VANCOUVER – With the Vancouver Canucks in danger of bleeding away more points in the third period and losing more than just another game, they found a six-foot-four bandage in goalie Thatcher Demko.
The fill-in for injured starter Jacob Markstrom had a better homestand than his team did, and on Tuesday was brilliant in a 45-save, 5-4 shootout win against the New York Islanders.
Outshot 20-6 over the final 25 minutes, the Canucks blew a third-period lead for the third time in five games. The difference Tuesday was they still won, largely because of Demko.
Demko’s worst week of the season was the first week he had to replace Markstrom on the road with the Canucks already wobbling in the playoff race. But the second-year goalie steadied himself during the four-game homestand that ended Tuesday with two wins.
[snippet id=4743501]
His 45 saves were a season high, and didn’t include the three Islanders he stared down in the shootout, which was won by J.T. Miller’s glove-side shot on New York goalie Semyon Varlamov.
“I don’t focus on much, to be honest,” Demko said of his shootout success — only two of 12 shooters have beaten him this season. “Just get some depth, try to make a read, try to be as patient as I can. There’s a lot of good players, so you’ve got to hold your feet as long as you can and try to wait them out.”
The Canucks can’t wait any longer to start moving in the standings.
The win was just their second in seven games, but enough to bump them back into a wild-card spot in the playoff race.
Tuesday’s game was evidence of the young talent, scoring depth and goaltending that should get the Canucks into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2015, but also all the deficiencies in defending that could prevent them from making it.
The 49 shots they surrendered to an equally-desperate Islanders team tied for the second-most allowed by the Canucks this season, and it was the fourth time in a month and 15th game this season that a Vancouver goalie has had to deal with at least 40 shots.
[snippet id=4167285]
“Just want to give the team a chance to win every night,” Demko said. “I’m learning a lot through this process. Down the stretch here, we’re going to have to be really sharp as a group and individually.”
Sharper than they were Tuesday.
Demko’s best two saves were backdoor stops against Mathew Barzal, who had seven shots, was the game’s most dangerous skater but left with only a single, accidental assist.
The Islanders overcame their third deficit of the game at 4:32 of the third period when a puck bounced favourably to Brock Nelson, who swatted it past Demko two seconds after a slashing penalty to Canuck Adam Gaudette ended.
But in the final five minutes, both Miller and Jake Virtanen hit the cross bar behind Varlamov, who couldn’t match Demko in the shootout.
[relatedlinks]
Gaudette and Zack MacEwen scored tip-in goals for the Canucks, who got a beautiful finish from Tyler Toffoli on a four-on-three, and a pretty power-play goal from Bo Horvat that made it 4-3 at 17:51 of the second period – 51 seconds after Nelson and the puck skipped past Vancouver defenceman Oscar Fantenberg to tie it.
The Canucks, at least, were resilient.
“Two desperate teams trying to win games to make the playoffs,” Toffoli said. “We’ve been playing playoff hockey ever since I got here (in a trade from Los Angeles 10 games ago). It’s that time of the year, and it was nice for us to pull through tonight.
“It’s nice to score and all that, but getting a win at this time of the year is what we’ve been looking for as a team. It was a lot of fun. Winning is fun, winning is contagious, and we’ve got to do more of it.”
Starting the most hectic portion of their 16-game March schedule, the Canucks travel for back-to-back games Thursday and Friday against the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche, before returning home for another massive game Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets.
[snippet id=4748264]
“To get that win, I think gives our group confidence,” winger Brock Boeser said. “I know they’ve been talking about these games – they’re tight in these third periods – and I thought we played really well and responded well tonight.”
In his first game since missing 12 with a rib injury, Boeser had three shots and no points in 17:17 of ice time. But, typical of the Canucks the last five weeks, Vancouver lost another player when key defenceman Chris Tanev left the game after four shifts in the third period.
Coach Travis Green offered no details about Tanev’s injury or potential absence.
