Thatcher Demko made his first Stanley Cup Playoff start for the Vancouver Canucks against Robin Lehner and the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Tuesday.
"All year, our goalies have been rock solid for us," Vancouver forward Brandon Sutter said. "Whoever's in, we've got full confidence in. So we're not too worried about it."
Jacob Markstrom, who started the first 14 postseason games for the Canucks, was unfit to play. As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.
Louis Domingue is backing up Demko. Domingue played one game for Vancouver, on March 1, after being acquired in a trade from the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 24.
The Canucks have lost two games in a row after splitting the first two in the series and would be eliminated with a loss. Teams trailing 3-1 are 29-285 (9.8 percent) winning a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series, including 0-7 this season.
Lehner is back in net for Vegas after Fleury made 28 saves in a 5-3 win in Game 4 on Sunday, the second of a back-to-back. Lehner had started the previous five games.
Demko made the save on the five shots he faced in 8:26 of relief in his NHL playoff debut in Game 1 against Vegas on Aug. 23, a 5-0 loss, after Markstrom allowed five goals on 34 shots. He also made 16 saves on 17 shots in 45:43 in relief of Markstrom during his only other game against the Golden Knights, a 6-2 loss March 9.
Demko was 13-10-2 with a 3.06 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 27 regular-season games. The 24-year-old rookie has not started a game since March 10, two days before the NHL paused the season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
Markstrom is 8-6 with a 2.85 GAA, a .919 save percentage and one shutout in the postseason. He has faced an NHL-high 491 shots, including 141 against the Golden Knights.
The 30-year-old, who can become an unrestricted free agent after the season, was selected to the NHL All-Star Game for the first time this season, and his .918 save percentage, a career high for a full NHL season, was fourth among goalies to play at least 40 games behind Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins (.929), Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets (.922) and Ben Bishop of the Dallas Stars (.920).
Markstrom missed the final eight games before the season was paused because of a knee injury but said in April he was fully healthy. Vancouver went 3-5-0 in those eight games.
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