Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko sat on the bench for a month, waiting 14 games for his first ever start in the NHL playoffs.
On Tuesday he got it, and made the most of it.
Demko made 42 saves as the Vancouver Canucks edged the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 at Rogers Place to stay alive in the post-season.
The Golden Knights still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2. Game 6 goes Thursday.
Demko got the nod after Jacob Markstrom, the Canucks’ regular starter, was deemed unable to play and didn’t dress. Demko battled a fierce Vegas attack all night long and an avalanche of shots: redirects, one-timers, odd-man rushes and goalmouth scrambles.
WATCH | Demko guides Canucks past Golden Knights:
The Vancouver Canucks forced game six in their series against the Vegas Golden Knights thanks to a 42-save performance from Thatcher Demko in a 2-1 win. 1:25
Prior to Tuesday, the 24-year-old had seen 8:26 of playoff action in 2020, mopping up for Markstrom in the third period of a 5-0 Vegas blowout in Game 1.
Demko said he has been preparing for it, putting in extra ice time to work on aspects of his game.
“You never know when you have to go in. I just wanted to stay sharp through the whole process of training camp and getting into the bubble,” said Demko.
“When these guys have days off, I’ll go skate and make sure I’m staying sharp.
“I know I’ve been doing my thing in practice, making sure my details are where they needed to be. Obviously, it’s a little bit different than a game, but everything that you see in a game, you’ve seen at some point in practice and you just have to rely on that kind of thing.”
Elias Pettersson, who scored the winning goal, said Demko was the difference.
“The first two periods were not good for our side. Thatcher played unbelievable all game,” he said.
Vegas’ Nick Cousins and Vancouver’s Antoine Roussel scuffle during the first period. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The game was also a redemption of sorts for Vancouver winger Brock Boeser, with a goal and an assist. He had been facing criticism as a top-six forward getting top-six minutes but, heading into Tuesday, racking up only 20 shots on net and three goals in the post-season.
The Canucks won despite getting just 17 shots on Vegas goalie Robin Lehner.
Vegas scored early in the second period to take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Shea Theodore but Boeser and J.T. Miller responded just 24 seconds later. Boeser, playing give-and-go with Miller on a 2-on-1, redirected a Miller pass on the backhand past Lehner.
Boeser then set up the winner early in the third, firing a wrist shot from the point that Pettersson redirected for his seventh goal of the playoffs.
“I know I haven’t been scoring and I know I need to score goals, but I’ve been trying to bring my work ethic each and every game and contribute,” said Boeser.
“It was nice to get one. It think it will definitely help the confidence.”
Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said, “[Demko] was really good and they were opportunistic. We’ve got to make it a little more difficult on him with a little more traffic [in front of the net].
“When you get down to the last eight teams, it’s never easy to close anybody out, and they found a way to win.”
WATCH | CBC Sports’ Rob Pizzo recaps Monday in the NHL playoffs:
In his daily recap, Rob Pizzo talks about Nikita Kucherov’s injury, and some surprising starters for game 5 of the Avalanche-Stars series. 2:48
Demko, drafted by Vancouver in 2014, is in his first full season with the team, taking over for a while in February and March when Markstrom went down with a knee injury.
Tuesday was Demko’s first start in almost six months. His last start was March 10, two days before the NHL’s regular season was halted, and ultimately cancelled, due to COVID-19.
He made 25 starts in the regular season, compiling a 13-10-2 record (3.06 goals-against average, .905 save percentage).
Markstrom’s status is not known. The NHL does not release injury information.
Markstrom, also in his first NHL playoffs, has been the workhorse for Vancouver, starting 14 games in 29 days, with an 8-6 record, stopping 451 shots (2.85 GAA, .919 save percentage) and recording his first playoff shutout by beating the Minnesota Wild 3-0.
He has often kept Vancouver in games, facing more than 30 shots a night. In 15 playoff games, the Canucks have been outshot by their opponent 13 times (they registered more shots twice in the Minnesota series).
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
