Will Demko play Game 7? Canucks coach Tocchet gives emphatic answer
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The Vancouver Canucks will not have their Vezina Trophy finalist goalie available for Game 7 against the Edmonton Oilers.
Thatcher Demko will not be healthy enough to play on Monday night per head coach Rick Tocchet.
“No, Demko is not going to play Game 7,” said Tocchet today after the team’s 5-1 loss in Game 6.
The team’s regular starting goalie hasn’t played since April 21 when he hurt his knee in Game 1 against the Nashville Predators in the first round.
Arturs Silovs has been starting in his absence and has been playing well, although he did allow five goals tonight. It was perhaps his worst performance of the postseason so far.
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“He was fine, we have a lot of confidence in Arty,” said Tocchet about the Latvian’s play.
Demko has been making a lot of progress in his recovery and there was some hope that he would be ready for the end of the second round. The coach’s strong answer today shut down any possibility of the goalie being ready for the crucial Game 7.
Tocchet also spoke to the media yesterday and foreshadowed the fact that Demko would not be ready to return during this series.
Silovs has started nine playoff games and has won five of them. He has a 2.89 goals-against-average and a .898% save percentage.
The Oilers have their own question marks in net. Stuart Skinner started tonight for the first time since Game 4. While he didn’t face a lot of shots, he made the saves needed to get the victory.
“I thought early in the game he did a great job at settling the group down,” said Connor McDavid about his goalie’s performance tonight.
“I was able to get a little bit of rest and just work on my game, feel good about it again,” said Skinner about his two-game break.
The Canucks will host the Oilers for the deciding game on Monday night. It’s the first Game 7 at Rogers Arena since the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins.
The puck drops earlier than usual on Monday with a 6 pm PT start.
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