Netminder puts last year's slow start behind him; has looked sharp in early going
Tuesday night in Philadelphia was the 12th time in his NHL career that Thatcher Demko has made 40 or more saves in a hockey game. So the Canucks starting goalie has been busy before. But rarely has he been under siege like he was in the second period when the Flyers outshot the Canucks 22-3. And Demko stopped all 22 of those shots.
In fact, after Egor Zamula scored on the Flyers fourth shot of the night just 1:45 into the hockey game, Demko stopped everything else he faced in the run of play. The only other player to beat him was Sean Couturier on a late first period penalty shot.
Through two starts this season, Demko has a win and a loss. But take a closer look at the statistics and it's evident the 27-year-old San Diego native has been one of the Canucks best players.
Demko was beaten by Leon Draisaitl on an Edmonton power play in the Canucks season opener. That was the only goal he surrendered that night. And then he was hung out to dry by his Canucks teammates on Tuesday in Philadelphia, yet still allowed his team to hang around in a game in which they were outplayed, out-chanced and outshot.
So far this season, Demko has stopped 61 of the 64 shots he's faced good for a remarkable .953 save percentage. The penalty shot somehow goes on his even-strength record, so according to the NHL, Demko's even strength save percentage is .959. But put the Couturier goal a separate silo and Demko has stopped 47 of the 48 shots he's faced during the run of play at even strength. That's good for a whopping .979 save percentage at evens.
Consider, too, that Zamula's goal was a perfectly placed point shot through a screen. In his first two starts of the season, Demko has not (really) allowed an even-strength goal by an opposing forward.
He has also stopped 12 of the 13 power play shots he's faced so far this season.
According to moneypuck.com, Demko has already stopped 2.9 goals above expected in just two starts.
Overall, as a team, the Canucks 5-on-5 save percentage in the early going is sitting at 97.3% -- fourth best in the NHL behind Arizona, St. Louis and Montreal. Unfortunately, the Canucks also have a -36 shot differential which means they have spent far too much time in their own end and have relied for too heavily on their netminders.
Through three games, the Canucks are averaging 24.3 shots on goal and an average of 36.3 shots against. They have surrendered 40 and 42 in the first two games of their current five game road trip. That's a trend that has to stop on Thursday in Tampa Bay.
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