NEWSLETTER
Tough break for the Vancouver Canucks today. They reportedly found out they’ll be without their star goaltender and Vezina Trophy finalist Thatcher Demko for at least the first four games of their second-round series with the Edmonton Oilers.
Demko suffered a knee injury in Game 1 of the Canucks first-round matchup with the Nashville Predators. Vancouver and Edmonton drop the puck in their series tomorrow night in Vancouver.
Thatcher Demko Loss Is A Brutal Break
The Canucks were able to survive their series with the Predators without their star goaltender, but the Oilers matchup is a different animal. On the bright side, Vancouver got some excellent goaltending in the final five games against Nashville. Arturs Silovs went 2-1 with a 1.70 GAA and .938 SV% while Casey DeSmith went 1-1 with a 2.02 GAA and .911 SV%. Silovs in all likelihood gets the Game 1 start following his shutout of the Preds in Game 6.
The downside is that Silovs has played in just nine games thus far in his NHL career, and he has yet to face the Oilers as well. He pwaas outstanding against the Preds, but the Oilers’ high-powered offense will be a significantly tougher test.
As time has grown further from the epic Blackhawks/Canucks rivalries from the early 2010s, I’ve found myself not really hating Vancouver nearly as much. So it feels weird to say, but I actually feel bad for the Canucks. Demko had a very bad 2022-23 season and bounced back this year in a massive way. The Canucks are young, fun, and aggressively added to their roster in-season to try and make a deep playoff run. Then they get rewarded with one of their MVPs getting hurt right away.
On the plus side for them, they do know they can win without Thatcher Demko. They were able to eliminate Nashville without him, and if they can hold water prior to his return it could provide a huge momentum boost.
As I’ve said though, Edmonton will provide a stiff test. They just cruised by the Los Angeles Kings in five games and scored 4+ goals in four of them. The Oilers unsurprisingly have also been outstanding on the Power Play leading the NHL Playoffs with nine goals with the man advantage. They’re scoring with the extra man at a 45% clip.
Not that it always carries over to the postseason, but Vancouver did win all four matchups this season against Edmonton and outscored them by 21-7 in the process.
Game 1 will be HUGE for the Canucks. If they can come out and take that game behind a solid goaltending performance, it should be able to provide a confidence boost against a very good Oilers team. Vancouver hosts the opening matchup on Wednesday night at 9:00 PM CT.
