Five years ago today, the Vancouver Canucks started goaltender Thatcher Demko in his first career playoff game — an elimination game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Demko came in for an injured Jacob Markström who had started every game in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs up until that point. By this point in time, Vancouver was down 3–1 in the series, with Demko’s playoff debut being a high-stakes elimination game. Reasonably so, many were apprehensive about starting Demko, a relatively new goalie, with the series on the line. Though, as fans soon learned, there was very little to worry about.
Before Markström’s injury, the Golden Knights had asserted their dominance over a Canucks team that hadn’t made the postseason since 2015. They kicked the series off with a commanding 5–0 win. While Vancouver took Game 2 in a solid 5–2 effort, Vegas quickly came away with the series lead by winning 3–0 in Game 3, and 5–3 in Game 4. Golden Knights goaltender at the time, Robin Lehner, showed his stuff by registering two shutouts in the first four games of the series. However, as great as Lehner was, part of this was also due to Vancouver’s lack of quality chances.
With their playoff hopes on the line, Vancouver’s roster shakeup in Game 5 came in the form of Demko’s start. Prior to this, Demko had only played in a total of 37 NHL games. During the 2019–20 season, he put up a 3.06 GAA and .905 SV%, as well as a record of 13–10–2 in 25 starts. In 2017–18, Demko played in five playoff games with the Utica Comets of the AHL, posting a 2.69 GAA and .972 SV%. Tension was high among the fanbase, as they weren’t exactly sure what to expect from the goaltender in his playoff debut.
Vegas was a high shot-volume team during the 2020 Playoffs — a trend they continued during Game 5 of the Pacific Division Finals — but that didn’t stop Demko from wowing fans across the entire league. The Golden Knights piled 10 shots on Demko in the first period, 18 in the second, and 15 in the third to finish the game with 43 shots on goal. Stunningly, Demko stopped all but one.
The lone goal to go past Demko was a wrist shot from Shea Theodore that gave Vegas a 1–0 lead with five minutes left in the second period. Though, not looking to waste such a stellar performance from Demko, the Canucks tied it up less than a minute later off a deflection from Brock Boeser. A tally from Elias Pettersson at the beginning of the third period gave Vancouver the 2–1 lead — one that would hold once the buzzer sounded at the end of the game.
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Four years after this performance, Demko was nominated for his first Vezina Trophy and finished in second place with a 2.45 GAA and .918 SV% in the 2023–24 season. While injuries have negatively impacted his playing time within the past year, Demko entered the 2025 off-season healthy, signing a three-year contract extension that will kick in after the 2025–26 season. With at least four more years of Demko as a member of the Canucks, time will tell whether Vancouver can make the postseason in a similar fashion to 2020 — this time with Demko as their starter.
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