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Canucks Game Day: Shooting for a New York area sweep against the Islanders
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Photo credit: © Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Dec 19, 2025, 13:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 19, 2025, 13:02 EST
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The Vancouver Canucks (13-17-3) shoot for a third straight victory when they visit the New York Islanders (19-12-3) at UBS Arena. The opening face-off is slated for 4pm PT.
The Canucks will be looking to sweep the New York Metropolitan area for the second time in three seasons. They also accomplished the feat in January of 2024 when they beat New Jersey 6-4, the Rangers 6-3 and the Islanders 5-2.

What we know

With games over the next two nights and three games in four days leading into the holiday break, the Canucks elected not to skate this morning in an effort to conserve energy.
Thatcher Demko will start in goal for the fourth straight game. The 30-year-old is coming off a 23-save shutout in a 3-0 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. This will be the first time he has started four consecutive games since January 16th-23rd.
Demko has allowed just one goal in his last two games and his shutout streak sits at 95:58 dating back to a Luke Hughes goal early in the second period on Sunday in New Jersey. In three starts since his return from a month-long injury layoff, Demko has allowed four goals, has a 1.35 GAA and a .938 save percentage.
Based on practice Thursday, it appears the Canucks will use the same line-up they did to beat the Rangers. Evander Kane opened the scoring and newcomer Liam Öhgren scored his first goal as a Canuck and his first goal in 19 games this season. 
The Canucks have won back to back games and held a 5-1 edge in goals despite registering just 15 and 17 shots on net. The team killed off all four Ranger power plays and the PK is now seven for seven to start the road trip. In their last 12 games, the Canucks have killed off 84.6% of their penalties. Also in those 12 games, the Canucks have managed just 25 goals. Conor Garland leads the team with 1+5=6 over that span. His empty net goal on Tuesday gives him 19 points on the season which makes him the team’s leading scorer in the line-up tonight.
Veteran defenceman Tyler Myers will appear in his 1100th NHL regular season game tonight. He has played 464 games with the Canucks. Centre Elias Pettersson will miss a sixth straight game with an upper body injury. As a result, he remains at 499 career games played. Aatu Räty and P-O Joseph will be the healthy scratches tonight.

The Opponent

The Islanders are coming off a 3-2 loss in Detroit on Tuesday. Emil Heinemen and Scott Mayfield scored their goals and Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves in net. Sorokin gets the call in goal again tonight.
The loss snapped the Islanders three-game win streak, however the team has won six of its last eight overall.
The Isles will be without former Canuck Bo Horvat tonight. He’s been out for a week with a lower body injury. Horvat’s having an incredible season with a team-leading 19 goals and 31 points. In his absence, Heinemen leads the team with 11 goals while Mat Barzal has 26 points. The Coquitlam native rides a five-game point streak (1+4) into action tonight.
First overall pick in June’s draft Matthew Schaefer has burst onto the NHL scene. The 18-year-old blueliner has nine goals and 23 points and leads all rookies with five power play goals and 93 shots. He leads his team averaging 23:48 of ice time per game. No other rookie in the league is within three minutes of that mark.
The Islanders had just 18 shots on goal against the Red Wings on Tuesday. That was one more than they had against Tampa last Sunday when they established a season-low with 17.
Unlike their crosstown rivals, this New York team has enjoyed success on home ice this season. The Islanders are 10-6-2 as the home team and have won five straight at UBS including snapping Colorado’s 17-game point streak.

News and notes

The Isles will visit Vancouver one month from tonight on January 19th. These teams split their two meetings last season with each winning 5-2 in the other team’s building.
With Schaefer, Zeev Buium and Tom Willander all sharing the ice tonight, the game will feature three of the six highest scoring rookie defensemen in the NHL this season.
The coaches in tonight’s game – Adam Foote and Patrick Roy – were teammates together in Colorado from 1995 through 2003 and won Stanley Cups together in 1996 and 2001.
The referees for tonight’s game are Jake Brenk and Peter MacDougall.
Don’t forget to join Rink Wide Vancouver for full postgame coverage after this game – and every game. The livestream starts moments after the final buzzer. Rink Wide is the place for full postgame analysis and discussion. Join the live YouTube chat with your thoughts on the hockey game.

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