With Vancouver Canucks’ star goaltender Thatcher Demko starting the 2024-25 season on the injured non-roster list, there was a question as to who would earn the starter’s crease on opening night against the Calgary Flames.

After morning skate on Wednesday, Sportsnet 650’s Randip Janda had the scoop that Rick Tocchet confirmed that it would be Arturs Silovs getting the start tonight to open the season.

Silovs stepped up for the Canucks in a big way last season once Demko went down with a knee injury. The Latvian netminder suited up in four regular season games, finishing with a 3-0-1 record, with a 2.47 goals against average (GAA) and a .881 save percentage (S%).

The 23-year-old entered the postseason as the third-string but quickly rose to second on the depth chart after Demko suffered his popliteus injury in Game 1 against Nashville. By Game 4 of the same series, Silovs had the keys to the crease and didn’t give them back. He finished the postseason with a 5-5 record, a 2.91 GAA and a .898 S%.

With Demko’s timeline during the offseason unknown, the Canucks brought in Finnish netminder Kevin Lankinen. The 29-year-old goalie signed a one-year, $875,000 contract with the Canucks on September 21. He’s spent the previous two seasons as a backup with the Nashville Predators, playing in 43 games, with a 20-14-1 record, 2.78 GAA and a .912 S%, with one shutout.

While being with the team for only a few weeks, Silovs had the inside track on opening night from the get-go — however, the tandem projects to be more of a 1A-1B situation until Demko returns.

Tocchet mentioned how excited he and his players are to get the season kicked off tonight against the Flames.

“Opening night is always great for everybody. From my experience, you try to temper it down a little bit cause people get too excited and overzealous. I do like the jump [from his players] the last couple days, the temperament to guys. [The] Guys are itching to go.”