Folks, the parade may have to be put on pause. It was bound to happen at some point. Tonight, the Vancouver Canucks lost their first game of the season after falling to the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 2-0.

The Canucks’ effort wasn’t there in the first period, and we’re going to guess Rick Tocchet isn’t going to speak very kindly about his team’s performance tonight. Tonight, the Canucks looked more like the team we’ve seen in recent years, and that’s obviously not a good thing.

And I really mean that. Their defensive play was nearly non-existent, they couldn’t score, and things were kept interesting thanks to a stellar 40-save performance from Thatcher Demko in goal.

Now, I could spend this Instant Reaction singling one or two guys out, but instead, I’ll just write out the notes I took during the game (you will see some players singled out). Quite literally, these are all of my instant reactions to tonight.

-How many NHL teams around the league would have Tyler Myers or Noah Juulsen in their lineup, let alone both? Right now, the Canucks do, and the results are not good. Both defencemen looked lost tonight, and it feels like no amount of coaching is going to bring Myers’ chaos levels down enough.
-Holy smokes, Thatcher Demko is good.
-The Canucks showed multiple signs of weakness in Edmonton on Saturday, and a lot of those continued tonight. Rick Tocchet wasn’t pleased with a few of his players following that game, and after a hard practice yesterday, it’s hard to imagine Tocchet will be very complimentary tonight. We’ll hear more in The Stanchies.
-Thatcher Demko, are you kidding me???
-The Canucks power play didn’t get many chances tonight, but when they did, it certainly would have been nice for them to do more. They struggled to get set up, struggled to get shots through, and just looked discombobulated all night long.
-Thatcher Demko is going to win the Vezina if his team can figure out how to just be average in front of him. That note came after this save:

It’s simple. This was a textbook example of the Canucks getting outplayed and their goaltender holding them in it. Look at the title of this article. That’s a headline from 2021-22.

Tonight, after one of Thatcher Demko’s many outstanding saves, I tweeted “Thatcher Demko is so back”. These were two replies I received, and I think that’s the most fitting way to close out tonight’s Instant Reaction:

What’s your instant reaction from tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!