Canucks make chances count in gritty win
Rookie goalie instils confidence in fans, teammates with solid performance in first start of season
Some nights you just find a way to win.
The Vancouver Canucks were far from the better team on Friday at Rogers Arena, but still found a way to beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3.
Some of it was about taking their chances — they had two goals on their first four shots, four goals on 23 shots in all — and a lot of it was about getting a fabulous performance from their rookie goaltender.
Thatcher Demko, making his first start of the season and the second of his career, bailed his team out more than once, making 36 saves in the win.
It wasn’t a storybook start to what’s hoped to be a long National Hockey League career, but it’s pretty close.
The lanky San Diegan saw the shots fired at him well and never looked in trouble.
The Canucks may not have won the shots battle, but they got goals from some key players.
On Wednesday, the Canucks played well enough to win, but didn’t. Friday’s result was a fair balance.
The Canucks got goals from Alex Edler, Sven Baertschi, Brock Boeser and Loui Eriksson. The Sabres’ goals were scored by Evan Rodrigues, Kyle Okposo and West Vancouver’s Sam Reinhart.
Here’s what we learned: DEMKO DELIGHT
What a night for the rookie, who didn’t always have a lot of help in front of him. The Sabres are an aggressive attacking team and have some talented forwards.
He made 36 saves, a number of them feats of impressive positioning and split-second reflexes. Although, knowing how goalies are, Demko would probably say he’d even like to have one or two goals back.
He even made a calm blocker save with just seconds left, preserving the win.
There’s no doubt that after tonight’s performance, coach Travis Green will have no worries handing the former Boston College goalie another start. GO TO THE NET
Dirty goals. Greasy goals. Goals on top of the crease. That’s been the Canucks’ mantra for much of the season.
There was no better example than the winning goal, where Josh Leivo was quick to the puck behind the Buffalo net, then pivoted back out front and put a perfect pass in front of the onrushing Loui Eriksson, who had an open cage to fire at.
Signed in the summer of 2016, it was Eriksson’s 30th goal in Vancouver colours.
There have been prettier goals scored this year, but few goals have been as well assembled. LEIVO’S NIGHT
The winger had quite a night. He set up Eriksson’s goal and he had a great scoring rush in the third that was stopped by Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark.
The former Toronto Maple Leaf plays smart hockey, has very good puck skills and is a strong skater.
He’s proven to be an excellent mid-season pickup by general manager Jim Benning. THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Bo Horvat remains goalless since Christmas but he’s doing everything else. He drove the net on the Baertschi goal and set up Boeser’s.
On the Boeser goal, Buffalo defenceman Lawrence Pilut blindly fired the puck into his own slot, right onto the stick of Horvat, who quickly turned and put the puck on Boeser’s stick.
The Canucks winger calmly potted it home, scoring his 16th goal of the season. He remains on pace for a 30-goal season, a handy total for a guy looking to sign a new contract. DEMKO DENIAL
Seen live, Demko’s save on Sabres sniper Brett Skinner on a second-period power play seemed pretty outstanding.
On second viewing, it was even better.
He reacted perfectly to the shot from the slot by Skinner, turning the puck safely to the corner with his right leg.
He had a similar save in the third, but this time knocked the puck away to safety with his stick as Vladimir Sobotka tried to fire home a rebound.
That one drew a “Demko, Demko, Demko” chant from the hometown faithful. CHANGE IT UP
The Canucks ended up with four forwards and a lone defenceman after a sloppy even-strength change ahead of the game’s opening goal.
This left Derrick Pouliot covering down low practically alone.
Rodrigues was the happy camper at the side of the net, directing the puck past Demko.
On the change, it looked like Antoine Roussel jumped the gun, thinking Jake Virtanen was coming off. Virtanen stayed on, making for four forwards on the ice. Defencemen Ben Hutton and Troy Stecher went off at the time, Pouliot and Chris Tanev coming over, but Tanev realized the problem and hopped back off the ice. PLAYOFF CHASE
If you were told before the season that of the handful of teams chasing a wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference, the Canucks would have the most goals scored, you might have laughed.
The Canucks were one of the league’s lowest-scoring teams in 2017-18.
This year, though, they’re nicely in the middle of the pack overall, and yes, tops among the five or six teams likely to battle for the final two spots in the wild-card race.
The Canucks held the second wild-card spot heading into Saturday’s action.