The Vancouver Canucks will be without their starting goaltender for Game 2 of their opening-round series. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, goaltender Thatcher Demko will miss Game 2 against the Nashville Predators due to injury, and his status is questionable for the remainder of the series.
Demko stopped 20 of the 22 shots that he faced in Sunday’s 4-2 Game 1 victory. The veteran netminder didn’t practice on Monday and didn’t speak to the media following Game 1.
The Canucks goaltender recently returned to the ice after missing time due to a knee injury. He did start two games before the regular season came to a close and yielded four goals in two games.
Demko has had an extremely successful 2023-24 season as he’s tallied a 35-14-2 record, a 2.45 goals-against-average, and a .918 save percentage. The 28-year-old is expected to be in the conversation for the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender.
With Demko expected to be out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, the Canucks will have Casey DeSmith and Arturs Silovs as options in between the pipes.
DeSmith will likely become the Canucks’ starting goaltender in Demko’s absence. He spent the first five seasons of his NHL career backing up Tristan Jarry as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. In his first campaign with the Canucks, the veteran goalie racked up a 12-9-6 record, a 2.89 goals-against-average, and a .896 save percentage in 29 games.
KVSP