By AP via KSL Sports
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — A couple of American kids made sure Canada’s last team standing in the NHL playoffs will play at least one more game.
San Diego native Thatcher Demko made 42 saves in his first NHL playoff start, Minnesota’s Brock Boeser scored and assisted on the go-ahead goal and the plucky Vancouver Canucks staved off elimination by beating the Golden Knights 2-1 Tuesday night in Game 5 of their second-round series.
Demko became just the 15th goaltender in league history to make his first Stanley Cup playoff start in an elimination game and win, and the second in as many days after journeyman Michael Hutchinson kept Colorado from bowing out of the postseason.
“He’s an unbelievable goalie and really athletic and he’s a gamer,” Boeser said of Demko. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that he came in and played so well tonight for us.”
Western Conference top-seeded Vegas outshot Vancouver 43-17 and only cracked Demko once, on a highlight reel goal by defenseman Shea Theodore in the second. Demko found out Monday evening he’d be getting the nod because workhorse starter Jacob Markstrom was injured, got to bed just after 10 p.m. and slept great even knowing the situation he was being thrown into.
“I like to be rested to know I did everything i could to be ready to go,” said Demko, whose only playoff experience before this was an eight-minute relief appearance earlier in the series. “I think at this point you rely on the work you put in. I’ve been doing my thing in practice, making sure my details were where they needed to be. It’s different than a game, but everything you see in a game you’ve seen at some point in practice, and you just have to rely on that.” Read more from KSL Sports.
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