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The Vancouver Canucks welcomed one of their most important players back to their lineup on Tuesday night against the visiting St. Louis Blues, as goaltender Thatcher Demko returned to the ice as a starter for the first time since Game 1 of the 2024 Western Conference Quarter Finals against the Nashville Predators.
While Demko made several key saves, he later admitted that he was rusty during what was ultimately a 4-3 overtime loss.
“Yeah, I mean, felt rusty for sure,” he said via Sean O'Leary of The Score. “Obviously, it's frustrating losing. I thought I could have played a couple of goals differently. I'm sure that there's stuff that I can pull to keep building. But obviously, it's frustrating right now.”
“There's a couple of things I thought that I can clean up that shouldn't take too much time,” he said. “Just different reads and different ideas, positionally, things like that. I'm frustrated losing the game. I want to make a couple of those saves.”
“I thought he was good tonight,” head coach Rick Tocchet said. “It's good to see him in net; he looks big. I love seeing him back in. He's worked really hard, so I thought he did a great job for us tonight.”
Demko and the Canucks take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Thursday night at Rogers Arena.
Tuesday was Canucks' G Thatcher Demko's first start since April
Demko hadn't played since April against the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of Vancouver's opening postseason round; he subsequently missed the entire exhibition schedule as well as Training Camp.
His injury couldn't have come at a more inopportune time for the Canucks, who won their division for the first time since 2013. While they defeated the Predators in six games, they were eventually felled by the Edmonton Oilers in seven games. Ironically, the Cancuks also lost leading goal-scorer Brock Boeser for the deciding seventh game against Edmonton.
Demko has a career record of 116-81-18 with a 2.80 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage, and eight shutouts. He had his best season as a pro in 2023-24, going 35-14-2 with a 2.45 goals-against average and a career-best five shutouts.
