– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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DALLAS — There was no way that an early two-goal deficit was going to deter the Vancouver Canucks, especially with whom they had in goal and his history with Thursday’s opponents. We are more than eight months removed from Groundhog Day, but another Thatcher Demko appearance against the Dallas Stars ended with another Vancouver Canucks victory.
Demko made 28 saves as the Canucks scored three goals in a 3:26 span midway through the second period to overcome a two-goal deficit and defeat the Stars 5-3 inside American Airlines Center. Vancouver, which earned its first win of the season, scored four goals in the second period overall, with Filip Chytil, Brock Boeser, Max Sasson and Conor Garland all tallying in the second after the Canucks entered the first intermission down 2-0.
“We were 1-2 and now we’re 2-2. We had no panic. It’s early. We’re trying to find our game,” Garland said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys in the lineup just getting used to the League. To hang in there tonight against one of the best teams in the Western Conference, it was a good statement by us.”
Demko improved his career record against the Stars to 9-1-1 in his career. Despite having his poorest performance of his three games so far this season, Demko has allowed just six goals on 85 shots in his three starts.
Dallas jumped out to that early lead on goals from Mavrik Bourque early in the first period and Mikko Rantanen at the 19:22 mark of the opening frame.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 23 pictures in total.
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