For the third time in four games, the Vancouver Canucks are starting a new goaltender.
This is according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, who reported Sunday afternoon that Casey DeSmith is dealing with an injury and the club will turn to Arturs Silovs for Game 4.
Thatcher Demko got the start for the Canucks in Game 1 of the series, allowing two goals on 24 shots in a 4-2 win, but was injured late in the game, suffering a knee injury which there have been conflicting reports about.
The injury was serious enough for Casey DeSmith to start Game 2, where he turned aside 12 of the 15 shots he faced in a 4-1 loss. But he and the Canucks rebounded well in Game 3, where DeSmith stopped 29 of 30 shots, playing all sixty minutes of their 2-1 win.
It’s not known what’s ailing DeSmith, but CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported it was unrelated to a hit he took from Predators forward Michael McCarron in Game 3. CanucksArmy’s Jeff Paterson, meanwhile, said during Saturday’s practice, DeSmith, Silovs, and Nikita Tolopilo all finished practice and that there were “no signs of any issues when I spoke to (DeSmith) after practice.”
There, DeSmith said the McCarron hit helped get him into the game.
“I kind of loved it – It got me into the game,” DeSmith told Paterson. “I thought it was kind of funny. He was clearly coming to hit me. I was laughing after the fact. I’ve got a bunch of pads on. It didn’t hurt. So I just got up and the power play made him pay for it and that felt pretty good, too.”
The injuries are almost something out of a nightmare for Canucks fans, who watched Demko miss weeks late in the regular season with a knee injury.
Silovs, meanwhile, drew in for four games during that stretch, posting a 3-0-1 record, a .881 save percentage and a 2.47 goals against average. According to Evolving Hockey, Silovs saved -0.17 goals above expected.
One of his nine career starts have come against the Predators, when on March 6th, 2023 he turned aside 29 of 32 shots for a .906 save percentage in a 4-3 shootout win. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. PST this afternoon.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
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