In a report coming from Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff, Vancouver Canucks’ starting goaltender Thatcher Demko is set to miss Game 2 of the team’s first-round series against the Nashville Predators and could potentially miss the rest of the series. For Tuesday’s game and possibly further, the Canucks will rely on Casey DeSmith and Arturs Silovs in the crease.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman quickly confirmed Seravalli’s report and indicated that Demko was injured. Without any specifics to the injury, it could potentially be a re-aggravation of the lower-body injury that kept Demko out of Vancouver’s lineup from March 9 to April 16.
In Demko’s absence towards the last month of the regular season, the Canucks produced a 7-5-2 record, earning a 2.86 goals against average and a .884 save percentage. In Sunday night’s game against the Predators, Demko played in all 60 minutes of Game 1, saving 20 of 22 shots on goal.
Now that DeSmith is the likely starter heading into Game 2, Vancouver will deploy a goalie who produced a 12-9-6 record this season over 27 starts, securing a 2.89 GAA and a .895 SV%. Much like Demko, DeSmith has limited playoff experience. His only postseason appearance came two years ago with the Pittsburgh Penguins when he earned an overtime win against the New York Rangers after stopping 48 of 51 shots.
Heading into the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Canucks had the second-highest odds of being the last team left standing according to MoneyPuck. Unfortunately, Vancouver’s odds have certainly lowered without one of the top goaltenders in the league between the pipes.
In a positive outlook for the Canucks, recent history is on their side, as both Conference Champions from last year’s playoffs started the postseason with different goalies than they started with, while the Colorado Avalanche had to utilize then-backup goalie Pavel Francouz in their pursuit of the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. If the Canucks have any hopes of making a deep playoff run this postseason, the team in front will have their work cut out for them moving forward.