Jonathan Lekkerimäki makes his National Hockey League debut tonight when the Vancouver Canucks (7-3-3) host the Calgary Flames (8-5-3) at Rogers Arena.
The 20-year-old was the Canucks first round pick (15th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft. Lekkerimäki earned his first NHL recall with five goals in seven games in AHL Abbotsford this season.
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<h1>What we saw</h1>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Arturs Silovs getting tested by Dakota Joshua before <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> highly optional morning skate <a href="https://t.co/Y4kQ6X0uKz">pic.twitter.com/Y4kQ6X0uKz</a>
&mdash; Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) <a href="https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1856403003273527320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
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It was a highly optional skate for the Canucks with only Noah Juulsen and Arturs Silovs among the roster players on the ice. Dakota Joshua and Thatcher Demko were out together with the skills coaches earlier in the morning. Joshua stayed out to take a few shots on Silovs. Otherwise, the players that will suit up tonight opted for rest after two days of practice.
Kevin Lankinen gets back in net after getting the hook in the third period of Saturday’s 7-3 loss to Edmonton. Arshdeep Bains was recalled from Abbotsford earlier today and will skate on the fourth line with Aatu Räty and Nils Höglander. The Canucks will roll with the same six defencemen they used against the Oilers. Rick Tocchet once again said he had no update on Brock Boeser who will miss his second straight game with an upper body injury. Tocchet would not confirm that Boeser is in concussion protocol.
Pius Suter scored on Saturday and now has five goals on the season and four of them in his past six games. He is one goal off the team lead through 13 games. Suter’s goal against the Oilers came with the man advantage. The Canucks power play has shown signs of life with goals in three straight games for the first time this season. The team is three for 10 (30%) in the past three contests.
Home ice has been no advantage for the The Canucks who have dropped three straight games at home (0-2-1) and with a 1-2-3 record at Rogers Arena are the only team in the league with just one home victory on the season. The Canucks have surrendered six or more goals in three of their six home games.
Today is Elias Pettersson’s 26th birthday. With a goal and an assist, he had his first multipoint game of the season on Saturday. Pettersson has goals in two of the team’s last three games.
<h1>The visitors</h1>
The Flames are here after a 3-1 home ice win over Los Angeles last night. Mikael Backlund, Jonathan Huberdeau and Kevin Rooney had the Calgary goals. Dustin Wolf made 28 saves for the victory and also had an assist. As a team, the Flames blocked 36 LA shot attempts. Tonight’s game is the Flames fifth in five different cities over the last eight nights. With Wolf playing last night, Dan Vladar will get the start in goal tonight.
Calgary is led in scoring by defenceman Rasmus Andersson who has four goals and 11 points. Huberdeau leads the club with six goals and is the only other Flame in double digits with 10 points. Former Canuck Andrei Kuzmenko has just one goal in his first 16 games of the season although he does lead the Flames with eight assists.
The Flames have picked up points in four straight (2-0-2) and are 3-1-2 in their last six outings. Interestingly, Calgary has not scored more than three goals in any of the games over that six-game stretch.Special teams have not been particularly special for the Flames who rank 27th in the league on both the power play (15.2%) and the penalty kill (72.9%).
Calgary staged a furious comeback from 3-0 and 4-1 deficits to beat the Canucks 6-5 in overtime on opening night. The teams will meet two more times after tonight both at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The next meeting is set for New Year’s Eve.
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Tonight’s referees: Frederick L’Ecuyer &amp; Graedy Hamilton
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse &amp; Dave Tomlinson
<h1>What we heard</h1>
Rick Tocchet on going right back to Kevin Lankinen in goal tonight: “He deserves to play. Even if you had Demko or Connor Hellebuyck who plays a ton, everyone is saying why did we play him against New Jersey, he’s tired too. It’s hard to play four, five, six games and practice. We’ve had somewhat of a light schedule, but we have to make sure that Lanks is fresh too. We can’t keep grinding him either.”
Connor Garland excited for Jonathan Lekkerimäki’s NHL debut: “You get excited for anybody’s first game. It’s obviously a privilege to play in this league. Any day you get to spend here, it’s a privilege. I’m excited for him. Nice kid. Got to meet him at camp. I was in his group. Really talented player. He’s going to be a good player. Maybe an underrated passer is what I picked up in camp. I’m excited to see what he does. I know his parents get here soon. So it’s a great day and hopefully we can make it a great one with a win.”
Tyler Myers on Canucks ready for a bounce back game: “We had a couple of really good days of practice. We’ve been working hard the last week dialling in some systems things. Just trying to get better every day. We want a good start tonight. I haven’t liked our starts. It was a focus in practice the last couple of days. You always want to start the game off well and that’s definitely a mindset we have coming into tonight.”
Check out the Pre-Game crossover episode with FlamesNation managing editor Ryan Pike and CanucksArmy managing editor David Quadrelli below!
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Pre-Game Crossover Episode: David Quadrelli &amp; Ryan Pike Get Set for Flames vs Canucks" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hyxkFZTjRlA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
Sponsored by bet365
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Jonathan Lekkerimäki makes his National Hockey League debut tonight when the Vancouver Canucks (7-3-3) host the Calgary Flames (8-5-3) at Rogers Arena.

The 20-year-old was the Canucks first round pick (15th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft. Lekkerimäki earned his first NHL recall with five goals in seven games in AHL Abbotsford this season.
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&nbsp;
<h1>What we saw</h1>
https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1856403003273527320

It was a highly optional skate for the Canucks with only Noah Juulsen and Arturs Silovs among the roster players on the ice. Dakota Joshua and Thatcher Demko were out together with the skills coaches earlier in the morning. Joshua stayed out to take a few shots on Silovs. Otherwise, the players that will suit up tonight opted for rest after two days of practice.

Kevin Lankinen gets back in net after getting the hook in the third period of Saturday’s 7-3 loss to Edmonton. Arshdeep Bains was recalled from Abbotsford earlier today and will skate on the fourth line with Aatu Räty and Nils Höglander. The Canucks will roll with the same six defencemen they used against the Oilers. Rick Tocchet once again said he had no update on Brock Boeser who will miss his second straight game with an upper body injury. Tocchet would not confirm that Boeser is in concussion protocol.

Pius Suter scored on Saturday and now has five goals on the season and four of them in his past six games. He is one goal off the team lead through 13 games. Suter’s goal against the Oilers came with the man advantage. The Canucks power play has shown signs of life with goals in three straight games for the first time this season. The team is three for 10 (30%) in the past three contests.

Home ice has been no advantage for the The Canucks who have dropped three straight games at home (0-2-1) and with a 1-2-3 record at Rogers Arena are the only team in the league with just one home victory on the season. The Canucks have surrendered six or more goals in three of their six home games.

Today is Elias Pettersson’s 26th birthday. With a goal and an assist, he had his first multipoint game of the season on Saturday. Pettersson has goals in two of the team’s last three games.
<h1>The visitors</h1>
The Flames are here after a 3-1 home ice win over Los Angeles last night. Mikael Backlund, Jonathan Huberdeau and Kevin Rooney had the Calgary goals. Dustin Wolf made 28 saves for the victory and also had an assist. As a team, the Flames blocked 36 LA shot attempts. Tonight’s game is the Flames fifth in five different cities over the last eight nights. With Wolf playing last night, Dan Vladar will get the start in goal tonight.

Calgary is led in scoring by defenceman Rasmus Andersson who has four goals and 11 points. Huberdeau leads the club with six goals and is the only other Flame in double digits with 10 points. Former Canuck Andrei Kuzmenko has just one goal in his first 16 games of the season although he does lead the Flames with eight assists.

The Flames have picked up points in four straight (2-0-2) and are 3-1-2 in their last six outings. Interestingly, Calgary has not scored more than three goals in any of the games over that six-game stretch.Special teams have not been particularly special for the Flames who rank 27th in the league on both the power play (15.2%) and the penalty kill (72.9%).

Calgary staged a furious comeback from 3-0 and 4-1 deficits to beat the Canucks 6-5 in overtime on opening night. The teams will meet two more times after tonight both at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The next meeting is set for New Year’s Eve.

&nbsp;

Tonight’s referees: Frederick L’Ecuyer &amp; Graedy Hamilton

Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse &amp; Dave Tomlinson
<h1>What we heard</h1>
Rick Tocchet on going right back to Kevin Lankinen in goal tonight: “He deserves to play. Even if you had Demko or Connor Hellebuyck who plays a ton, everyone is saying why did we play him against New Jersey, he’s tired too. It’s hard to play four, five, six games and practice. We’ve had somewhat of a light schedule, but we have to make sure that Lanks is fresh too. We can’t keep grinding him either.”

Connor Garland excited for Jonathan Lekkerimäki’s NHL debut: “You get excited for anybody’s first game. It’s obviously a privilege to play in this league. Any day you get to spend here, it’s a privilege. I’m excited for him. Nice kid. Got to meet him at camp. I was in his group. Really talented player. He’s going to be a good player. Maybe an underrated passer is what I picked up in camp. I’m excited to see what he does. I know his parents get here soon. So it’s a great day and hopefully we can make it a great one with a win.”

Tyler Myers on Canucks ready for a bounce back game: “We had a couple of really good days of practice. We’ve been working hard the last week dialling in some systems things. Just trying to get better every day. We want a good start tonight. I haven’t liked our starts. It was a focus in practice the last couple of days. You always want to start the game off well and that’s definitely a mindset we have coming into tonight.”

Check out the Pre-Game crossover episode with FlamesNation managing editor Ryan Pike and CanucksArmy managing editor David Quadrelli below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyxkFZTjRlA

Sponsored by bet365
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Scenes from morning skate: Lekkerimäki debuts as Lankinen starts for Canucks vs. Flames

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