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The Stanchies: Demko stands alone, Hughes sets a Canucks record in 3-1 loss to Oilers
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Photo credit: © Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Lachlan Irvine
Oct 12, 2025, 09:53 EDTUpdated: Oct 12, 2025, 10:19 EDT
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“One more drink, ” she said
I think I’m losing my head now
Tonight we’ll make bad memories
We’re two games into the 2025-26 regular season, and already we’ve gotten the full Vancouver Canucks experience.
On one side, we have Thursday’s 5-1 stomping of the Calgary Flames. It took some time, but everything was clicking by the third period. Scoring from four lines, no passengers and a night of fast-paced fun hockey for Adam Foote’s first win.
Saturday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, on the other hand, was the antithesis. The Canucks got absolutely taken to task by the back-to-back Western Conference champions. They just watched as their ‘numbers’ game plan got matched and turned back on them at every turn, and an abysmal 15 shots on goal thanks to a lot of no-shows across the roster.
For all the talk Adam Foote had about playing a different brand of hockey before the season started, this game looked a whole lot like the game plan from last season, for all the wrong reasons. The only thing more frustrating than this game has been listening to people argue about which baseball team is the right one to cheer for in the ALCS. (Don’t worry, I agree with the exact team you’re cheering for.)
Taking all that into consideration, you’d probably expect the final score to be a blowout, right? But no, it was actually just a 3-1 Oilers win. The only bright spot in an otherwise bleak game was Thatcher Demko, who turned aside 34 Edmonton shots, including 13 of the Oilers’ 14 high-danger shots. His teammates rewarded him with only four of their own on Calvin Pickard, who had far too easy a night.
It’s early enough in the season that this is a game the Canucks can learn from and improve on, and that’s great to know. But it’s our job to critique them anyway, we’re not in the business of free passes here at Stanchies Inc.
Strap yourselves in, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
Best truth hurts
Best that’s the spirit!
We’d all need a stiff drink by the end of this game — especially Thatcher Demko.
Best broadcasting questions
This broadcast was a tough one to get through. Not just because John Shorthouse’s incredible voice was missing, but because he and the other national play-by-play men were passed over by the Oilers’ regulars instead.
To be fair, they really tried. Jack Michaels did his best to not come off as an Oilers homer, but he was pronouncing Canucks’ names like some of them flew in from Tatooine next to Babu Frick and Sy Snoodles. Between that and Louie DeBrusk being a professional and not giving his son special treatment, it’s hard not to feel like we’re watching an Oilers broadcast masquerading as Hockey Night in Canada.
Matthew’s tweet tells the whole story of what we’re in for over the next 12 years of the Rogers’ monopoly on NHL hockey. Saturday night used to be special; now it’s just another in a slate of 82.
Oh, I’m sorry, did I bum you out too early? Well, let’s get to something fun first.
Best Grim Reaper
With the Canucks back in their blue, green and white Orca getups, Thatcher Demko got to debut a new mask tonight. And boy, do we love that kind of stuff in these parts.
Similar to his past Zombie Johnny Canuck motifs, this lid takes the lumberjack down the skeleton route for the first time. In an era where goalie masks often get bogged down by cramming too many team logos and references, this one reminds me of the classic, simple ‘Johnny C’ themed buckets that Roberto Luongo and Ryan Miller donned in seasons past.
And if that wasn’t enough, the backplate has a portrait of legendary Canuck equipment manager Patty O’Neill, who retired at the end of last season. Demko has always understood what goes into a great Canucks mask, and this one is an instant classic if he wears it all season.
The skull’s deathly vibe turned out to be very apt tonight, considering Demko snatched a few Oilers’ souls before this night was out. We got a preview of the game to come just two minutes in, when the Oilers put together their first scoring chance.
Facing a 3-on-2, DePetey pinches to try and cover Andrew Mangiapane carrying the puck at the blue line, but he finds an open Ryan Nugent-Hopkins skating through the middle. Derek Forbort slides out to try and take away RNH’s passing lane, but Nuge manages to get the puck around him to Matthew Savoie, who’s a little too open in the slot.
Luckily, Thatcher Demko’s already checked his side mirrors and effortlessly shuts Savoie down in close.
Demko’s play was going to be a theme of the evening, for all the right reasons on his part and the wrong ones on his team’s part.
Best all by myself
Quinn Hughes seemed to be the only Canucks who didn’t get in on the scoring in the opener against Calgary, so he was on a mission pretty darn early.
Hughes was putting Oilers in the rinse cycle as soon as the Canucks got their first lick of sustained pressure. His mind was moving at a speed that even his body couldn’t entirely keep up with, which is how he managed to blow a tire in the middle of getting a perfect pass across to Filip Hronek.
Best Life of a Showgirl
The Oilers dominated the scoring chances throughout the night, and the Canucks were hanging on for dear life through most of it. Every Oilers venture into the Canucks’ zone had slight variants, but were essentially identical, like Taylor Swift trying to sell you 50 versions of the same (very mid) album.
The one person selling anything worth buying was Thatcher Demko.
The play would go like this: Canucks attempt to start a rush to the Oilers zone, get stuffed or give the puck away, Oilers flip the rush the other way and hem a now gassed quintet of Canucks in the defensive end until Demko could bail them out.
Here he is robbing Trent Frederic on a scoring attempt that Hronek and Filip Chytil realize is wide open farrr too late.
A penalty kill later, and Demko shuts down former teammate Vasily Podkolzin right on the doorstep.
Then during a late penalty kill, Demko robs David Tomasek with a save so powerful that it puts him on his rear end.
Demko was moving and tracking the puck at a speed that only prime Lightning McQueen could rival. The score could’ve easily been 10-zip for Edmonton at the end of the first period if not for him. Instead, the Canucks had the lifeline of a scoreless game.
Best double agent
On a night where he returned to Edmonton, the city where he’d had the most success of his career and was beloved by fans, Evander Kane didn’t exactly make the best impression on his new fanbase in this one.
Kane will come up a lot tonight, largely for not great reasons. Remember that Frederic chance from before? The Canucks had tried to get out of the zone after an extended shift ten seconds earlier, but Kane had been easily stripped at centre ice, so no one could even change.
Then, with three minutes to go in the first, the Canucks finally seemed to be stringing together some shifts with sustained pressure. Then Kane takes an ill-timed high stick on Tomasek in the offensive end, killing their momentum.
Despite his error, Kane got the chance to redeem himself on Power Play 1. Instead, we got this.
Best Hit for a Hit
Tyler Myers doesn’t get knocked over often, so when Leon Draisaitl caught him behind the net with a bone rattler, it was an eye-opener.
But the Chaos Giraffe doesn’t take a number when he gets hit. He just finds a new target.
In this case, it was poor, unsuspecting Trent Frederic, laying him out with a big open ice hit.
Frederic got right back up, but the message was clear: don’t wake the giant.
Best fix is in
I don’t really know what to say about this Kiefer Sherwood penalty, but he sure gave the ref a mouthful about it.
Thanks to Draisaitl’s… er, theatrics… this was called a trip when it was, at best, interference. But even that call is questionable with how quickly the play is moving.
I don’t blame Sherwood for blowing up at all.
Best Dam Burst
You knew the Oilers were going to break through eventually.
Sherwood’s penalty was another fruitless man-advantage for the Oilers, but they didn’t end up needing it.
Instead, the Oilers’ third line gets a rush going with Conor Garland, Filip Chytil and Sherwood all caught below the hashmarks. Podkolzin carries the puck over the blue line before Kasperi Kapanen and Noah Philp play keep away from Myers and Hughes. Right as they cross into the Canucks’ end and Hughes tries to seal off Kapanen, he finds Philp streaking down the middle, who manages to get a quick shot away that Demko can’t snag.
There are three guarantees in life: death, taxes, and players scoring their first NHL goal against the Canucks. Tonight it was Philp’s turn.
Best uh-daptable?
Tonight was always going to be a test for these Canucks in terms of challenging an incredibly speedy Oilers team. Kris Knoblauch’s team plays the type of game Adam Foote wants his Canucks to imitate, with speed through the neutral zone and physicality on defence. But copying someone else’s homework is hard to do successfully in this league, especially when you’re facing the team you’re replicating.
It looked like a team afraid of making mistakes or trying anything, because they knew how badly the Oilers could burn them the other way. It says a lot that the Canucks’ best chance in the second period was when Calvin Pickard shot the puck at himself.
Best tale of two hits
Evander Kane would find a way to make Alec Regula’s life miserable twice in this game. This hit was the first.
The hit itself wasn’t that hard, and Regula seemed more focused on making a meal out of it rather than tending to any wounds, but that didn’t stop Darnell Nurse from tangling up with his former teammate.
Both Kane and Nurse got penalties for jawing at each other, creating a lot of open ice late in the period.
Best 180 degree turn
Ohhhh, Chytil. You were bigger than the whole sky.
If the first game of the season against the Flames was Filip Chytil at his best, tonight was him at his worst.
Out on the 4-on-4, Chytil was backing up Tyler Myers in the corner near the goal line when he collected the puck. Rather than try to skate it out, Chytil made the infinitely worse choice to try a cross-ice breakout pass attempt.
Andrew Eats Bread gobbled the puck up in his skates and rifled it past Demko for a deflating late goal.
The way this game was going, that 2-0 lead was looking damn near insurmountable.
Best Ray of Hope
God, am I happy that Brock Boeser is still a Vancouver Canuck.
The Canucks had nine shots through two periods, which doesn’t exactly send the right message about their skillset. So they decided they needed to come out firing in the third, and immediately put the Oilers on their heels.
Quinn Hughes took the puck from Jake DeBrusk near the blue line, walked the line and saucered a pass to Boeser under pressure in the net front. Brock calmly collected it, spun and shot the puck through the wickets of Calvin Pickard.
One of the only Canucks that truly loves playing the Oilers is Boeser.
Best country mile
It took him a couple of games longer than everyone expected, but Quinn Hughes is finally alone on top of the Canucks’ list of points by a defenceman, surpassing Alex Edler.
Two hundred twenty-two other men have suited up on the blue line in 55 years of Canucks hockey. It took Hughes just 435 games – 490 fewer than the Eagle – to pass every single one of them. He’s done it through double coverage from opponents, the pressure of a hockey-mad market and even an assortment of broken limbs. He’s levels of superhuman the likes of which we’ve never, ever seen (with all due respect to Erik Johnson’s opinion about the best defender in hockey).
There aren’t enough words to describe the talent Hughes possesses, what he means to the Canucks organization as a whole, and how we’ll likely never see a Canuck like him again. The best thing I can offer is to enjoy and savour these highlights as they happen, as best you can – not just because they’ll end someday (hopefully a long, long time from now). But because every point from here on out is a record breaker.
Best Chaos everywhere
Tyler Myers was called for a penalty. That penalty was puck over glass.
It probably should’ve been for this stick straight to Connor’s McJewels.
Gotta give McDavid credit, not many people would’ve have gotten up that fast after taking a Chaos Giraffe two hander straight to the stick and pucks. Or this is a great endorsement for the company that made his jock strap.
Best legacy game
Thatcher Demko might’ve ended up with the loss, but he was the absolute star of the hockey game. And he saved his best for last.
The Canucks had just killed off Myers’ penalty when a scramble led to a Conor Garland turnover in close. Evan Bouchard finds Leon Draisaitl, locked and loaded, starting at a wide-open net. Or so he and everyone else thought, until the outstretched arm of Demko’s glove found a way.
Do you hear that sound? It’s probably the sirens of police cars, cause this was highway ROBBERY.
Look at Draisaitl’s teammates! They ALL thought he had a sure goal. It’s a save so nice, we have to show it twice.
It’s early to crown a save of the year, but we might have to call the race already. Take notes, NHL goalies. This is the one to beat.
Best shooting themselves in the foot
The Canucks might’ve been able to mount a stronger comeback after the Demko save, but once again penalties killed their momentum. This time it was Chytil getting into Frederic’s kitchen too much and chopping him down.
There’s never a good time to take an O-zone penalty, but five minutes left in a one-goal game is among the worst.
Best bad omens
Now with accidental parking the bus!
Best Tick Tick BOOM
Here’s the second time Regula was on the wrong end of a EK91 hit, and THIS one was a doozy.
This was Kane’s best play of the game, and probably what the Canucks had in mind when they traded for him. Thunderous hits that piss off the opponent enough to take a late crucial penalty.
Best rookie mistakes
Here’s where Adam Foote’s inexperience came back to haunt the Canucks.
The Canucks have a power play with just over three minutes to go, and pulling Demko for a 6-on-4 makes sense. But who do you put out there? Here are your options:
A) Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Conor Garland, giving you five forwards – including a good one timer option – plus a defender?
or B) 34 year-old Evander Kane and a second defenceman in Fil Hronek?
If you chose Option A, you’re not Adam Foote. Instead, the Canucks make Hronek the extra man; they nearly scored if not for Boeser, who couldn’t properly corral a DeBrusk centring pass, and Draisaitl ends up sailing the puck into the back of the empty net.
That Quinn Hughes stick smash at the end tells you all you need to know.
Best we need to talk
I get that it was Kane’s homecoming, but man, this is a bad look. If you’re the head coach, you cannot let Kane keep taking these minute-long shifts where the offence simply dies when you have far better weapons on the bench. Yes, Elias Pettersson had a frustratingly quiet game. But he also played nearly four minutes less at even strength than Kane, ice time allocation that absolutely will not win you hockey games.
I hope Foote is prepared to be the bad guy and rein in that discrepancy. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long a$$ year.
Best Jersey Botch
This comes courtesy of one of the watch parties happening around the Lower Mainland tonight.
A jersey so stunning, you probably didn’t even notice the wearer is talking to Kirk McLean!
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