News and notes to get you ready for odd 3pm Pacific time puck drop

With an earlier than usual 6pm local time start due to Phillies-Diamondbacks playoff baseball across the parking lot, the Vancouver Canucks did not hold a morning skate at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. So any line-up news will come closer to face-off time.

*Expect Thatcher Demko to return to the net for the first time since the middle stages of the third period of last Wednesday's season opener. Demko left that night feeling the effects of dehydration. Since then, he has practiced twice and served as the back-up to Casey DeSmith on Saturday in Edmonton. So look for a rested Demko to get the nod tonight.

*Six Canucks have recorded points in both games so far this season. Elias Pettersson leads the way with 2+4=6 while Brock Boeser has 4+1=5. Captain Quinn Hughes has 0+4=4, Nils Höglander sits with 1+2=3 while Andrei Kuzmenko and Sam Lafferty each have a goal and an assist through the first two games. This incredible nugget comes from the Canucks game notes: Pettersson joins Andre Boudrias in 1973-74 as the only Vancouver players to record six points in the first two games of an NHL season

*The Canucks have displayed a remarkably well-balanced offense in their first two games. They have four first period goals, four second period goals and, you guessed it, four goals in the third period. Defensively, they have given up one first period goal and three in the second. So far they have not allowed a third period goal

*Anthony Beauvillier has enjoyed incredible success against the Flyers during his time in the NHL. He has 12 goals in 26 career games against Philadelphia. To put that in perspective, 12 of Beauvillier's 111 career NHL goals (9.25%) have come against the Flyers. Beauvillier has scored on 5 of his 15 career shots (33.3%) against Carter Hart including two goals in his first game against Philadelphia as a Canuck last February.

*The Canucks did not record their third win of the season last year until their 11th game (8-5 vs Anaheim on November 3rd). They did not pick up their second road win last season until their 13th game on the schedule (6-4 at Ottawa on November 8th) 

*Travis Konecny has three of the six goals the Flyers have scored so far this season. He scored twice in Philadelphia's season opener at Columbus and then added a goal and an assist in Ottawa on Saturday.

*Flyers coach John Tortorella is 17 wins shy of tying Alain Vigneault (722) for the 10th on the NHL's all-time coaching wins list. Torts is 33 games away from becoming the eighth head coach in NHL history to work 1,500 regular season games

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