Canucks crease characters: Playoff pitch hitched on three netminders
Of course the Hockey Gods wanted it this way: As the Vancouver Canucks embark upon a wild and crazy playoff chase, the storylines may yet end up converging in goal.
Take, for starters, Braden Holtby’s remarkable performance in the first two games back in action for the Canucks this week.
Then there’s the circumstance of why Holtby was picked to start, with Thatcher Demko not being healthy enough to step back in as the team’s No. 1 netminder.
And then there’s the wild conclusion that may yet lie at the end of all of this: Three games in May against the Calgary Flames.
Yes, Jacob Markström’s Calgary Flames.
Let’s look at all three characters and the roles they have played, and may yet in the days ahead.
Braden Holtby
The former Vezina Trophy winner has been a shadow in Vancouver of his younger self.
Until this week, that is.
Holtby’s effort last Sunday was best summed up by his René Higuita-like save on Wayne Simmonds, using his feet to knock the puck out of mid-air and away from danger, not unlike the former Colombian soccer goalie once did, drawing comparisons with a cobra.
In his two games against the Leafs this year, Holtby posted his best two performances of the year. And while the Canucks were full value for their 6-3 win over the Leafs on Tuesday, their 3-2 overtime win Sunday was highway robbery, only made possible because Holtby stood on his head time and again.
With Demko slowly winding his way back to full health — he backed up Tuesday, suggesting he’ll soon be ready to man the crease again — Holtby has created a goalie dilemma in Vancouver.
That’s not something we’ve ever seen in this town before.
Thatcher Demko
Before the Canucks went on their late-March break — the scheduled one, not the COVID-19-induced one — there was some debate over who was the Canucks’ MVP this season.
Brock Boeser has been the team’s most consistent player. It’s not an accident he’s the team’s leading scorer.
His case for MVP is obvious.
But there was also a push for Demko, built entirely on the back of his incredible March.
In understanding his case, it mustn’t be forgotten that he struggled out of the gate. He played better in the latter stages of January but then had a mostly ugly February.
The Canucks’ overall start to the season was the main reason they found themselves behind the eight ball in their playoff pursuit, but their February swoon didn’t help either.
All this said, the fact there’s even a notion of a playoff dream for the Canucks at this point — HockeyViz.com has
them at a 15-per-cent chance on Wednesday afternoon
, up nine points from a week ago — is all about how Demko carried his team in March.
He posted a .950 save percentage through the first three weeks of March. That kept the Canucks in touch, distantly, with the fourth-place Montreal Canadiens in the race for the Scotia North Division Stanley Cup playoff race.
When he’s back to full health and ready to challenge Holtby for starts in goal again, will Demko be the goalie who starred for most of March? That’s how he earned himself a five-year, US $25-million contract extension.
The Canucks are betting he will be.
In other words you're saying Canucks playoffs hopes are going to come down to this guy pic.twitter.com/3I9AWwWx87— Taj (@taj1944) April 21, 2021
Jacob Markström
The last character in the play is in some ways also the lead character. Without Markström’s departure to Calgary in the off-season, Demko wouldn’t have had the chance to put himself forward as he has.
And Holtby, obviously, wouldn’t have been signed to take Markström’s place on the Canucks’ roster.
The giant Swede came out swinging this season, leading his new team to some dominant wins over his old team, immediately putting the spotlight on Canucks management for their approach to the off-season.
But as the season has worn on, Markström’s form, and his team’s, has waned.
His save percentage on the season sits at just .902, putting him in the bottom half of the league.
Demko’s save percentage on the year is .917, by the way.
The Canucks’ COVID-19 outbreak led to their whole schedule being shuffled. Now four of their final five games on the season are against Calgary.
That series could line up as being everything on the season for the Canucks, maybe even both teams.
As Canucks radio play-by-play man Brendan Batchelor
pointed out after Tuesday’s Canucks win, the Habs play their last game on May 12. The Canucks have five games after that and end their season on May 19.
Whether the Flames are in the mix at that point for a late playoff push or not, if the Canucks have kept themselves within 10 points of Montreal on May 12 — and hold a tiebreaker — the Canucks would have everything to play for. They’d need to run the table, and get through their old goalie in the process.
Buckle up.
pjohnston@postmedia.com
twitter.com/risingaction
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