Game Notes: Canucks vs. Rangers

The Canucks face off against the New York Rangers tonight in their second of two match ups this season. Vancouver has gone 0-1-0 against the Rangers in the season series to date.
Vancouver is 1-2-2 in their last five games versus the Rangers (3-4-3 in the last 10 games).
Jake Virtanen enters tonight's game having played 199 in the NHL.

MORNING SKATE UPDATE

Quinn Hughes has arrived in Vancouver and he met the media for the first time Wednesday. The 19-year-old had an MRI on his ankle injury this morning and he's awaiting results; Hughes will not make his NHL debut tonight.

When Hughes does hit the ice, he'll have Adam Gaudette to lean on. The 22-year-old forward made the jump to the NHL last season and has offered Hughes some priceless advice.

Chris Tanev will return to the line-up after missing 11 games with an ankle injury. "When you don't play for a month, it sucks. It'll be fun to get back out there. I'm really excited."
Sven Baertschi took part in morning skate today for the first time since entering concussion protocol. He did not speak to the media and will also not play tonight.

LAST MEETING - Nov. 12/19: VAN 1 at NYR 2

Nikolay Goldobin notched the Canucks lone goal of the night at...Tyler Motte and Ben Hutton each recorded an assist...Michael Del Zotto recorded 7 hits...Jacob Markstrom faced 27 shots.

LAST GAME - Mar. 9/19: VAN 2 vs VGK 6

Brock Boeser scored on a deflection in the slot at 10:58 to cut the lead to 3-1...Bo Horvat scored on a shot off the rush 3:56 into the second period to make it 5-2...Alex Biega had two assists, tying a career high...Jacob Markstrom made 11 saves while Thatcher Demko made 16 saves in relief...Jake Virtanen returned to the lineup after missing 10 games due to injury and registered four shots and five hits in 16:04.

THE 800 CLUB

Canucks defenceman Alex Edler appeared in his 800th career game on Mar. 7 at EDM. Only 26 active defencemen and 11 Swedish born NHL defencemen all-time have reached the 800 game milestone.
Edler ranks first among Canucks defenceman in games played (801) and points (356) and second in goals (91), assists (265), and power play goals (43). He also ranks 7th all-time for games played in franchise history.

HIGH MARK

Since Dec. 6, Jacob Markstrom has posted a record of 16-11-5. This includes a .923 SV%, 994 shots against and 917 saves. Markstrom ranks t-10th in the League in wins (24) and third in shots against (1,642) and total saves (1,498).

THE ROOKIE

With his 13th multi-point game this season on Feb. 14 at LAK, Elias Pettersson moved into a tie with Thomas Gradin for 4th all-time in Canucks rookies multi-point games (Pavel Bure leads the way with 18).
Petterson is within 2 points of tying the franchise record for most points in a rookie season; Pavel Bure and Ivan Hlinka share the title with 60 each.
Pettersson not only leads his team but all rookies in goals (26), points (58), assists (32), power-play goals (8), power-play points (16) (tied for 1st), game-winning goals (7), and points per game (1.00).
Elias Pettersson joins an elite list of 10 players who have scored at least 25 goals in thier first 44 games played, aged 20 or younger (Ovechkin, Martin, Murdoch, Bossy, Lindros, Robitaille, Yzerman, Gretzky, Hawerchuk, Boeser).
Pettersson was named to Team Pacific Division for the 2019 NHL All-Star Game. He became the youngest Canucks player and just the third Canucks rookie (Tallon, Boeser) named to the honour. He participated in the Fastest Skater and Puck Control Relay.
With his seventh GWG Jan. 2 at OTT, Pettersson established a new Canucks single-season record for most GWG scored by a rookie.
With a hat trick on Jan. 2 at OTT, Pettersson became just the fourth active player to accumulate 40 or more career points within his first 40 NHL games. He also became the first rookie in Canucks franchise history to score a hat trick that included an OTG. He is the eighth Canucks rookie to net a hat trick.
Pettersson, who led all rookies with seven goals and 10 points in eight games (7-3-10) in October, was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for October. He was named the NHL's second star of the week ending November 4th (sharing the League lead with four goals and ranked third overall with seven points in three games) and was named first star of the week ending December 9th (after leading the NHL with eight points (2-6-8) in three games).
With five points (1-4-5) on Dec. 9 at STL, Pettersson became the sixth rookie since 1967-68 to record multiple outings with at least five points in a single season. He also registered five points (2-3-5) on Nov. 2 vs COL.

FACE THE FACTS

Bo Horvat ranks second in the NHL in face-off wins (912), first in even-strength face-off wins (754) and first in face-offs taken (1717). He also ranks 9th in PP face-off wins (121).
Horvat ranks second on the team in goals (24), power play goals (6), points (49), assists (25) (tied for 2nd), power play points (13), face-off win percentage (53.1%; min. 10 GP), and first in shots (200) and TOI (among forwards; 21:00).
With two goals Feb. 25 vs ANA, Horvat has also set a new career high for most goals in a season.

GOOD-BETTER-BOES

Brock Boeser notched his 20th goal of the season on Feb. 14 at LAK, becoming the fifth Canucks player with multiple 20-goal seasons before turning 22 years old, joining Linden, Bure, Blight and Tanti.
Among players to debut with the Canucks franchise, Brock Boeser required the second fewest games played to score his 50th career goal (110 GP), trailing only Pavel Bure (82 GP) (source: NHL PR).

THE GOING RATE

• Brock Boeser has nine points (3-6-9) over the past 11 games
• Antoine Roussel has seven points (3-4-7) over the past 11 games
• Alex Biega has eight points (1-7-8) over the past 11 games
• Ryan Spooner has three points (0-3-3) over past four games
• Josh Leivo has three points (2-1-3) over the past seven games