Thatcher Demko’s Vancouver Canucks return was filled with ups and downs.
The 29-year-old made some huge saves to keep his team in Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues but also allowed a few goals he’d definitely like a do-over on.
The performance was what you’d expect from someone who hadn’t played in more than seven months and wasn’t enough for the Canucks to win, although they stole a point in the 4-3 overtime loss.
When the final buzzer rang, Demko had made 21 saves on 25 shots.
“Felt rusty for sure,” Demko said following his first start in 233 days.
“It’s frustrating losing, I thought I could have played a couple goals differently. I’m sure there’s stuff that I can pull to keep building but obviously it’s frustrating right now.”
Thatcher Demko keeps it a one-goal game with a series of sweet saves 🙅♂️ pic.twitter.com/vEw9pdYN83
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 11, 2024
No one expected Demko to be at his Vezina-caliber best in his first game back. The goalie himself was downplaying expectations leading up to this moment, saying appearing in a live contest was the last step of the recovery process.
“I’ve talked about managing expectations and not putting too much weight on that first game back. But obviously as the moment builds, you’re excited to play and you want to perform.”
“A little bit of a weird day, just getting back into the rhythm of things and yeah, obviously have a couple of more games here to keep building that up.”
While he may need time to reach peak form, Demko told reporters after the game he felt no pain in his knee, a hugely positive sign. As long as that holds, that’s the most important thing. The rest will come.
“I was out for a long time, you have anxiety about things like that. Mentally, there’s a couple of times during the game where I’m thinking about it a little bit.”
No matter the result, just getting through a full game is a massive step forward for the 6-foot-4 goaltender. It was clear his teammates and coaches were really happy for him.
“I thought he was good tonight, good to see him, he looks big,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “I loved seeing him back in, he’s worked really hard. I thought he did a great job for us tonight.”