The Vancouver Canucks fell 4-3 in overtime to the St. Louis Blues

Despite tying the game late, the Vancouver Canucks couldn't pick up both points, falling to the St. Louis Blues 4-3 in overtime. Dakota Joshua, Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk scored for Vancouver, while Thatcher Demko stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced in his first game of the season. With the loss, the Canucks drop to 14-8-5 on the campaign, while their home record sits at 4-6-4.

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The biggest story from this game was Thatcher Demko's return. Last year's Vezina Trophy runner-up had a strong performance, stopping multiple breakaways and a 2-0. Like he has for the majority of his career, Demko kept Vancouver in this game and is one of the main reasons they were able to pick up a point. 

When asked about his return, Demko spoke about both the mental and physical work he had to do to get to this point. Demko said, "I think it's all that. There's only so much you can do physically. I feel like I've done just about all that stuff. So I mean, a part of getting back into it is just forming up the mentals again, and, you know, going through the mindset of a game day and getting ready to play fast. I mean, I thought I felt better as the game kind of went along. I mean, it's just the speed of things and, you know, traffic in front of you is tough. Yeah, those are all just in-game reads that I think will get sharper over time."

As for the Canucks star players, they showed up in a big way. Pettersson finished the night with a goal and an assist, while Quinn Hughes had 12 shot attempts. When asked about his highlight reel assist on the game-tying goal, Pettersson said, "Brock (Boeser) saw me. I wanted to get a little lower and maybe one time that, but the St Louis player was in the way. But yeah, I got the puck, tried to stay with the play. Before I got the puck, I saw that Jake (DeBrusk) was there, so I was just hoping he was still there."

The power play was also a key part of the game, as Vancouver went 1/3 with the man advantage. While they did allow a shorthanded goal, Tocchet was impressed with the effort from his first power play unit, saying, "The good thing is, when you got the other team tired, you don't make a stupid play, like a bad pass. So when we kind of worked it around, and I loved the fact that Petey (Pettersson) threw it to the net. If you watch, the best guy in the league is (Nikita) Kucherov). He is the best at that. And it's not lucky. Sometimes, he throws it there, and it goes off someone. I like when Petey does that because you got a tired team, you got three people at the net. Throw it there and you're going to get those types of goals. That's what I liked about it. We got to continue to do that, though. We can't always be looking for the pretty play. I don't even think that's fluky. I think whether it goes off (Colton) Parayko, I think somebody was there. So anyway, yeah, I like that play. I think we got to do that more often attacking and get the puck to the net. 

While this will go down as another home loss, the Canucks fought to the end and earned what could be a crucial point in the standings. Yes, there were defensive breakdowns, including on the game-winning goal, but the power play looked arguably the most engaged it has all season. If the Canucks can work on their defensive coverage and play an entire game with the same level of energy they had in the second half, they should be able to become more consistent over the final three games of the homestand. 

Facts and Stats

- Kiefer Sherwood records 8+ hits for the ninth time this season

- Elias Pettersson's 116th multi-point game passes J.T. Miller into sole possession of ninth all-time in franchise history 

- Conor Garland records his 33rd multi-point game, which ties him with Sami Salo for 53rd on the franchise's all-time list

- Elias Pettersson becomes the 13th player in franchise history to record 260 assists

Scoring Summary

1st Period

8:02- VAN: Dakota Joshua (1) from Conor Garland and Tyler Myers
9:15- STL: Zachary Bolduc (4) from Dylan Holloway
17:30- STL: Robert Thomas (5) from Colton Parayko and Pavel Buchnevich (SHG)

2nd Period

16:18- STL: Jordan Kyrou (10) from Robert Thomas and Justin Faulk (PPG)
18:32- STL:  Elias Pettersson (8) from Brock Boeser and Conor Garland

3rd Period

18:08- VAN: Jake DeBrusk (13) from Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser

Overtime:

1:40- STL: Dylan Holloway (10) from Robert Thomas

Up Next:

The Canucks return to the ice on Thursday when they take on the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers. This will be the second meeting between these two teams, with Vancouver winning the first matchup 3-2 in overtime. Game time is set for 7:00 pm PT.