The Vegas Golden Knights were hoping to end their series against the Vancouver Canucks in Game 5 but it didn’t happen and ran into a wall.
The Vegas Golden Knights were one win away from the Western Conference Final while the Vancouver Canucks were trying to stave off elimination. The Canucks got some bad news earlier in the day as Jacob Markstrom was deemed unfit to play and in came Thatcher Demko who had never played a playoff game in his career.
As expected the Knights countered with Robin Lehner who got the night off for Game 4 due to the back to back situation. Vegas didn’t waste any time putting pressure on the Canucks early in the game and making Demko work.
After 11 minutes the shots were 6-1 in favor of Vegas and it took 10 minutes for Vancouver to register a shot on goal. The first period ended 0-0 with no goals to report but both teams went into the intermission hoping things would change in the second period.
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The first eight minutes of the second period was back and forth action with neither team being able to get a puck past either netminder. Demko was surprisingly holding his own stopping the plethora of shots Vegas threw at him.
The Knights had another chance at a powerplay but couldn’t manage to get the puck past him and were everything they were throwing at him he managed to be stellar in net. The Knights at one point of the period were outshooting the Canucks 20-6 hoping they would score the first goal of the game.
The goal finally came when the Vancouver Canucks couldn’t get the puck out of their zone and Shea Theodore managed to get the puck and skated through 3 Canuck players before shooting it past Demko to make it 1-0 Vegas.
It didn’t take long for Vancouver to respond as 24 seconds later Brock Boeser got in on the action when he managed to tip a shot past Lehner to tie the game at one. The second period ended with both teams tied at one.
We enter the third and it seemed the Cancuks were playing desperation hockey to keep their season alive while the Knights couldn’t find a way to beat Demko who was making his first-ever playoff game.
Five minutes into the period the Canucks took the lead when Elias Pettersson who was in front of the net managed to tip a shot past Lehner to make it 2-1 Vancouver. That goal turned out to be the game-winner as Demko was solid the rest of the way and finished the game with 43 saves.
The Knights had beaten the Canucks in every department except the one that mattered most the scoreboard. The two teams will meet in Game 6 on Thursday and once again this will be a back to back situation with a possible Game 7 Friday.