Canucks: Thatcher Demko not in danger of losing position as number one goalkeeper

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LAS VEGAS — Vancouver When the Canucks last visited Sin City, their goalie got better as the game went on.

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The Canucks were in the middle of the playoff chase on April 6th. His 5-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena that night put the Canucks within four points of his fourth place Knights.

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Elias Peterson’s 4-point night topped the story, but underneath, as was typical of last season, goalkeeper Thatcher Demko’s superb performance.

Vegas star Jack Achel scored in the first period after a chaotic goalmouth scramble, but Demko never seemed to care again. He made 16 saves and fought off Vegas’ ferocious pushbacks with many tough stops.

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Fast forward to this week. Canucks is back in Las Vegas with his 7-10-3 record. Golden will be chasing his position in the playoffs again on Saturday as he faces the Knights.

Last Monday, the Canucks blew away after taking a third-period lead in a 5-4 loss to the Golden Knights at Rogers Arena, giving up two tallies in the final 10 minutes of the game.

For the most part, it’s been a day and night experience for Demko this season. He struggles to be consistent.

Forget the idea of ​​goalie controversy, even if backup Spencer Martin plays better.

Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau thinks Demko is on the right track to rediscover his game. Part of that is the improvement in his play on the Canucks defense over the last four games.

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“Nobody knows this, but Demco was pretty bad last night[against Vegas]and we didn’t know that[until later],” Boudreau said. “But the last game[against LA]he was great.

“We know he’s been great for a long time. It’s not like he’s suddenly relegated to backup.”

While Demko has been off from time to time, former NHL goaltender Mike McKenna, who briefly served as a backup for the Canucks and is now a commentator for the Daily Faceoff and Sirius XM, has taken his former defense to the next level. I see it as a bigger problem.

In an analysis I wrote about Demko’s season so far earlier this week, McKenna only had an 88.3 save percentage so far.

McKenna described his defensive efforts in front of goalkeepers so far as “corruption.”

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Canucks’ defense isn’t good enough. But Ingoll magazine’s Kevin Woodley says that neither is Demco.

Looking at data from Clear Sight Analytics, which tracks hockey game data, Woodley sees a clear trend.

“This is the third toughest defensive environment in the NHL,” he said.

Data collected by CSA suggests Demko’s expected even-strength save percentage of 87.7. The only two goalkeepers with lower numbers are Eric Comrie, who has made the most starts for Buffalo this season, and Montreal’s Jake Allen.

The problem here, Woodley said, is that Demko hasn’t topped the expected save percentage.

“We can perform better than in a bad environment,” says Woodley. “So he’s two parts to this. The environment is terrible. You can beat a bad environment, but he’s not.”

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Some of this can be attributed to a series of bad bounces that can turn off the goalie’s mental game.

It also doesn’t help that the goalie sees the defenders in front of him all over the store. Goalkeepers don’t want to read for a second what the defense is going to do. We want it to be completely predictable.

“Being able to trust what’s happening in front of you is very important,” says Woodley. “As a goalkeeper, he’s trying to read what the defense should be doing, but he’s not 100 percent sure that the Canucks goalkeeper and defense have the same perception.”

Ethan Bear now has 11 appearances for the Canucks. Since his arrival, he has seen the team improve its defensive structure, but agreed with his opinion that Woodley’s ratings still need improvement.

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“It doesn’t matter who is in the pipe, we want to play well for both goalkeepers,” said Baer. “That’s what we do. They stop a lot of shots for us. So we have to make sacrifices and do our job, too.”

Luckily for the Canucks, Martin was in his game and delivered the kind of performance the Canucks were hoping for. Backup has five wins this year, while Demco has just two.

Earlier in the season, Demko was playing their opponent’s rush much more aggressively than before. He put his foot outside the crease and defended the shooter, but was exposed to a pass-across.

And the Canucks were doing a terrible job guarding passes across slots.

But lately, Demko has defended against the rush by standing firm at the net and keeping his feet out of the crease.

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And it seems to have paid off.

“His first two periods in Monday’s game were, in my opinion, his best play since the start of the season,” Woodley said. “The movement was light and snappy, making tough chances look like they always did, and 40 minutes later I thought we might be back.”

The Canucks took the lead in the third, but then their defense and Demko’s game fell apart in the final ten minutes of the game.

“The rebounding goal that led to the Vegas comeback was a disastrous breakdown in front of Demko,” said Woodley.

“Broken plays and rebounding chances speak to an inability to deal with the front line of the net.”

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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