Canucks Recap: Three stars of the week (Mar 7th – 12th)

If the Vancouver Canucks had to choose a motto this season, it would be that “old habits die hard”.

The team was coming off of one of their best weeks of the COVID-19 hockey campaign, fending off both the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs, and posting a 3-1-0 record that catapulted them back into fifth place in the Scotia North division.

They were able to carry their success and puck luck into the first of back-to-back contests against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night, securing an all-important two points in the shootout thanks to third-round heroics from the captain himself. It wasn’t the prettiest statistical performance for the boys in blue and green, but they didn’t quit when it got tough, and they found a way to produce some much-needed offence in the 11th hour.

Of course, as many Canucks fans painfully know, all good things must come to an end.

The team was blown out on Wednesday night, putting up another lopsided loss against Tyler Toffoli and his new club. They were once again outshot, out-chanced and outplayed at all ends of the ice, and they provided the Twitter world with more clips, GIFs and interview quotes that reminded all of us of their dismal, underwhelming and truly forgettable performances during the month of February.

Games played:

• Montreal Canadiens (1) @ Vancouver Canucks (2) – SO
• Montreal Canadiens (5) @ Vancouver Canucks (1)

We’re not sure what direction the Canucks are heading in for the remainder of the season, and, to be quite frank, they probably don’t know either.

Could they go on a miraculous, President Trophy-inspired winning streak until May to steal a playoff spot from a more deserving Canadian foe? Probably too little, too late.

Will they be able to bounce back on Saturday night and shut down the league’s best duo in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl? It’s not impossible, but don’t count on it.

Will they be forced to dress a taxi squad defenceman as a bottom-six forward? It appears to be heading that way, presumably much to the delight of the hockey gods.

One thing is for certain.

The Canucks will continue to keep us on our toes and to play with our emotions, and all we can do right now is to take everything “day-by-day”.

With that being said, let’s take a look at The Canuck Way’s three stars of the week:

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:

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.

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.

3. Adam Gaudette

Truth be told, the third and final spot on our list was quite hard to fill this week, but it’s probably about time that we recognize Adam Gaudette.

It’s been an interesting season for the 24-year-old Massachusetts native.

After a few healthy scratches during the playoff bubble experience last summer, there were many questions surrounding Gaudette’s role with the team, particularly at the centre position.

Both coaches and fans alike are hoping that Gaudette will eventually be able to take over the third-line centre role from current titleholder Brandon Sutter, but the process hasn’t been as smooth as expected.

Gaudette has only registered six points in 26 games this season, and his minus 10 rating is the second-worst amongst all players. Like the rest of the bottom six forwards, Gaudette had not been able to consistently (or meaningfully) contribute to the team, and he was sporting a 15-game goalless heading into Monday night’s contest.

Despite the defensive and offensive struggles, Gaudette has been a fixture in the line-up and, most recently, has taken full advantage of his new assignment as right-wing on the third line. He logged just over 13 minutes of ice time, including some time on the second powerplay unit, and appeared to be creating good scoring opportunities in front of Price for much of the evening.

He registered two shots on goal and was finally able to bump the slump with a Boeser-like blast that was in and out of the top corner faster than it takes Tyler Myers to lie down on the ice during a 2-on-1 attack (make that two weeks in a row for that reference).

More importantly, Gaudette’s last-minute game-tying tally allowed the Canucks to secure at least one point against their French-Canadian opponents, and it was the second contest in a row that the Canucks were able to come away with a win when trailing after two periods.

Gaudette still has a gigantic hill to climb if he wants to establish himself a bonafide third-line centre for the rest of the season and for the foreseeable future in this city, but this past week was an encouraging start.

Honourable Mention: Alex Edler

On Saturday night, Alex Edler played his 900th game as a Canuck, becoming only the fourth player in franchise history to accomplish this feat.

Edler is currently the longest-serving player on the team, and he sits fourth all-time for games played, only behind Trevor Linden and Henrik and Daniel Sedin. He also holds the record for most points by a defenceman with 407 (and counting), and only needs one more tally to hit the 100-goal mark.

The 34-year-old blueliner only has one more year left on his current deal, but most people would love to see Edler wrap up his career with the team that originally drafted him 91st overall in 2004 (as long as the price is right, of course).

Here’s to many more broken records for Alex!

Upcoming games:

• Saturday, March 13th – Edmonton Oilers @ Vancouver Canucks (7:00 pm PST)
• Monday, March 15th – Vancouver Canucks @ Ottawa Senators (4:00 pm PST)
• Wednesday, March 17th – Vancouver Canucks @ Ottawa Senators (4:00 pm PST)
• Friday, March 19th – Vancouver Canucks @ Montreal Canadiens (4:00 pm PST)

Who do you think played well during this past week? Make sure to drop a comment below!