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Demko struggling with early season slump, Martin to get start tonight for Vancouver


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Brennen Beaudin
November 12, 2022  (1:40 PM)
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Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko is having anything but the start to the season that he wanted. Currently sitting at 1-7-2 with an .874 save percentage in 10 games this season, Demko feels that he needs to do better, and it is eating away at him.

"I'm not doing as good a job as I know I can do," the Vancouver Canucks goaltender said, according to Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre. "It's something that as a teammate, as a competitor, you know, it kind of eats at you."

That's not the worst part though, as he is particularly concerned by how much work he did in the offseason without seeing any results in games.
"That's the most frustrating part, I think," Demko said. "If I was sitting around all summer not doing anything, then you can look at yourself (struggle) and be like, 'alright, well, that makes sense.' I think that's where some of the frustration comes. Putting the work in in the summer, putting the work in every day ... (trying) to be one of the first guys that come to the rink. I'm in the gym all the time, working hard on the ice."

"You've always kind of been told that as you grow up, that's kind of what it takes to be successful. And so sometimes it feels like you're just trying everything. But, you know, it's part of the process. Nothing is going to be perfect all the time, so I'm sticking with it, and, like I said, I know it's going to turn."

Head coach Bruce Boudreau believes that his top guy can turn things around, and everyone else in the room has just as much faith as him.
"The one thing you always based everything on was, in the end, we had the goaltending to save us," Boudreau said. "And it will save us in the end, but it hasn't saved us too often yet. But there's not a guy in the room - coaches or players - that doesn't have the ultimate faith in him that it's going to come back. His body of work has been too good for it not to happen."

"No one works harder than him. He comes out half an hour early every day. He stays on (late) every day. His desire and drive to be the best is right up there with all of them. I mean, his slump has been a little longer than we would really have liked. But at some point, he's going to find it. Whether it's one save, whether it's one game ... all of a sudden it'll click back in, and his confidence will be there."

The Canucks are just 4-7-3 through 14 games this season, and with Demko struggling, Spencer Martin will be getting the start tonight versus Toronto. The 27-year-old is currently 3-0-1 with a .900 save percentage and 3.45 GAA.