PREVIEW | Canucks at Blackhawks

CANUCKS AT BLACKHAWKS PREVIEW

MATCH-UP INFO

• Tonight marks the first of three meetings between the Canucks and Blackhawks this season: Oct. 21 (road), Nov. 21 (home), Jan. 31 (road).
• Vancouver is 8-1-1 in their last 10 games vs Chicago (3-1-1 in their last 5).
• The Canucks have an 84-82-22-7 all-time record in 195 games against the Blackhawks. Vancouver owns a 31-52-7-6 record on the road in Chicago.
• Among active Canucks skaters, Bo Horvat leads the team in career points vs Chicago with 18 points (9-9-18) in 17 games.
• Thatcher Demko has faced the Blackhawks once in his career (1-0-0), owning a .935 SV% and 1.99 GAA.
• Jaroslav Halak has faced the Blackhawks 15 times in his career (9-2-3) and has a .930 SV% and 2.05 GAA.

LAST MEETING - FEB. 12/20: VAN 3 vs CHI 0

Bo Horvat opened up scoring with a power play goal at 15:33 in the first period...Adam Gaudette scored a goal at 6:25 in the second period...Brandon Sutter recorded assists on the first two goals and scored the third for a three point game (1-2-3)...Alex Edler led the team in TOI (24:33), shots (4), blocked shots (4) and tied for most hits (3)...Jacob Markstrom made 49 saves and was named the first star.

LAST GAME PLAYED - OCT. 19/21: VAN 2 at BUF 5

Bo Horvat opened the scoring with his first goal of the season at 5:57 in the first period...Tanner Pearson and Conor Garland registered assists on the play...Justin Dowling restored Vancouver's lead on a deflection for his first goal as a Canuck at 16:01 in the first period...Luke Schenn collected his first assist of the season, while J.T. Miller recorded the second assist...Brad Hunt led the team in shots (5) in his Canucks debut...Justin Dowling led all Canucks in blocked shots (3)...Oliver Ekman-Larsson led all skaters in TOI (25:56)...Thatcher Demko faced 43 shots.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

• Brock Boeser reactivated from injured reserve, Oct. 19
• Nic Petan designated for assignment to Abbotsford Canucks, Oct. 19
• Travis Hamonic placed on temporary leave of absence, Oct. 18
• Alex Chiasson signed to a one-year contract, Oct. 12

FAMILIAR TERRITORY

Matthew Highmore will face his former team for the first time since being acquired from Chicago on Apr. 12/20 in exchange for Adam Gaudette. Highmore has since recorded five points (3-2-5) in 22 games for Vancouver, while Gaudette has appeared in nine games for Chicago.

READY TO REPEAT HISTORY

Vancouver and Chicago face off tonight for the first time since Feb. 12/20 when the Canucks defeated the Blackhawks by a score of 3-0 at Rogers Arena. Vancouver handed Chicago their fifth straight loss that evening, which they'll be looking to repeat tonight when they take on the 0-3-1 Blackhawks.

NOSE FOR THE NET

Opening the scoring with his first goal of the season on Oct. 19 at BUF, Bo Horvat notched his 140th career goal, surpassing Dennis Ververgaert and Alexander Mogilny for sole possession of 15th place in goals in franchise history.

CLIMBING THE COACHING RANKS

Tonight's game at Chicago marks Travis Green's 294th regular season game behind the Canucks bench, tying him with Bob McCammon (1988-91) for fourth-most games coached in franchise history. Green now trails only Harry Neale (407), Marc Crawford (529), and Alain Vigneault (540) for games coached in Canucks history. His 126 wins also have him just 17 victories shy of passing Pat Quinn (141) and Harry Neale (142) for sole possession of third place for games won by a Canucks coach.

J-THREE MILLER

Collecting three points (1-2-3) on Oct. 15 at PHI, J.T. Miller recorded his ninth game with three or more points since joining the Canucks in 2019. Miller now has 122 points (43-79-122) in 124 games with Vancouver, ranking third overall in Canucks history in points per game (0.98) among skaters with a minimum 120 games played.

KING OF THE CREASE

Stopping both shots faced in the shootout on Oct. 15 at PHI, Thatcher Demko (.813) passed Eddie Lack (.805) for the highest shootout save percentage in franchise history. Among all NHL goalies to have faced at least 30 shootout shots, Demko ranks sixth all time.

FINDING THE SCORESHEET

Notching his team's first goal of the evening on Oct. 15 at PHI, Vasily Podkolzin became just the third Russian player in franchise history to score a goal within his first two career games, joining Vladimir Krutov (1989) and Artem Chubarov (1999).

FIRST G-OEL

Oliver Ekman-Larsson notched Vancouver's first goal of the season at 12:28 in the third period, on the power play, in the Canucks' season opener on Oct. 13 at EDM. In doing so, he became only the fourth defenceman in Canucks history to score a goal in the team's season opener while also making their Canucks debut (Wilkins, 1970; Guevremont, 1971; Lanz, 1980).

RECENT CANUCKS MILESTONES

• Conor Garland recorded his 100th career point (assist), Oct. 19 at Chicago

THREE STARS - OCTOBER

• Miller - 5 points
• Pettersson - 5 points
• Ekman-Larsson - 5 points