VANCOUVER CANUCKS NOTES:
MATCH-UP INFO
• Tonight marks the first of four meetings between the Canucks and Sharks this season: Nov. 2 (road), Nov. 20 (home), Nov. 25 (road), Dec. 23 (home). • Vancouver is 65-55-9-7 all-time against San Jose, including a 35-29-5-2 record on the road. • The Canucks are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games against the Sharks (5-0-0 in their last five). • Among active skaters, J.T. Miller (7-13-20 19 GP) leads the team in career scoring vs San Jose. • Casey DeSmith posted a 3.45 GAA and .898 SV% in five career games (2-3-0) against the Sharks. • In eight career games (8-0-0), Thatcher Demko has a 2.24 GAA and .923 SV% all time against San Jose.
QUICK NUMBERS
• Elias Pettersson has 16 points (5-11-16) in his last nine games, ranking him 2nd in the league for points. • Brock Boeser has posted 10 points (6-4-10) in his last nine games. • J.T. Miller has 13 points (5-8-13) in his last nine games and is currently on a three-game point streak (3-2-5). • Quinn Hughes has 11 points (3-8-11) in his last nine games. • Thatcher Demko posted a .935 SV% and has a 1.92 GAA in his last six games (4-2-0).
LAST MEETING – MAR. 23/23: VAN 7 vs SJS 2 J.T.
Miller opened the scoring, unassisted at 6:15 in the first period to record Vancouver’s first goal of the game in a third consecutive game…Andrei Kuzmenko added to the Canucks lead two minutes later with his franchise record-breaking 35th goal of the season as a first-year NHLer…Elias Pettersson extended his point-streak to 10 games (5-9-14) with an assist and Anthony Beauvillier collected the second assist…Dakota Joshua restored the Canucks two-goal lead with just 0.4 seconds left in the first period, assisted by Conor Garland and Nils Åman…Garland would score his 13th of the season for the second period’s only goal…Vasily Podkolzin, Phillip Di Giuseppe, and Sheldon Dries (shorthanded) each added third period tallies…Six Canucks (Garland, Miller, Di Giuseppe, Myers, Joshua, and Kuzmenko) registered two-point efforts…Filip Hronek led Vancouver skaters in time on ice (24:25) in his Canucks debut…Kyle Burroughs recorded a game-high in hits (8)…Thatcher Demko made 17 saves.
SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
LAST TIME OUT Game 9 – 10/29 SJS 1 at WSH 3…
Ty Emberson (0g, 1a) tallied his first NHL point, an assist on Luke Kunin’s (1g, 0a) first goal of the campaign, with Mario Ferraro (0g, 1a) credited with the secondary assist, but the Sharks closed out a five-game road trip with a 3-1 loss at Washington. Mikael Granlund was activated from IR ahead of the game and logged 17:47 TOI with two shots and went 10-for-14 (71.4%) on faceoffs.
SJS Goal: Kunin (1)
SF: 31 SA: 42 SJS
PP: 0-0 SJS
PK: 3-3 W: Kuemper L: Blackwood
BLACKWOOD MAC Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood turned in a strong first month in teal, punctuating the month with a 39-save effort at Washington (Oct. 29) to total 204 saves on 225 shots faced (.907 SV%) in October. Per NHL Edge, Blackwood ranked second in the league with 62 high-danger saves (Jacob Markstrom – 68) following the team’s October finale at Washington. Blackwood stopped 51 shots while helping the Sharks earn a point against the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 14 in his debut and followed up with a 36-save effort Oct. 17 against Carolina. His save total in his first game, which included stops on his first 48 shots faced in the game and is the most by a NHL netminder in any game this season, represents the most by any NHL goalie in a debut with a new team since at least 1955-56, per NHL PR, and was the most by a Sharks netminder in this milennium (Steve Shields – 51, Oct. 14, 1999, 5-1 W at NSH). Blackwood finished the contest one save shy of his career best of 52, set against Columbus on Feb. 16, 2020, a 4-3 shootout win. Through his first four appearances, Blackwood has amassed 148 saves on 162 shots faced (.914 SV%), matching Wade Flaherty (1991-92 to 1992-93) for most saves through his first four games as a Shark, per NHL PR.
