1. Thatcher Demko
All hail Thatcher Demko.
Demko entered the mini-series against the Canadiens riding a personal three-game winning streak, and it was clear that he wanted to keep that success alive.
The 25-year-old netminder started both contests this week and, once again, he was easily the team’s most focused and dominant player on the ice. He was peppered with 75 shots combined, including 16 shots during the first period of Wednesday’s tilt, with 11 of those hitting the net before his team could register one of their own. Yikes.
Demko was the main reason that the Canucks were able to secure a comeback victory on Monday night, which marked the first time that the club was able to come away with two points after giving up the first goal of the game.
Of course, this came to an end 48 hours later, and there was only so much Demko could do the following game without any additional support from his teammates.
Despite allowing five goals, none of which were his fault, Demko was still the main reason that the opposing team didn’t end up hitting double digits. He was able to keep the red-hot Montreal powerplay to only one tally on the man advantage, thanks to saves like this:
Thatcher Demko standing tall on the #Canucks PK as the Habs get multiple chances but can't beat Demko pic.twitter.com/70QyX3jOQF
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) March 11, 2021
Much like Jacob Markstrom the previous two years, Demko was essentially hung out to dry for 120 minutes, and it seems as if this is going to be a regular occurrence for the remainder of the season.
Nonetheless, Demko has consistently proved that he’s up for the daunting task in the crease, coming up with key saves in almost every situation, including a shorthanded breakaway save against Toffoli that probably would’ve been the final nail in the coffin for the ever-so-popular #FireBenning movement.
You know that feeling when there's a defensive breakdown/breakaway/odd-man rush and you don't even flinch because you know the goalie's gonna stop it? Yeah, that's the level of trust with Demko right now.
— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) March 11, 2021
Statistically-speaking, Demko has also still been able to post quality analytics, including a .914 save percentage and a 2.87 GAA over 19 games. Of course, some might scoff at those numbers, especially when compared to other goaltending stars in the league, but it’s important to remember what Demko has to deal with on a nightly basis compared to others.
He has faced the second-highest number of shots amongst any netminder with 628, and he’s had to produce a monstrous 574 saves over that span, which is also good for second in the league. In addition, the Canucks have surrendered the fifth-highest amount of high-danger chances this season with 93, and Demko’s goals saved above expected have skyrocketed to an eye-popping 11.59, both according to Natural Stat Trick.
And he’s with pretty elite company in that last category, only behind Marc-Andre Fleury and Andrei Vasilevskiy, who you might’ve heard of before.
As we navigate our way through the latter half of this shortened season, there’s no doubt that Demko should be in the conversation for team MVP.
And if the Canucks somehow miraculously find their way into the playoff picture upon conclusion of game 56, it’ll be because of #35 and his elite play between the pipes.