Vancouver missing their star goalie to injury is much easier to stomach, of course, with the play of rookie Silovs in his place
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Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet pumped the brakes Friday on injured starting goalie Thatcher Demko taking back the net in this playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.
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Tocchet said “that would be a stretch,” when asked if Demko (knee) could play this weekend. Vancouver carries a 3-2 series lead in this second-round set into Game 6 Saturday in Edmonton. Game 7, if required, would be Monday in Vancouver.
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Demko was hurt in Game 1 of the opening round against the Nashville Predators on April 21 and there had been reports that the Canucks’ Vezina Trophy nominee could be ready to return to action as early as Game 6 or Game 7 against the Oilers. Tocchet has talked up Demko’s rehab along the way, including Thursday when he spoke about how Demko had “improved immensely the last 72 hours,” and how he had “made huge strides.”
How much of this premise that Demko could be back against the Oilers before the end of the series was spurred on by Tocchet’s comments is open to interpretation. If any of it has toyed with the Oilers, it’s safe to assume that Tocchet is just fine with that.
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On Friday, Tocchet said that Demko has been “taking shots and doing a lot of good things” but he also said Demko wasn’t going to see game action until he started practising again with the team, and made it clear that was a non-negotiable for the coach.
“There’s nothing to think about. We haven’t had a practice. He hasn’t had people in front of him, screening him,” Tocchet said.
Demko’s absence would be more front burner, of course, if Vancouver hadn’t been getting standout netminding in his place from Arturs Silovs, the 23-year-old rookie who came into the playoffs with just nine career regular starts with Vancouver over the past two years.
Saturday will be Silovs’ ninth start in these playoffs. He’s fashioned a 2.62 goals against average and a .907 save percentage so far, and that includes a .925 save percentage (98-of-106) in the past three games with the Oilers.
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“It’s obviously incredibly impressive with how young he is and some of the big-time saves he makes,” defenceman and Canucks’ captain Quinn Hughes said of Silovs. “He never looks nervous. He just looks like it’s another game. We can all learn a little bit from him.”
Demko was 35-14-2, with a 2.45 goals against average and a .918 save percentage in the regular season. He’s on the final Vezina ballot with the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck (37-19-4, 2.39, .921) and the Florida Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky (36-17-4, 2.37, .915).
@SteveEwen
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