CANUCKS BANTER     By Andrew Chernoff    November 22, 2015

The New Jersey Devils (10-8-1), in 5th place in the Metropolitan division, come into Vancouver(8-7-6), 3rd place in the Pacific division, after losses to the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.

New Jersey will conclude its three-game, Western Canadian road trip tonight. With Friday’s 5-1 loss at Edmonton, the Devils are now 3-12-3 in the Western Canadian cities (Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver & Winnipeg) since the 2011-12 season.

Despite Friday’s 5-1 loss at Edmonton, the Devils have won ten of their last 15 games & have points in 11 of their last 16 contests (10-5-1=21pts).

“We played them in Jersey, and they’re a tough team,” Henrik Sedin said of the Devils. “They skate, they’re a fast team. They still play well defensively and whenever you beat them, [Schneider] is back there making saves. It’s going to be a tough test for us [Sunday].” Canucks.com

Vancouver snapped a four-game winless stretch (0-3-1) with a 6-3 victory over Chicago last night at Rogers Arena.

Vancouver is closing-out its fourth set of back-to-back games tonight. The Canucks are 2-1-1 in first games and 2-0-1 in second games when playing on consecutive dates.

Daniel Sedin recorded his sixth career hat trick last night and added an assist for his second 4pt. game of the season. Sedin’s assist last night was the 900th point of his NHL career (337g-566a-903pts). He now has points in four straight (5g-2a-7pts) & leads the Canucks with 10g-12a-22pts overall.

Henrik Sedin registered a career-high 1g-4a-5pts on Saturday & now has points in three straight games (1g-6a-7pts). He ranks second on the club with 6g-14a-20pts overall.

Jannik Hansen posted 1g-1a-2pts and was a +3 vs. Chicago last night. He’s seventh (tie) in the NHL with a +11 rating overall.

Vancouver will again be without center Brandon Sutter because of an abdominal strain. He has missed the past five games. The Canucks recalled defenseman Taylor Fedun from Utica of the American Hockey League on Saturday. He had two goals and four assists in 14 AHL games. Fedun did not play against the Blackhawks, according to the Canucks website.

Vancouver is in 3rd place in the Pacific division, with 22-points, two points behind Los Angeles and San Jose, who are currently tied for 1rst place in the division with 24-points.

New Jersey enters the game in 5th place in the Metropolitan division with 21-points, two points behind the Islanders, and three points behind Pittsburgh, who are in 4rth and 3rd place respectively with 23 and 24 points each.

Canucks Jottings

• The Canucks are 2-5-2 over their last nine games.
• Vancouver was 3/4 on the power play last night & has now scored a PPG in each of their last five games (8/21, 38.1%).
• Ben Hutton ranks second (tie) among all NHL rookies with 8a this season.
• Jared McCann is tied (Jack Eichel) for sixth among all first year players with 6g.
• Ryan Miller made 26 saves and earned the win in goal for the Canucks last night. He’s tied (Devan Dubnyk) for the league-lead among goaltenders with 18 games played this season. Miller is 6-7-5 with one shutout, a 2.54 goals-against average & .911 save-percentage overall this season.
• Jacob Markstrom has started twice over the past six games. He’s 1-0-1 with a 3.41 GAA & .914 save %.
• Both Canucks goaltenders faced New Jersey in their first NHL game – Ryan Miller did so on Nov. 19/02 while Jacob Markstrom facedthem on Jan. 23/11.
• Brandon Prust appeared in his 100th NHL game against NJ on Mar. 10/10 while teammate Radim Vrbata collected his 100th NHL point against the Devils on Jan. 15/06.
• Bo Horvat was drafted ninth overall at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft that took place in New Jersey.
• Jake Virtanen leads the team and is 2nd among NHL rookies in hits with 48.
• Daniel Sedin has 7 points (5-2-7) in his last 5 games. He has had two four point performances in the last six games – Nov. 10 at CBJ and Nov. 21 vs CHI. He currently leads the team in points (22) and goals (10).
• Jared McCann ranks second on the team and t-sixth among rookies in goals (6); he is also the first Canucks player since Dane Jackson in 1993 to have at least five consecutive goals to start his career (no assists). McCann currently ranks 9th among rookies in shooting percentage (18.2%) and is t-7th among rookies in shots with 33.
• Ryan Miller ranks t-first in games played/started (17) and first in TOI (1026:13). He also ranks second among all goalies in shots against with 485 (one behind League-leader Roberto Luongo (486)).
• Alex Edler leads VAN in time on ice (24:45) and has led the team in that category in 18 of 19 games he’s played, including 10 games where he’s led all skaters in TOI. He currently ranks 11th in the NHL in TOI/GP. Last season, Edler ranked first on the team in average ice time per game (23:58) and led the team in TOI on 59 separate occasions including 26 games where led all skaters in TOI.
• The Canucks have had six different players make their NHL debut this season (Grenier, Shinkaruk, Virtanen, McCann, Hutton, and Gaunce). According to Elias Sports Bureau, this is the most number players to make their NHL debut for the Canucks in a single season since six players did so during the 2007.08 season.
• The last season where six or more players made their NHL debut in a single season for the Canucks was in 1999.00 (eight players). The club record for NHL debuts in a single season is 11 which occurred during the 1973.74 season.
• Daniel Sedin collected his 900th point Nov. 21/15 versus Chicago. He became the 12th active NHLer, fifth Swedish born player and second Canuck to accomplish the feat.
• As part of a four point effort (3-1-4), Daniel collected his 6th career hat trick and now holds sole possession of fifth spot in club history for most hat tricks. It was his first hat trick since Dec. 6/11 vs COL.
• The Canucks have had 18 different goal scorers this season, t-third most in the League with Boston; Nashville has had 20 and St. Louis has had 19 different goal scorers.
• The Canucks players aged 23 or younger that have appeared in the lineup thus far (Baertschi, Horvat, Hutton, Virtanen, McCann, Gaunce, and Shinkaruk) have accounted for 20.0% of points (34), goals (22) and assists (22) respectively, for the team this season
• The Canucks are 7th in the League with 2.9 goals for per game; Their 61 goals on the year are 5th most in the NHL.
• VANCOUVER’S 2015.16 RECORD WHEN…
  Score 4+ Goals: 6-0-0
  Score 3 Goals or Less: 2-7-6
  Allow 4+ Goals: 0-3-3
  Allow 3 Goals or Less: 8-4-3
  On 0 Days Rest: 2-0-1
  On 1 Day Rest: 2-4-4
  On 2 Days Rest: 3-2-1
  On 3+ Days Rest: 0-1-1
  Score a PPG: 3-4-4
  Give up a PPG: 3-5-3
  25+ Shots on Goal: 6-6-5
  Less than 25 shots: 2-1-1

SEASON SNAPSHOT

CANUCKS PLAYER STATS

CANUCKS TEAM STATS

DEVILS PLAYER STATS

DEVILS TEAM STATS

CANUCKS AT A GLANCE

Statistics courtesy of the NHL, Sportsnet, and the Vancouver Canucks, with thanks.