-off wins (110).
• Jake Virtanen finished his third season with Vancouver collecting 20 points (10-10-20) in 74 games. He led all Canucks forwards with a career-high 155 hits and also set career-highs for games played (72), goals (10), assists (10), points (20), shots (127), hits and blocks (28).