Canucks Are Surprise Team of Western Conference

Good morning. We hope you all enjoyed a festive Halloween, if that’s your thing. 👻

More importantly, we’re happy to report the great debate has been settled as Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups collected 30% of yesterday’s poll votes.

That said, we’re dying to know the “other” candy that garnered more than a handful of votes but no write in responses.

- Brandon Rubeo & Kevin Allen

Today’s Lineup:

• Canucks win puts them 2nd in Pacific

• Cam Talbot makes 29 saves in win over Leafs

• Charlie McAvoy suspended 4 games

• And a lot more… 👇

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Canucks Are Surprise Team of Western Conference

The Vancouver Canucks have missed the NHL playoffs for seven of the past eight seasons. This season, they seemed determined to turn that around.

Elias Pettersson netted a hat trick on Halloween night to lead the Canucks to a 5-2 win against the Nashville Predators. The Canucks now have the NHL’s fourth-best record of 6-2-1 and they are tied for the league’s second-best goal differential of +15.

You would think Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet would be pleased, but he really wasn’t. His analysis was the Canucks were sloppy defensively.

This was Pettersson’s second career hat trick. His last one came in 2019. With his three points, Pettersson now has 16 on the season, leaving him three behind Jack Hughes in the NHL points race.

Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes, Jack’s brother, also posted three assists in the game.

The assist was Hughes’ 250th point (29 goals, 221 assists) in his 292nd NHL game. That ties him with Paul Reinhart for the 12th-fewest games by a defenseman in league history to reach that milestone. He is the second active defenseman to reach 250 points in under 300 games, trailing only Colorado’s Cale Makar (241 games).

Thatcher Demko made 27 saves for the Canucks who now have points in five consecutive games (4-0-1). They are in second place in the Pacific Division.

ICYMI: NHL PLAYERS ❤️ HALLOWEEN

This year’s top 5 Halloween costumes worn by NHL players:

1. Jesse Puljujarvi as Ice Spice

2. Brady Tkachuk as Will Ferrell’s character Phil Weston from Kicking and Screaming, and his wife as Mike Ditka

3. Marc-Andre Fleury as a bush and his wife as Edward Scissorhands

4. Quinton Byfield as Frozone

5. Alex Tuch as Cindy Lou Who and his wife as the Grinch

👑 Cam Talbot makes 29 saves & Phillip Danault scores game winner, Kings beat Leafs 4-1. Talbot earned a .967 save percentage and improved to 4-2-0-1 on the season. Andreas Englund scored his 1st NHL goal followed by Danault’s game-winner in the 1st. Arthur Kaliyev sniped his second of the season midway through the game and Adrian Kempe banged home his third of the year in the 3rd period. Leafs’ William Nylander extended his season-opening point streak to nine games, setting a new franchise record. Read more →

🚫 Bruins’ defenseman Charlie McAvoy has been suspended four games by the NHL department of player safety for an illegal check to the head of Florida Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson during Boston's overtime win on Monday night. The 25-year-old defenseman was initially assessed a 5-minute match penalty on the play. McAvoy will forfeit $197,916.68 in salary under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. Read more →

Last night Ryan O’Reilly became the 380th player in league history to play in his 1,000th NHL game. Who was the first player to ever hit the 1,000 game mark?

• Improve your in-tight hands with this nifty hands drill

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No surprise: Gordie Howe was the first player in NHL history to play 1,000 NHL games.