Canucks: Thatcher Demko shines in NHL Playoffs debut

The Vancouver Canucks were without their All-Star goaltender Jacob Markstrom in Game 5 but rookie Thatcher Demko shined bright in his NHL Playoffs debut.

It was like the entire Vancouver Canucks roster believed this best-of-seven series was over, all but one player named Thatcher Demko. The rookie goaltender who hasn’t started an NHL game in over six months took the net ahead of Game 5 and absolutely shocked the hockey universe with an outer world performance.

Making his NHL Playoffs debut, the “Ice Man” was rock solid and completely dialed in. His inner world was calm, cool, and collected. Almost as if he had been in this situation many times before. But the truth was, he hadn’t, but you wouldn’t know that if you watched this game. He was peppered with shots from the opening puck drop all the way until the final whistle. 42 massive saves and an even bigger victory — the best of his career. Facing 70 shot attempts, Demko was only beaten once. His 0.977 SV% tells the story all on its own.

It was as if, the more shots he faced, the better he became. It took the Vegas Golden Knights 25 shots on net before they finally solved Demko. And honestly, Shea Theodore absolutely undressed three tired Canucks, zig-zagged his way into a grade-A scoring slot, and fired it top shelf over Demko’s glove. A goal that even Jacob Markstrom couldn’t stop. You’ll see it all over the high-light reel for days to come.

But after that, Demko went right back to playing his best hockey. The flood gates felt like they were about to come crashing down, but Demko had other ideas. Keeping the Canucks in the game they had no business winning, Brock Boeser tied it at one apiece less than 30 seconds later. It was able to help boost the confidence of the players and Demko as well. He was set on winning his first playoff game — no matter what the cost — even if the team in front of him wasn’t up to the task.

Brutally outplayed through two periods of play, that didn’t matter anymore. All tied up with 20 minutes to go, Vancouver just needed to be the better team for one period. Were they? Probably not, but Elias Pettersson got the go-ahead goal and the 24-year-old rookie goaltender stood on his head for another tiring period.

The final horn sounded and Demko released a heavy sigh of relief before smiling from ear to ear. An incredibly bold performance from an up-and-coming NHL starter. The Seattle Kraken must have had a pen and paper ready for this big moment, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they ran out of ink. That’s how good Demko was. Simply sensational.

How does he do it? According to Quinn Hughes, the guy gets to bed early, stays away from pop, and loves his vegetables. He was going to be ready for his big chance whenever it came along. His time is now, and the Ice Man is loving every minute of it.

If it was up to me, Demko gets the nod for Game 6, regardless of the health status of Markstrom. Travis Green has to ride the hand of the hot goaltender, and right now it’s the Demko-show. Game 6 goes down on Thursday night. Get your popcorn ready.