- THE BUZZ: A familiar face to Vancouver hockey fans will play at GM Place tonight for the first time in his NHL career as ex-Vancouver Giant Evander Kane arrives with the Atlanta Thrashers to take on the Canucks.
- BACK AGAIN: After being drafted fourth overall by Atlanta this past June, Kane made the team following training camp and has scored eight goals and 13 points so far this season, a year after he recorded 96 points with the Vancouver Giants of the WHL. His contributions have helped Atlanta find early success, as they sit sixth in the East with a 15-9-3 record before last night's game against Calgary.
- BUMP THAT SLUMP: The Canucks will look to snap a two-game losing skid in which they've allowed a hat trick from an opposing player each time. The good news though is that they're entering a long home stretch. They've put together an impressive 10-4-0 record at the Garage.
- CLOSE: Injured forward Michael Grabner is reportedly back on the ice as doctors have cleared him to do some "light skating on his own."
- 2010 EYE ON: Vancouver fans will get their only look at Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk - who has 16 goals and 27 points this season before last night's action - prior to the Olympics as the dynamic forward will be a huge contributor to a very explosive Russian offensive unit come February. Other possible Olympic candidates on Atlanta: Maxim Afino-genov, Vyacheslav Kozlov (Russia), Tobias Enstrom (Sweden), Pavel Kubina, Ondrej Pavelec (Czech Republic), Christoph Schubert (Germany).
- LAST MEETING: Vancouver only faced the Thrashers once last season, losing 4-3 in a shootout. Atlanta has not won at the Garage since February of 2004.
