In Vancouver, it wasn’t easy for the Canucks,they withstood two power play goals from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the middle frame, but Thatcher Demko made 51 saves on Saturday night in a 3-2 win.
“I say the same thing every day, he’s one of the best goalies in the League,” Vancouver’s J.T. Miller said. “He kept us in the game. It was a big two points for us. They brought their A-game in the second and third period.”
Miller had a goal in the Canucks’ initial drive for a 2-0 lead in the game, Brock Boeser scored the second goal.
“I don’t care if we got outshot,” Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We ended up winning the game, and that’s the bottom line. It would take a fool to think that. We know the goalie was amazing. He’s our goalie, and we get to have him every night.”
Auston Matthews and Ondrej Kase scored off the power play to get the game even at 2-2.
“It’s unlike us,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We’ve been very consistent with our ability to bounce back and put together long stretches of winning, but I don’t like the start, so to me it’s a self-inflicted loss. I don’t like that, but we did a lot of really good things here, so we’re not going to get too down about this one.”
The Maple Leafs dropped to 30-12-3.
“We just lacked the intensity required to start the game,” Keefe said. “Obviously we deserved a whole lot more goals than we got tonight, but that’s what happens right? It’s a team that relies on world class goaltending to win games, and you give them a two-goal lead and it’s an uphill climb.”
Juho Lammikko scored the game-winner for the Canucks with 90 seconds left in the second period.
The Canucks improved to 22-21-6.
Petr Mrazek made 21 saves in the Toronto loss.
“I didn’t like the third goal,” Mrazek said. “I wish I would just put it in different spot and I just put it right on his stick.”
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