PREVIEW | Canucks at Red Wings

CANUCKS AT RED WINGS PREVIEW
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650

MATCH-UP INFO

• Tonight marks the first of two meetings between the Canucks and Red Wings this season: Oct. 16 (road), Mar. 17 (home).
• Vancouver is 5-2-3 in their last 10 games vs Detroit (3-1-1 in their last 5).
• The Canucks have a 66-83-18-9 all-time record in 176 games against the Red Wings. Vancouver owns a 27-49-8-4 record on the road in Detroit.
• Among active Canucks skaters, Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the team in career points vs Detroit with 14 points (3-11-14) in 23 games.
• Thatcher Demko has faced the Red Wings once in his career (1-0-0), owning a .963 SV% and 1.00 GAA.
• Jaroslav Halak has faced the Red Wings 17 times in his career (7-7-2) and has a .874 SV% and 3.62 GAA.

LAST MEETING - OCT. 22/19: VAN 5 at DET 2

Bo Horvat (3-0-3), Quinn Hughes (0-2-2), Elias Pettersson (0-2-2), and J.T. Miller (0-2-2) each recorded multi-point games...Vancouver erased a two- goal deficit in the third period as Bo Horvat tallied his first career hat-trick...Horvat also recorded a team-high 7 shots on goal...Vancouver registered 40+ shots on goal for the third consecutive game with 41 shots...The Canucks claimed six of eight possible points on a four-game road trip with the victory.

LAST GAME PLAYED - OCT. 15/21: VAN 5 at PHI 4 (SO)

Vasily Podkolzin netted his first NHL goal at 2:36 in the second period, assisted by Tyler Myers and Oliver Ekman-Larsson...Elias Pettersson gave Vancouver their first lead of the game less than two minutes later on the power play...J.T. Miller and Alex Chiasson drew the assists...Alex Chiasson scored his first goal as a Canuck on the power play at 9:36 in the second period...Miller and Quinn Hughes registered the assists...J.T. Miller notched his first goal of the season to extend Vancouver's lead to two at 17:07 in the third period...Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland assisted on the play...Elias Pettersson (GDG) and J.T. Miller each scored in the shootout as Thatcher Demko stopped both shooters faced...Quinn Hughes led all Canucks in TOI (26:46) while Elias Pettersson led the team in shots (6) for the second straight game...Kyle Burroughs led all skaters in hits (6)...Thatcher Demko made 31 saves.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

• Alex Chiasson signed to a one-year contract, Oct. 12
• Zack MacEwen designated for assignment to Abbotsford, Oct. 12
• Juho Lammikko and Noah Juulsen acquired from Florida in exchange for Olli Juolevi, Oct. 10
• Justin Bailey, Madison Bowey, Phillip Di Giuseppe, and Travis Hamonic designated for assignment to Abbotsford, Oct. 10

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).

ROAD TRIPPIN'

The Canucks begin their 2021.22 season by embarking on a six-game road trip from Oct. 13-23, marking the club's longest road trip to start a season in franchise history. It is Vancouver's longest road trip to start a season since a four-game road trip to start the 2006.07 campaign (2-1-1 record).

DEBUTS TO WATCH FOR

Three players on Vancouver's active roster have yet to make their regular season Canucks debut:
- Jaroslav Halák signed as a free agent on July 28. The two-time winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy (2012, 2020) appeared in 19 games for the Bruins last season, posting a 9-6-4 record to go along with a 2.53 goals-against average and .905 save percentage. - Brad Hunt signed as a free agent on July 28. A native of Maple Ridge, BC, Hunt has appeared in 191 career games with Edmonton, St. Louis, Nashville, Vegas and Minnesota, accumulating 59 points (19-40-59) and 28 penalty minutes. - Nic Petan signed a two-way deal as a free agent on July 28. The Delta, BC native appeared in seven games with the Leafs last season, registering one point (0-1-1) and four penalty minutes and 14 games with the Marlies recording 15 points (7-8-15) and six penalty minutes.