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Thatcher Demko to make his season debut as Vancouver Canucks host Sabres

January 18, 2019, 3:06 PM ET [512 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Friday January 18 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Buffalo Sabres - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650

Vancouver Canucks: 48 GP, 21-21-6, 48 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Buffalo Sabres: 47 GP, 24-17-6, 54 pts, fifth in Atlantic Division

Thatcher Demko will get his first NHL start of the year as the Vancouver Canucks host their expansion cousins from Buffalo on Friday night at Rogers Arena.




It'll be Demko's second career NHL game. Last season, in a rollicking afternoon affair, he pulled out a wild-and-woolly 5-4 overtime win on March 31, 2018 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

I'm excited. It seems like forever ago that I tracked Demko down during his stint as Team USA's third goalie in Russia at the 2016 IIHF World Championship, just weeks after he'd signed his entry-level contract with the Canucks.

Click here to revisit that interview, which ran on Canucks Army. Demko talks about the hip surgery he had shortly after he was drafted, his Frozen Four experience with Boston College and early impressions of the Canucks organization.

Since that time, he's gone 55-35-12-3 in 107 games over two and a half seasons with the Utica Comets. His save percentage over that time is a solid .915 and his goals-against average is 2.56.

After missing the first six weeks of the season due to the concussion he suffered at the Canucks' training camp in September, Demko went 8-5-1-0 once he got into action starting in late November, with a .911 save percentage and 2.58 GAA. His last game was a 4-2 win over the Syracuse Crunch back on January 2, where he made 31 saves.

Since being recalled by the Canucks on January 4, Demko has had two weeks to work with goaltending coach Ian Clark.

Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet put the spotlight on Demko on Thursday, anticipating that he'd get a start during the Canucks' three-in-five stretch to close out this week. It's now pretty well-established that Jacob Markstrom performs best when he gets a certain amount of rest, and the turnaround will be quick between tonight's game against the Sabres and a 1 p.m. start against Detroit on Sunday, so it makes sense to give Demko the start against Buffalo.




Demko turned 23 in December, and sounds more-than-ready to take this next step.

“I think pressure is a made up thing,” Demko told MacIntyre. “Everyone loves to talk about it, but you can’t really put your finger on what it is. It’s really up to the subject to determine whether they feel pressure or not. I don’t feel pressure; I’m just excited to start this new chapter for me.”

With a 1-0-2 record so far on this homestand, the Canucks are the only team from their gang of Western Conference wild-card contenders hitting the ice on Friday night. With their win over Minnesota last night, the Ducks joined the Wild and the Oilers with 49 points. If they win tonight, the Canucks will jump all three and move into the second wild-card spot with 50.

Here's how the lines rolled out up front at the morning skate:




Though Bo Horvat is said to have suffered a charley horse against the Oilers on Wednesday, he's playing. Elias Pettersson stepped up his practice pace a notch on Thursday, but said he's not quite in game shape yet after missing two weeks of action.




Insurance centre Tanner Kero has arrived in Vancouver after his call-up from Utica on Thursday, but his equipment took a wrong turn somewhere along the way, so he was not on the ice for Friday's morning skate.

As for the Sabres, they snapped a three-game losing skid with a 4-3 overtime win over Calgary on Wednesday night. When the Canucks were losing all those games back in November, Buffalo was in the midst of winning 10 in a row, which briefly vaulted them into first place overall in the NHL.

On December 1, they were 17-7-3. Since then, they've come back to earth with a 7-10-3 record. They're coming into Friday's game in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, two points out of a wild-card spot.

The big story in Buffalo this year has been the magical chemistry that has developed between top-line scorers Jeff Skinner and Jack Eichel. Eichel's already at 51 points in 44 games and Skinner hit the 30-goal mark for the fourth time in his career last Friday against his old team, the Carolina Hurricanes.

We may or may not get a chance to see the dynamic duo in action. Skinner missed practice on Thursday with what was termed a 'maintenance day.' He took the morning skate on Friday, but is officially a game-time decision.




Skinner has played in every game so far this year for Buffalo and played his usual 18-ish minutes earlier this week in both Edmonton and Calgary.

Friday's game will also be our first chance to see that *other* Swedish sensation, Rasmus Dahlin. In his first 47 NHL games, Dahlin is 5-21-26 and an impressive plus-six, averaging 20:37 per game. He's now tied with Colin White for second in the rookie scoring race behind Elias Pettersson's 42 points and is currently being deployed on Buffalo's top pairing with Zach Bogosian.

After a strong start to the season, Carter Hutton has given up nine goals in his last two starts—and was pulled in Edmonton on Monday after surrendering five on 12 shots in just 24:49 against the Oilers. Linus Ullmark got the win in Calgary on Wednesday and will start against Vancouver tonight. He's a very solid 10-3-3 on the year so far, with a .917 save percentage, 2.86 GAA and two shutouts.

Should be a fun matchup between two teams on the rise. Enjoy the game!
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