Quadrelli Report: Demko secures shootout win for Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks moved into a three-way tie for a playoff spot with last night’s win over the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Here’s what I noticed from last night’s game.
Demko’s second start (and win) of the season
Much has been made of Thatcher Demko‘s development up to this point in his career. Right from the day he was selected 36th overall in the second round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Demko has been tabbed the goalie of the future by Canucks fans.
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After spending two seasons with the Utica Comets, Demko is finally up with the big club and ready to be the backup for his first full season playing behind Jacob Markstrom. Markstrom is currently on a personal leave of absence, which has meant the Canucks have been forced to turn to Demko to lead them to their last two victories.
Demko has been up to the challenge early on, and tonight in particular, stood on his head against one of the best teams in the NHL and the defending Stanley Cup Champions — in their arena.
Demko made 34 saves in last night’s victory, and came up big when it was crunch time for the Canucks. Demko didn’t allow a single puck past him in what was a marathon of a shootout. It was another solid performance for Demko, who may be asked to go for a third straight game this Saturday, in New Jersey.
Dangerous in OT
It’s becoming clear, the Canucks are a team that you don’t want to be tied up with after 60 minutes of play if you’re the opposition. Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Bo Horvat are dangerous players who are regularly on the ice during 3-on-3 overtime for the Canucks.
The Canucks have controlled the play during 3-on-3 play, and have locked down two shootout victories. Last night’s win was largely thanks to the performance of Demko, but one thing is certain, the Canucks are a dangerous team in overtime.
The story of “The Lotto Line”
Grab a seat, and get comfortable, because this is an incredibly bizzarre tale. It’s the tale of a young man’s tweet going viral in the Vancouver sports world, getting on radio shows, and even getting featured on last night’s broadcast.
That young man was The Canuck Way’s very own Jacob Calvert. The tweet was one for the ages, reaching peak creativity. Both Jacob and Cory Kropielinski came up with the idea.
The tweet challenged Canucks fans to think of why the Canucks’ first line could be named “The Lotto Line”. Try and figure out why. The following screenshot is from the broadcast last night, and was featured with roughly nine minutes remaining in the third period.
HE. HAS. GONE. HOLLYWOOD. @CanuckCalvert pic.twitter.com/SIn15KTrz7
— David Quadrelli (@QuadrelliD) October 18, 2019
The first line of Brock Boeser, who wears number six, Elias Pettersson, who wears 40, and J.T. Miller, who wears 9. Still don’t get it? Perhaps the most popular lottery game in BC is called Lotto 649, which when spoken aloud, is what the first line’s jersey numbers are.
This isn’t the first time the 649 nickname has come up, however, as colour commentator and former Canucks’ goalie John Garrett was given the nickname by his teammates, due to him having a goals against average of 6.49 in the 1984-85 season.
Even the BCLC replied to the tweet, giving a green checkmark of approval after TSN’s Matt Sekeres put out a poll asking if the Lotto Line is a name that could stick. What do you think Canucks fans? Is “The Lotto Line” something that can stick long term with these three players?
The Importance of Jay Beagle
Prior to last night’s game, the Canucks penalty kill ranked first in the entire NHL with a success rate of 93.8%. A huge part of this, really, the biggest part of it, is Jay Beagle‘s defensive abilities and penalty-killing abilities.
As TSN’s Jeff Paterson pointed out last night, Beagle hadn’t been on the ice for any of the goals the Canucks gave up through their first five games of the season. Last night, he was on the ice for all three of the Blues’ goals. It goes to show just how important Beagle is to the Canucks’ success. When he isn’t stopping the opposition from scoring, the Canucks could quickly find themselves in trouble and be forced to play catch up like they were last night.
It’s a thankless job but one that Beagle usually does well. The Canucks penalty kill has looked stellar to start the season, and Beagle is perhaps the biggest part of the success they’ve found early on.
Micheal Ferland gets the monkey off his back
At a certain point, players may begin to doubt themselves when they struggle to find the back of the net. Signed to play on the first line alongside Pettersson and Boeser, Micheal Ferland struggled coming out of the gate.
He was unable to play much with Pettersson and Boeser during the preseason, partly due to Boeser’s contract not being signed right away, but more notably, because Ferland fell ill toward the end of preseason, missing time while he tried to get better. Ferland also lost weight due to his sickness, which could very well be affecting his game more than we think.
Ferland stumbled out of the gate to begin the new season, and appeared to be lacking confidence. His ice time has been steadily decreasing, as he’s now found himself on the third line.
Ferland will look to build off his one-goal performance last night when the Canucks take on the New Jersey Devils tomorrow in an early start time game. Puck drop is at 10 AM from New Jersey.