Canucks Recap: Three stars of the week (Mar 13th – 19th)

1. Thatcher Demko

Take a bow, Thatcher Demko.

The 25-year-old netminder started in all four contests this past week, and, quite frankly, was the main reason that the team was able to collect all eight points from those games. He was peppered with 179 shots total, including 46 from the Senators on Monday night, but still stood tall and mighty between the pipes.

His rebound control, puck awareness and overall positioning have been solid in the month of March, and he continues to come up with key saves in tight situations to help keep his club afloat and in the hunt for two points each night.

https://twitter.com/RobTheHockeyGuy/status/1371614779832365058?s=20

Oh, and you can now add a shootout scorpion save to his growing list of highway robberies this season:

https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1372365174514978816?s=20

There’s no doubt that the Canucks are still coughing up high-danger scoring chances at even strength, as well as on the penalty kill and powerplay (cue the numerous shorthanded opportunities from the other team), and they continue to be badly outshot and out-chanced for the majority of their games, much like they were in February.

In theory, the Canucks shouldn’t be in the position that they are today, but that’s what happens when you receive tremendous goaltending, and that’s exactly what Demko has been delivering night in and night out.

He is currently riding a four-game win streak, sporting an eye-popping .951 save percentage and 1.69 GAA over that span, and continues to lead the league in total shots against.

It didn’t take long for the Twitterverse to shower more love and admiration onto the Canucks’ saving grace in the crease throughout the week, with many supporters proudly stating that “Bubble Demko” has triumphantly returned to haunt the dreams of his Canadian foe.

And although there’s no doubt that Demko has been playing out of his mind lately, it’s about time we give #35 the respect he deserves by putting the Bubble Demko comparisons to bed.

Demko has played in eight straight contests for the team, posting seven wins to go along with a .945 save percentage and 1.95 GAA. And yes, these statistics include the 5-1 thumping his team received from the Montreal Canadiens on March 10th.

You could argue that this current stretch of hockey has been infinitely better than anything that we saw from Jacob Markstrom over the past two seasons, and it has reassured fans that our goaltending will be the least of our worries for the foreseeable future.

In other words, Demko is the real deal.

He’s earned every minute of ice-time with his stellar netminding, proving that his most recent playoff performance wasn’t just a one-off outing, and the crease officially belongs to him.

Once again, Demko has proven to be the team’s most consistent and dominant Canuck as of late, and his recent Vezina-calibre style of play has injected a much-needed and noticeable combination of confidence and drive into the players in front of him.

If the Canucks do miraculously appear in the playoff picture in May, it’ll be on the shoulders of Demko.