3 takeaways from the Canucks’ 2-1 victory over the Oilers last night
Thatcher Demko is a Vancouver Canucks.
That’s it. That’s the entire article, there’s nothing more I need to say.
In all seriousness, how lucky are we to have been able to witness such great goaltending over the past few years? First it was Jacob Markstrom, and now it’s Demko, who has seamlessly stepped in and carried on the duty of winning the Canucks games that they don’t deserve.
Anyways, here are three takeaways from last night’s 2-1 win over the Oilers.
Struggles of the bottom line
With Antoine Roussel and Jay Beagle out of the lineup, the Canucks opted to roll out a fourth line that consisted of Zack MacEwen, Adam Gaudette, and fan favourite Loui Eriksson.
The results were suboptimal, to say the least.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the trio registered the three lowest individual corsi percentages on the team at five on five, with MacEwen “leading” the way at 33.33%. They also had the three worst expected goals percentage (xGF%): MacEwen finished the night at 11.35%, Gaudette had 11.08%, and Eriksson had 0%.
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Yes, you read that right. Zero percent.
In other words, the trio generated virtually no scoring chances at all, and there’s a reason that none of them played more the 8:22 minutes at five on five.
Prior to last night’s game, Gaudette had been playing well and MacEwen was a player I thought deserved more ice time. They obviously struggled mightily yesterday, but given the small sample size I’m not ready to panic just yet.
Plus, they were flanked by Eriksson, who’s obviously not an NHL calibre player anymore.
Two words: Thatcher Demko
Brock Boeser was the MVP of the team for the first half of the season, but Demko will probably be the season’s overall MVP with the way he’s currently playing.
Last night marked Demko’s fifth straight start and he was the main reason why Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were limited to just a point each. He made timely saves at critical points in the game, with one at the second period that stood out in particular.
I strained my groin just watching this Demko full extension robbery pic.twitter.com/6QUxGbXlEo
— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) March 14, 2021
According to Evolving-Hockey, the Oilers were expected to score 3.57 goals, which means that Demko saved 2.57 goals above expected. Unsurprisingly, a large portion of his saves were made on McDavid, as Edmonton’s capital was expected to score 1.25 goals all by himself.
Most fans have been focusing on the new contracts that Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes will ink after this season, but we need to keep in mind that Demko is also eligible to be re-upped in the summer. It’ll also be interesting to see what type of deal he ultimately gets.
Special teams to the rescue!
Yes, the Oilers did score a power play goal, but the most impressive thing about Vancouver’s penalty kill last night was that they prevented Edmonton from tying the game when Tanner Pearson went to the box with only 2:30 minutes left in the third.
Moreover, the Canucks opened the scoring on their own power play, as they jammed the puck in after Mikko Koskinen went down on the play.
https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1370956401007226881
Bo Horvat is currently credited with the goal, but it could’ve been any Canuck forward with the way that scrum ensued. And hey, with the way this season’s gone so far, why not reward every Canuck on the ice with a goal?
Also, we need to give credit where credit is due. The referees have gotten a lot of slack recently but they deserve some praise here, as it would’ve been easy to just call the play dead even though the puck was loose.
It was one of the greasiest goals in recent memory, but I’m not complaining.
Other notes
- Prior to the game, Pearson had gone pointless for 11 straight matches. He was rewarded with an assist on Horvat’s goal, but how unlucky do you need to be to go so long without registering a single point? Let’s hope he he can build off of last night’s performance, especially if the team is considering trading him before the deadline.
- Hughes and Travis Hamonic both played a solid game and have shown better chemsitry recently. This is encouraging to see because Hughes struggled mightily to being the season in his own end, but it seems like Hamonic has helped stabilize his play to a certain extent.
- Pettersson remains out and it’s obvious that the team misses his two-way presence. We still don’t have many details regarding his injury, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll be a long-term concern. Let’s hope he returns to the lineup soon.
dark. Next. Canucks Recap: Three stars of the week (Mar 7th – 12th)
The Canucks are back at it on Monday when they play against Ottawa. Puck drops at 7 PM, and the team really needs to take advantage of an underwhelming Senators team that’s currently last in the division.