Demko shines but gets no goal support as Canucks lose 1-0 to Flames in OT

Thoughts on the game

In the first period, it was pretty much all Flames. The Canucks only managed one shot in the first period. Calgary had more possession of the puck and was threatening to score. Fortunately, Demko did not show any rust.

It seemed like Vancouver barely got any time in Calgary’s zone in the first. When they did, they would lose the puck or miss the net.

There was also this dangerous hit by Tyler Myers on Trevor Lewis. It was a clear shoulder to the head hit. Myers got a five-minute major and a match penalty.

The Canucks did a good job killing off the five-minute major and Tyler Motte got the Canucks first shot of the game and only shot on goal in the first period while they were killing off the major.

Speaking of special teams, the Canucks penalty kill was perfect for the second straight game. That is impressive considering their penalty kill is last in the league. They managed to kill off all four Flames’ power play attempts. Demko played a big part and they were clearing the puck out quickly as possible. It also helped that the Flames kept missing the net.

As for the Canucks power play, it looked just as dreadful, if not worse. They had trouble setting up and they kept turning the puck over. Vancouver went 0/3 and did not test Jacob Markstrom even once on the power play.

The Canucks struggled in the shot department. They only managed 15 against the Flames and that was their shot total of the season to date.

This game gave off the same vibes of game 7 between the Canucks and Golden Knights in the bubble. Demko stood on his head making great saves and the Canucks couldn’t get anything going offensively.

Demko is also 2/2 in penalty shots in his career as he stopped Johnny Gaudreau.

His first penalty shot stop was on May 6, 2021, against the Edmonton Oilers. Demko stopped none other than Connor McDavid in that game.

Demko tracked the puck well and kept the Canucks in the game which is routine for him at this point. It would have been better if the Canucks provided some offence.

Per NaturalStatTrick, the Canucks had a Corsi for of 35.8% at 5 on five which is not good at all. The Flames had 64.2% CF.

Both teams couldn’t score through three so the game went to overtime. Miller skated into the offensive zone and was hooked by Elias Lindholm. That probably should have been a penalty and Miller wasn’t happy about it. However, he forgot to backcheck and Gaudreau ended up beating Demko to win the game for Flames.

Miller should have done a better job with the backcheck there. Markstrom got the shutout against his former team and now has seven on the season. At least Matthew Highmore and Juho Lammikko were not out in overtime again.

At least that game was over. It was a frustrating game for the Canucks. Demko carried them and they had nothing to help him out. The Flames were the better team and deserved the win.

This game was as boring as the Lord of the Flies book which I read in grade 11.

What was said

Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau was not happy with Miller’s backcheck in overtime.

“That’s not acceptable,” said Boudreau per Farhan Lalji of TSN. “We’ll discuss that, me and him. It was a terrible play. It won’t happen again.”

Boudreau acknowledged that his team was sluggish against the Flames and was not the same team that beat the Jets on Thursday.

“It was like we were skating in quicksand all night long,” said Boudreau per Patrick Johnston of The Province and Vancouver Sun. “I don’t know what the reason was. We’ll try to find that out tomorrow. But we definitely didn’t have anywhere near the energy that we had when we played Winnipeg.”

Tyler Motte spoke about how good Demko was and how they need to win for him.

“I thought we were doing a good job in front of Demmer,” said Motte. “He made some saves when we needed him too and those are games we got to find a way to win.”

Advanced stat of the night

If you like high danger chances, this wasn’t the game for you. There were only seven total high danger chances combined between Vancouver and Calgary.

The Flames edged out the Canucks in high danger chances by a mere margin of 4-3.

Tweet of the night

I feel like this perfectly sums up Canucks games this season and maybe even their entire franchise history. We either get games where they get really chaotic or a snooze fest and we got the latter on Saturday night.

Other notes

• The Canucks have scored one or two goals in 63% of their games this season. That is not good enough.

• Highmore had an awkward collision with Noah Hanifin behind the net. Both looked hurt and you could hear Highmore scream in pain. Thankfully, Highmore managed to get up and skate to the bench and continued to play in the game. Hanifin was alright as well.
• Quinn Hughes led all Canucks in ice time. His TOI was 31:07.
• With the win, the Flames move past the San Jose Sharks and currently hold the second wild card spot with 48 points. The Canucks are four points behind.

The Canucks next stop is the Windy City where they take on the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday. Note the start time as puck drops at 4:30 PM.