Canucks’ Demko almost perfect
“Man, did he ever (give us a chance to win),” Canucks coach Travis Green said. “Obviously hurts. We have a bunch of guys who are upset right now and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
”The Stanley Cup is hard to win. It’s supposed to hurt.”
Demko was an unlikely hero for the Canucks, who started Jakob Markstrom in each of their first 14 postseason games. That included the first four of the series against the Knights.
When Markstrom was deemed unfit to play after Game 4 with the Canucks trailing 3-1, it could have been easy to write off the series. After all, Demko posted pedestrian numbers this season with a 13-10-2 record and a 3.06 goalsagainst average and .905 save percentage.
The rookie from San Diego once again rose to the moment in his first Game 7.
After Robin Lehner made one of the saves of the season on a breakaway, Demko found himself laid out in the crease only to flop around and keep the puck out of the net under an onslaught of Knights shots.
Even when a shot from Theodore got through his pads late in the second period and trickled up against the post, Demko was able to swat it away before anyone could get to the rebound.
“I felt great the whole game,” the Canucks’ 2014 second-round pick said.
“No fatigue. I wanted to keep doing my job. I hadn’t played in a game so I had a lot in the tank. I felt fine.”
He hopes the performance will help prepare him for a potential expanded role next season.
“My first time playing in the playoffs and it was a little bit of an unexpected situation for me,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if I’d be going in. I just wanted to be ready.
“It’s a huge amount of experience playing in high-pressure elimination games. That’s great experience for a young player like me. I can’t wait to get back out there next season.”
The Knights will be happy to put him in their past this postseason.