The Red Wings lost to Vancouver, 4-1, on Thursday. In large part, it was because of Thatcher Demko's brilliance boosted by an early Canucks lead.
The Red Wings lost to Vancouver, 4-1, on Thursday. In large part, it was because of Thatcher Demko's brilliance boosted by an early Canucks lead.
In a game where there would be little wiggle room, the Red Wings didn’t help themselves.
After a bad start gave Detroit an early deficit, it also couldn’t cash in on multiple power plays. Against a hot goalie in Thatcher Demko, Detroit couldn’t afford one of those, let alone both. And so while they had a fighting chance for most of the run of play, those efforts proved for naught in a 4-1 loss to the Canucks on Thursday, led by Demko’s stellar goaltending.
“It was a frustrating night in that you come in here and you limit a team like that to 21 shots, and … we might’ve gave up six chances all night long, and we just didn't generate enough offense," Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. "... You look back at a lot of this game — our inability to score on the power play, our inability to generate 5-on-5 probably had a lot to do with Demko. When a guy’s on like that, and you can feel it, maybe a little harder with some offense and a little harder around the net.
A solid outing was expected of Demko, to be sure. He’s in contention for the Vezina with the most wins in the NHL, as well as the seventh lowest goals against average and fifth best save percentage. But the Red Wings also counted themselves out with two goals that were entirely preventable in the first 10 minutes. The first came off of a botched exit pass by Jeff Petry, which J.T. Miller capitalized on with a flick of the wrist. The second came when Elias Lindholm’s otherwise routine point shot fooled Alex Lyon, slipping into the net for a two-goal hole. Instead of trying to bury a rare goal against Demko, the Red Wings had to grab their shovels and dig out themselves.
They had ample chances to do that. Across the game, they went to the man advantage five times, including three in the first period alone. Chances to respond. Chances to punch back. But instead, they wound up chances spoiled by Demko’s brilliance and some well-placed sticks by his penalty killers. Demko saved 27 out of 28 shots, including a handful in high danger situations.
Demko’s saves came in every scenario the Red Wings threw at him, especially scrums in front and cross-ice passes. Even when they could beat him, like forward J.T. Compher did from a tight angle, goal line shot in the first period, they couldn’t beat the crossbar. Even otherwise open one-timers couldn’t make him bite, as forwards Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane became familiar with. To beat Demko took precision, and Detroit didn’t have enough Thursday night.
“The power play’s gotta be better,” Kane said after the game. “Lot of chances tonight. I wasn’t very good on the power play tonight so I take responsibility for that. But (when) you get those chances, you want to create momentum.”
Before the Red Wings could beat Demko thanks to Compher’s stick in the second period, Vancouver added on another goal from defenseman Nikita Zadorov to take a 3-1 lead into the third period. Even with their bad start, and even with an abundance of missed strikes, Detroit was in the game the same as it was Saturday night, when they summited the same deficit in a 4-3 overtime comeback.
But yet again, Demko shined through in the fashion you’d expect of the winningest goaltender this season. He continued to get away with highway robberies, repeating his success against the likes of Dylan Larkin, Kane and their teammates. Especially on two Detroit power plays in the third period, he let his brilliance radiate. Instead of hearing goal horns, the Red Wings skated off hearing the crowd chant Demko’s name. And after stymieing the Red Wings for the lion’s share of the game, Demko’s teammates paid him back with the 4-1 goal with 13 minutes left thanks to Lindholm.
Now, Detroit sits just two points ahead of New Jersey for the second wild card spot, with the two biggest games of its road trip lost. Against Calgary and Seattle coming up, the Red Wings have a chance to pull even. But instead of entering those arenas with the security of secured points, they’ll instead walk in with a little more desperation than they wanted to at the beginning of the week.
“I actually thought we played pretty well tonight, visiting building,” Lyon said. “I thought that Thatcher was awesome. Difficult team to play against, it’s a very good team, and I think obviously every point is critical, but as I’ve said a million times, there’s gonna be bumps in the road. It’s not gonna be easy. Edmonton was a bit of a slap in the face, but I think we were on the right track tonight. I genuinely believe that.”
But thanks to a scoreless power play and an early deficit, the Red Wings let Demko take over. Even with a better performance as the game wore on, they didn’t do enough early to earn a win.
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