by Canucks Communications @Canucks / Vancouver Canucks

CANUCKS VS BLUE JACKETS PREVIEW

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

Radio: SN650

MATCH-UP INFO

• Tonight marks the second and final meeting between the Canucks and Blue Jackets this season: Nov. 26 (4-2 L), Dec. 14 (home).
• Vancouver is 4-4-2 in their last 10 games vs Columbus (1-4-0 in their last 5).
• The Canucks have a 37-15-2-8 all-time record in 62 games against the Blue Jackets. Vancouver holds a 19-6-0-5 record at home against Columbus. • Among active Canucks skaters, J.T. Miller leads the team in scoring vs Columbus with 13 points (2-11-13) in 22 games.
• Thatcher Demko has faced the Blue Jackets four times in his career (1-3-0) and has a .867 SV% and 3.53 GAA.
• Jaroslav Halak has faced the Blue Jackets 26 times in his career (14-7-3), owning a .917 SV% and a 2.63 GAA.

QUICK NUMBERS

• Brock Boeser has six points (3-3-6) in his last eight games.
• Bo Horvat has five points (1-4-5) in his last seven games.
• J.T. Miller has nine points (2-7-9) in his last seven games.
• Quinn Hughes has eight points (0-8-8) in his last eight games. • Conor Garland has nine points (6-3-9) in his last 13 games.

• Thatcher Demko has posted a .962 SV% and 1.20 GAA in his last four games (4-0-0).

LAST MEETING – NOV. 26/21: VAN 2 at CBJ 4

Vasily Podkolzin opened up scoring for this Canucks at 19:31 in the first period to tie up the game…Justin Dowling recorded his first assist of the season on the play…Tyler Motte scored his first goal of the season to tie up the game at the end of the second period…Quinn Hughes and Alex Chiasson registered assists…Bo Horvat led the team in shots (5)…Tyler Myers led the team in blocked shots (4)…Quinn Hughes led the team in TOI (25:40)…Thatcher Demko faced 20 shots.

LAST GAME PLAYED – DEC. 12/21: VAN 2 vs CAR 1

Brock Boeser opened up scoring at 18:29 in the first period…J.T. Miller and Tanner Pearson collected assists on the play…Elias Pettersson scored the GWG at 7:44 in the second period to collect the Canucks 4th straight win of the season…The team recorded a season high in blocked shots (24) and Tucker Poolman led the game with 7…Tyler Myers led the Canucks in TOI (25:05)…Bo Horvat led in shots (6) and won 14 face-offs…Thatcher Demko made 28 saves and was named First Star.

LAST 5 vs COLUMBUS

•Nov. 26, 2021: VAN 2 at CBJ 4

•Mar. 8, 2020: VAN 1 vs CBJ 2

•Mar. 1, 2020: VAN 3 at CBJ 5

•Mar. 24, 2019: VAN 0 vs CBJ 4

•Dec. 11, 2018: VAN 3 at CBJ 2

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

• Noah Juulsen recalled from Abbotsford, Dec. 9
• Travis Hamonic placed on injured reserve, Dec. 9

SHOOUTOUT SPECIALIST

Netting the game-deciding goal in the shootout on Dec. 10 vs WPG, Elias Pettersson now has nine career shootout goals on 22 attempts, which is third- most in club history behind Alex Burrows (16) and Ryan Kesler (11). His shootout shooting percentage (40.9%) also ranks second in team history (min. 15 shots), behind only Kyle Wellwood (43.8%).

BRUCE ALMIGHTY

Joining the Canucks as the 20th Head Coach in franchise history on Dec. 5, Bruce Boudreau became the first head coach in Canucks history to start his tenure with a 4-0-0 record. The only other head coach to earn at least a point in each of is first 4+ games with Vancouver was Roger Neilson (5-0-2) in 1981-82. On Dec. 8 vs BOS, Boudreau set a personal record when he started 2-0-0 with a team for the first time in his coaching career.

BROCK STAR

Brock Boeser collected his 13th career game-winning goal on Dec. 6, tying him behind 5 other notable names for most franchise GWG: Tony Tanti (26), Pavel Bure (26), Trevor Linden (22), Patrik Sundstrom (14), and Bo Horvat (14).

MULTI-POINT MILLER

Recording three points (1-2-3) during a 6-2 win on Dec. 1 at OTT, J.T. Miller registered his team-leading 10th three-point effort since 2019.20, in which the Canucks are 8-1-1.

QUINN’S CAREER NIGHT

Quinn Hughes collected a career-high in points (4) and assists (4) on Dec. 1 at OTT, becoming just the fifth defenceman in franchise history to record four assists in a game, and the first since Jeff Brown (0-5-5) on Feb. 20/95. Hughes now ranks t-6th all time among NHL defencemen for most games (8) with three or more assists before the age of 23.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

The Canucks play their sixth of 10 home games in December on Sunday when they host the Hurricanes, matching a franchise record for most home games played in the month of December (2017, 2019).

ONE HUNDRED HELPERS

Assisting on Elias Pettersson’s power play goal on Nov. 29 at MTL, Quinn Hughes recorded his 100th career assist in his 151st career game, tying Brian Leetch for sixth-fewest games required by a defenceman to reach the milestone in NHL history. He also became the second-fastest Canuck of any position to reach 100 assists, behind only Barry Pederson (147 GP).

AT FACE VALUE

Bo Horvat leads all NHL skaters in face-offs taken (708), face-off wins (401) and even strength face-off wins (302) so far this season.

BRUCE BOOST

Last 4 games stats: Record 4-0-0

Goals For: 13

Goals Against: 5

Power Play: 3-11

Penalty Kill: 8-10