Game Notes: Canucks @ Blues

The Canucks face off against the St. Louis Blues for their first of three matchups this season. The Blues visit Rogers Arena later this month on Dec. 20 while the Canucks visit Enterprise Center again on Apr. 6.
Vancouver went 0-2-1 in the season series versus St. Louis in 2017.18 (0-4-1 in the last five games; 2-7-1 in the last 10 games). Today marks the first of a three-game road trip that also sees visits to Columbus (Dec. 11) and Nashville (Dec. 13).
Vancouver is 7-10-1 against the Western Conference and 4-5-0 against Central Division opponents this season.

LAST MEETING - MAR. 23/18: VAN 1 at STL 4

Sam Gagner got the Canucks on the board and made it 2-1 with his first goal since Jan. 6 at 14:47 of the second...Daniel and Henrik Sedin each recorded an assist on the play...Alex Edler had a game-high 5 shots...Alex Biega and Tyler Motte each recorded 4 hits...Anders Nilsson made 21 saves.

VERSUS BLUES TIDBITS:

LAST GAME - DEC. 6/18: VAN 5 vs NSH 3

Alex Edler scored on a one-timer from the point to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 7:48 of the first...Bo Horvat scored at 19:33 to give Vancouver its first 2-0 lead of the season...Jake Virtanen converted an odd-man rush for a 3-1 lead at 8:57 of the second...Elias Pettersson made it 4-1 with 1:11 left in the second scoring the GWG on a penalty shot...Loui Eriksson scored on a rebound to make it 5-1 at 1:21 of the third...Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves...Antoine Roussel had a career-high three assists (which also tied his career- high for points in a game).

THE ROOKIE (through Dec. 6)

-Elias Pettersson leads all rookies in goals (14), points (25), power-play points (9) and points per game (1.00; min 10 GP). He also ranks second among rookies in power-play goals (4), assists (11) and ranks third in shooting percentage (25.4%; min. 10 GP).
-Pettersson became the third rookie in Canucks franchise history to score a penalty-shot goal when he beat Pekka Rinne on Dec. 6, joining Ivan Hlinka (1981-82) and Pavel Bure (1991-92). He also registered the 15th instance of a rookie converting on a penalty-shot attempt in the last 10 years and the first since Lukas Sedlak on March 19, 2017. Additionally, he marked the youngest player to score a penalty-shot goal since Connor McDavid (Oct. 12, 2016).
-Pettersson was named the NHL's second star of the week ending November 4th. He shared the League lead with four goals and ranked third overall with seven points in three games to also help lead the Canucks to a perfect week.
-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.

FACE THE FACTS (through Dec. 6)

-Bo Horvat ranks first in the NHL in face-off wins (431), first in even-strength face-off wins (345) and first in face-offs taken (792). He also ranks 3rd in PP face-off wins (56).
-Horvat tied a season-high 23 face-off wins (the third time this season) on Nov. 19 vs MTL and had 40 total face-offs on Nov. 6 at DET
-Horvat leads the team in points (27), assists (14), shots (78), face-off win percentage (54.4%) and TOI (among forwards; 20:58). He also shares the team lead in power-play goals (4) and ranks second in goals (13), power-play points (8).

THE GOING RATE

• Brock Boeser has three points (2-1-3) over the past four games
• Jake Virtanen has three points (1-2-3) over the past six games
• Alex Edler has three points (2-1-3) over the past five games
• Antoine Roussel has four assists (0-4-4) over the past three games
• Elias Pettersson has six points (2-4-6) over the past six games
• Bo Horvat has nine points (3-6-9) over the past nine games (five points (2-3-5) over the past four games)
• Tim Schaller has two assists (0-2-2) over the past three games
• Tyler Motte has two points (1-1-2) over the past three games
• Josh Leivo has a goal in three of his past five games played (3-0-3)
• Nikolay Goldobin has seven points (2-5-7) over the past nine games