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Scenes from morning skate: Demko returns, Boeser a game-time decision for Canucks vs. Sabres
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Dec 11, 2025, 14:51 EST
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The Vancouver Canucks (11-16-3) face the Buffalo Sabres (12-14-4) in their final home game before Christmas tonight. Game time is 7 pm at Rogers Arena. The expansion cousins are sitting in last place in their respective conferences. 
Thatcher Demko returns to the crease exactly one month after suffering a groin injury in a November 11th game against the Winnipeg Jets. 

What we saw

The Canucks were expected to hold an optional morning skate, but changed plans and had almost everyone on the ice. Brock Boeser woke up with some discomfort and was given the morning off. He was receiving treatment from the team’s medical staff, and the hope is that the veteran winger will be able to go tonight. If he can’t, Lukas Reichel would draw into the lineup. Reichel skated in Boeser’s spot with David Kämpf and Conor Garland this morning.
Vancouver is hoping the return of Demko, who turned 30 on Monday, can give the team a boost. He leads the Canucks in wins this season despite missing the last month of action. He is 5-4 with a 2.30 GAA and a .902 save percentage.
Forward Elias Pettersson will miss his third straight game with an undisclosed upper-body injury. Pettersson is expected to travel with the team when it embarks on a five-game road trip tomorrow.
Offence has become an issue for the Canucks, and that point was driven home with a 4-0 shutout loss on Monday. The club has scored just seven goals in its last five games, and four of them came in a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
One of the big reasons for the scoring struggles is that the Canucks are 0 for 20 on the power play in the past six games. The team’s last goal with the man advantage came off the stick of Evander Kane on November 26th in Anaheim. 
Based on Wednesday’s practice, the Canucks will lineup like this:
(Boeser)-Kämpf-Garland
Kane-O’Connor-Sherwood
DeBrusk-Sasson-Karlsson
Höglander-Räty-Bains
Hughes-Hronek
MPettersson-Willander
EPettersson-Myers
Demko

The Opponent

The Sabres arrive in Vancouver after a wild 4-3 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Buffalo led 3-0 going to the third period, but allowed a pair of Connor McDavid goals, including one with just two seconds remaining. However, Alex Tuch scored the winner just 33 seconds into OT. Josh Doan had a pair of goals, and Tage Thompson had the other to go along with two helpers. Rasmus Dahlin collected three assists.
Alex Lyon picked up the win in relief of starter Colten Ellis, who left the game late in the first period. Buffalo went two for six on the power play while holding the Oilers at bay on four opportunities.
The win was just the third road victory of the season for the Sabres (3-9-2), with all three coming beyond regulation time. It was also the first win after three losses to open a six-game road trip that will conclude in Seattle on Sunday.
Thompson leads the Sabres with 14 goals, and he and Tuch share the team lead with 26 points apiece. Doan’s two goals on Tuesday give him 10 on the season – the first time he’s reached double-digits in his NHL career.
Buffalo scored twice on the power play in Edmonton, has four PPG in its last two games and seven on 23 opportunities (30.4%) in the past five games.
Chilliwack native Zach Benson has 11 assists but is still looking for his first goal of the season. 
Tonight’s starter, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, gave up five goals in two periods before being replaced by Alex Lyon in Calgary on Monday night. UPL was given a full night off on Tuesday and was not in uniform.

News and notes

The Canucks will visit Buffalo to kick off a six-game Eastern road trip on January 6th. 
The referees for tonight’s game are Wes McCauley and Cody Beach.

What we heard

Adam Foote on Brock Boeser’s status for tonight’s game: “He just woke up with discomfort. They sent him to the doc to make sure it’s not appendix. Hopefully it’s not that and we’ll have him tonight. We should know in the next hour or two.”
Adam Foote on having full group (except Boeser) on the ice for morning skate: “We don’t play after tonight until Sunday. Yesterday we just weren’t as sharp as I would have liked. So we wanted to fine tune a couple of things and today was way better with the zip. Plus the first drill really gets our goaltender into it as far as going back for pucks and touches. So there was more than one reason why.”
Adam Foote on hopefully getting a boost from the return of Thatcher Demko: “Oh yeah, for sure. Him just coming back to practice gave everyone a boost. You see guys off the injury list and coming back to practice and now they’re ready to suit up should give everyone a boost, for sure.”
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