Canucks’ Thatcher Demko named NHL third star of the month in near-perfect December

Those around the league are taking notice at how well Thatcher Demko has performed for the Vancouver Canucks as of late.

Yesterday, Demko was named the third star of the month for the month of December.

Over the month of December, Demko backstopped the Canucks to an 8-1-0 record and hasn’t lost a game since December 4th against Pittsburgh in the infamous “Fire Benning” game.

Bruce Boudreau obviously deserves a ton of credit for the team’s recent success, but if there’s one player the club can point at to attribute most of their success to, it’s Demko.

Demko has been downright brilliant ever since Boudreau took over. This scorcher of a stat from Jeff Paterson puts into perspective just how effective Demko has been.

In his early assessments of the team, Jim Rutherford has made it clear that there’s a lot about this team he thinks needs fixing. One player that he’s absolutely thrilled to have, however, is Demko.

“One of the real pluses is we have a franchise goalie,” Rutherford told Postmedia. “When you’re trying to build a championship team, and you already have that piece in place, you can start chipping away at things.”

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Austin Matthews and Vegas forward Max Pacioretty, beat Demko out for first and second star of the month.