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Thatcher Demko is named first star as Canucks down Sabres; face Wings next

January 19, 2019, 3:56 PM ET [592 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Friday January 18 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Buffalo Sabres 3

Maybe the wait was worth it? How's this for a stat?




#DemkoTime is off to a good start after the Canucks' Goalie of the Future made 36 saves and was named the game's first star in Vancouver's 4-3 win over Buffalo on Friday night.

Here are your highlights:



Most of the scoring came from defensive-zone breakdowns on both sides but overall, the Canucks delivered another entertaining contest to kick off the weekend at Rogers Arena. The fans were engaged—most notably, chanting "Dem-ko! Dem-ko!" on a couple of occasions. And for two teams in opposite conferences, playing in January, the players on both sides were fired up and emotional in a game where neither team ever held a lead of more than one goal.

Before I went to the rink, I'd been watching the Washington-New York Islanders game, thinking that'd be an exciting contest between two long-time division rivals, separated by just one point in the Metro Division standings, in Barry Trotz's first game back in Washington since winning the Stanley Cup. It was a total snoozer—although the Islanders' eventual 2-0 win moved them into first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Did anybody see that coming? Maybe the same people who projected that the Canucks would be sitting in the second wild-card spot in the West after beating Buffalo??

Since the Canucks snapped that nasty losing streak with their win over Nashville on December 6, they've gone 11-5-3 for 25 points and a winning percentage of .658.

Here's a snapshot of how the other key teams in the West fared over that same stretch of six-weeks-and-a-day:

• The three teams that now hold down the playoff spots in the Pacific all surged even more strongly. San Jose led the way with 32 points in 21 games, Calgary had 31 and Vegas had 29 in 20 games.

• Four teams that were in a pretty good spot now find their playoff hopes in jeopardy. Colorado earned just 13 points in 19 games, Anaheim had 16, and Dallas and Minnesota each had 17. Those are the teams the Canucks have now caught.

• The Canucks made up a little bit of ground on the Oilers (21 points in 20 games) and are tracking a little bit ahead of the surging St. Louis Blues (24 points in 21 games).

• Going into Saturday's games, the Canucks are tied with Colorado and Dallas with 50 points and one point up on Minnesota, Edmonton and Anaheim, who all have 49. But the Canucks' playoff spot barely lasted 12 hours. With a 3-2 win over New Jersey in an early game, the Ducks have already moved back into eighth spot, now with 51 points.

Also worth noting—even with those three ugly shutout losses to the Devils, Habs and Leafs on the last road trip, and without Elias Pettersson for the last five games, the Canucks' goal differential through this 19 game stretch is plus-10. They've averaged 3.05 goals for per game and 2.53 goals against. Not bad!

Vancouver also has logged the best penalty killing in the Western Conference since December 6, with an 87.5 percent success rate—and have taken the fewest penalties, just 48.

If these are indicators of a team that's developing its identity under Travis Green, they're all really good signs. At this point, I'm just hoping that we'll continue to see more entertaining, engaging games—and more strong performances from Demko—over the next couple of months.

Sunday January 20 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Detroit Red Wings - 1 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650

Standings as of Saturday morning:

Vancouver Canucks: 49 GP, 22-21-6, 50 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Detroit Red Wings: 49 GP, 18-24-7, 43 pts, eighth in Atlantic Division

Since Sunday's game is an early one, I'll set it up now to get you ready.

The most important detail is that the Canucks are holding a full Saturday practice out at 8 Rinks—and Elias Pettersson is a full participant.




That should be the last piece of Petey's recovery puzzle, and would suggest that he'll be ready to draw back into the lineup on Sunday if he feels OK afterward.

Here's the full rollout from practice:




Tanner Kero is currently on the 23-man roster, so he can easily be returned to Utica to make room for Pettersson.

The Red Wings are another team that's supposed to be in rebuilding mode. After getting off to a better-than-expected start and hovering around the .500 mark until about mid-December, they've dropped off since then and fell to 28th place overall and last in their division after dropping a 6-4 decision in Calgary on Friday night.

Like the Canucks, the Red Wings are a captain-less team, but Dylan Larkin is clearly the heir apparent. The 22-year-old is leading his team in scoring with 47 points in 49 games so he should easily surpass his previous career high of 63 points, set last season. With 17 goals, 24-year-old Andreas Athanasiou is one goal away from matching his previous career high and other youngsters like Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi are also trending in the right direction.

Even with Henrik Zetterberg ($6.08 million) and Johan Franzen ($3.95 million) on injured reserve and with a number of young players moving into key roles, the Wings are still under salary-cap pressure. Goalie Jimmy Howard and forward Gustav Nyquist are two players who could be dealt ahead of the trade deadline.

Saturday marks the 35th birthday of current Red Wing and former Canuck Thomas Vanek. He signed a one-year deal with the Wings over the summer and has recorded 9-12-21 in 41 games, a bit of a dropoff from his 41 points in 61 games with Vancouver last season.
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