Pro #3: Goaltending still solid
With the games played count reaching 15 in the 11th month of the year, you would hope the team could gather more than a handful of victories and get out of the month at .500 or higher for a winning percentage.
That was not the case for the Canucks this month as they failed to finish games finishing well below the mark. Despite the lack of wins, for the most part, Jacob Markstrom and Thatcher Demko stood tall and kept their team in the game.
Markstrom lost his father to cancer, but he managed to tune in remarkable performances time and time again. The Swede didn’t miss a beat and he stood on his head bailing his team out when it mattered most. If only the Canucks could have finished a few more games.
Demko was solid in October and exceeded expectations to the point where the fans were asking for more starts from the backup. Was Demko about to steal the net from Markstrom? Not quite. The duo swapped starts for a big chunk of November and Demko got the nod for the Flying Skate game, and he made some incredible saves.
Markstrom had some big games of his own, especially when you consider the rough month he has had outside the game of hockey. It is nice to see him thriving at the NHL level and it appears that the Canucks will have a controversy in the net very, very soon. But for now, Markstrom has made it crystal clear it’s his crease this season.
Final thoughts
It wasn’t the best month of hockey for the Canucks, but traditionally, November has been a tough month for them.
The wins were low, but at least they managed to gather points by making it to the extra frame. An above .500 record would have been nice, considering they played the majority of the month on the road, but as it stands now, the team remains above .500 overall on the year.
The Canucks struggled in the month of November, but the December schedule looks nice for as they play 10 games at home Hopefully, Christmas comes early with a long winning streak in December.