Hughes and Foote frustrated after Canucks squander marvellous performance from Thatcher Demko

And of course, there were more. But you get the idea. Demko was otherworldly last night, and kept the door open for the Canucks to make a late-game comeback. After Brock Boeser scored his second goal of the season to pull the Canucks within one, the Canucks’ power play went to work with their net empty to try to tie this game up late. They pressed, but couldn’t convert, and Edmonton eventually added an empty netter to put the icing on the cake. The Canucks really had no business being in that game, but there they were in the dying moments of the game with a prime opportunity to tie this one up. And that was all thanks to Thatcher Demko.

Perhaps that’s what made the loss so disappointing in the end. That the Canucks were bailed out by their goaltender and failed to reward him for his efforts with a win in the end.

“He’s amazing,” a frustrated Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said post game. “Definitely kept us in it, with multiple chances. He just gives us a chance. I mean, most goalies that goes in and it’s 3-1, 4-1, so I mean, he just gives us a chance. He’s incredible. Seriously.”

Head coach Adam Foote sang a similar tune post game.

“Demmer was good. He played good, he kept us in there. They had five power plays. He did his job… We were right there. And when you have a performance from your goaltender like that and killing five penalties with a power play like that, you just have to be a little bit more patient. The first one, we threw one out there trying that we thought we had a guy there, and they went the other way and it ramped up, I think, on one of our sticks. And then [on the Oilers’ second goal], you know, we had an unlikely turnover. It usually doesn’t happen that way. But when we started the third, and we were all over them, we were flying. And then, you know, another penalty, which we have to just control ourselves a little bit more, be a little bit more disciplined.”