Game Notes: Canucks vs. Sabres

The Canucks will play host to the Buffalo Sabres today in Vancouver. This will be the first time the two teams have met this season. Vancouver will play Buffalo one more time (Jan. 11 in BUF) this season. Tonight's game is presented by Remax of Western Canada.

• The Canucks are 6-3-1 in their last 10 meetings with the Sabres and 3-1-1 in their last five match-ups with Buffalo.
• Today the Canucks host the 80s Era Game, presented by RE/MAX. The Canucks will throw back to some of the most memorable players and moments, including the 1982 team that inspired the playoff tradition of "towel power" and brought the Canucks to their first ever Stanley Cup Final. Vancouver will wear the Black Skate jersey for today's game.

NEED TO KNOW BASIS

• Elias Pettersson enters play tonight with 11 points (6-5-11) in his last 11 games.
• Brock Boeser has 7 points (3-4-7) in his last 9 games.
• Tanner Pearson has produced 12 points (6-6-12) over his last 11 games.
• JT Miller is riding a 7-game scoring streak (4-5-9). It marks the longest scoring streak a Canucks player has posted this season.
• Quinn Hughes is 3rd among rookies with 23 points (2-21-23).
• Bo Horvat has nine points (2-7-9) over his last eight games.
• The Canucks enter tonight's game t-3rd in the NHL in faceoff win percentage (51.8%).

LAST MEETING - Jan. 18/19: VAN 4 vs BUF 3

Alex Edler tied it 1-1 at 12:12 of the first...Sven Baertschi made it 2-1 at 15:31...Brock Boeser scored to make it 3-2 at 8:00 of the second...Loui Eriksson gave Vancouver a 4-3 lead at 5:57 of the third...Bo Horvat had two assists including his 200th career NHL point...Thatcher Demko made 36 saves in his season debut and became the first goalie in franchise history to win each of his first two NHL appearances and the second to win his first two career starts.

LAST GAME - Dec. 3/19: VAN 5 vs OTT 2

Antoine Roussel opened the scoring at 1:50 in the first...the Canucks went on to score four goals in the first, including tallies from Pearson, Pettersson (the eventual game-winner) and MacEwen...Zack MacEwen netted his first career NHL goal and recorded six hits...Oscar Fantenberg collected his first goal as a Canuck...Thatcher Demko faced 42 shots.

POWERED UP

• Bo Horvat ranks tied for 7th in the NHL for PPG (6).
• Elias Pettersson ranks 3rd for PPP (17).
• Vancouver leads the League with 30 power play goals this season.
• The Canucks ranks 4th in power play percentage (26.8).

THE ROOKIE

With his 25th career point in his 31st game, Quinn Hughes became the 8th quickest rookie defenceman to reach 25 points over the last 40 NHL seasons. Larry Murphy set the record in 21 games.

RELYING ON HIS STRENGTHS

On Nov. 30/19 at EDM, Tanner Pearson became the 7th player in Canucks history to record at least one shorthanded point, one power play point and multiple even strength points in a single road game.

THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM

Canucks rookie defenseman Quinn Hughes collected his third three-assist game of 2019-20 on Nov. 27/19 at PIT. Hughes became the first rookie defenceman in Canucks history to record three games with three assists in a single season (also Oct. 30 at LAK and Nov. 21 at NSH). The only rookie blueliner with more in a single season is Ray Bourque (4 in 1979-80 with BOS).

BENN THERE, DONE THAT

Jordie Benn appeared in his 500th NHL game on Nov. 30 at EDM. Only 72 active defencemen and three active undrafted defencemen have reached 500 games played.

STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT

With a goal on Nov. 25/19 at PHI, JT Miller became the 14th player in franchise history to produce 24 or more points in his first 25 games since joining the Canucks (NHL debut or otherwise).

FACING OFF

On Nov. 16/19 vs COL, Bo Horvat registered 26 wins in the face-off circle, tying for second most a Canuck has won in a single regular season game (Mark Messier had 26 on Mar. 2/98 vs LA). The Canucks record stands at 28, which was also established by Messier on Jan. 8/99 vs FLA. Travis Green holds the League record with 33 wins, which took place on Nov. 8/97 vs CHI.
In 2019.20, Horvat ranks 1st in the NHL in face-off wins (367), even strength face-off wins (262) and power play face-off wins (83).

PRODUCTION FROM PETTERSSON

Elias Petterson is one of five active players to reach the 30-point mark in fewer than 30 games in each of his first two or more NHL seasons. The others: Sidney Crosby (10x) Evgeni Malkin (9x) Alex Ovechkin (6x) and Connor McDavid (5x).
Pettersson recorded his 90th career point on Nov. 14/19 vs DAL, becoming the second quickest Canuck to achieve the feat, doing so in his 91st career game. Pavel Bure is the quickest Canuck to reach 90 career points, achieving the feat in 86 games.
Pettersson now sits at 98 points through 100 games. The quickest a Canuck has reached 100 points was 96 games, achieved by Pavel Bure.

WITH THE ADVANTAGE

On Nov. 21/19 at NSH, Vancouver scored five power-play goals in a game for the first time since Nov. 6, 2011 (6-2 W at CHI); the franchise record for most in a game is six, a mark set Oct. 7, 1983 (10-9 W vs. MNS) and matched March 1, 1992 (11-0 W vs. CGY).