In Edmonton, with just over six minutes left in regulation, the Vegas Golden Knights’ Shea Theodore struck for the game’s first goal to help defeat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-0, in Game 7 of their series.
“It’s crazy,” Theodore said. “I think we had so many good quality chances. I thought we did a lot better job getting to the net tonight, getting rebounds, so to finally break that tie was huge. It was a big one for our group.”
The goal came on the power play.
Robin Lehner made 14 saves to get the shutout.
“Robin Lehner was great; we didn’t have any passengers tonight,” Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer said. “We had 20 committed guys out there making sure we advanced. We felt like we played two pretty good games in Games 5 and 6, and it took almost all of Game 7 in order to put them away, so you have to give (Canucks coach) Travis Green and his group a ton of credit for how they battled and hung in there and pushed us right to the edge.”
Alex Tuch and Paul Stastny added empty net goals as the Canucks pulled the goalie for an extra attacker.
“They have a really good team and we took them to seven games,” the Canucks’ Bo Horvat said. “We shouldn’t hang our heads. You’ve got to give them the credit. They have a good hockey team over there.
“[Demko], especially in this last couple games, was unbelievable. We wouldn’t be in these situations without him. … He was a brick wall for us.”
[WATCH:Â All Canucks vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Thatcher Demko made 33 saves in the tough loss.
“Man, did [Demko] ever give us a chance,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said. “I’m happy for him. I’ve been with him for a while. It was good to see him raise to this level. I don’t think many people thought we’d be a goal away from going to the (NHL) semifinals.
“[Vegas] is a big, strong, fast team and I know we left everything out there. Our guys were coming off the ice panting and tired, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse. We still had a chance to win the hockey game.”
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