Demko is California dreamin’ in beating Golden Knights

How 2020 of the Golden Knights.

They couldn’t close out a Western Conference semifinal series Tuesday night because they couldn’t solve a goaltender making his first career postseason start and the first of any kind in months.

A player who was born in San Diego and played much of his youth hockey up and down the California coast. Who skated more than he surfed.

Who led Vancouver past the Knights 2-1 in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series in Edmonton, Alberta. Who did so almost single-handedly.

Thatcher Demko. Sounds like a guy who should be lounging in a red leather chair while wearing a silk robe, a port of cognac in one hand while puffing from the most pristine of Savinelli Miele pipes and reading Viktor Frankl.

I’m guessing the Knights would have preferred Demko play such a role rather than facing them. He might not have been the most interesting man in the world over 60 minutes, but he sure was the best player on either team.

It’s the cliche of playoff hockey: No one has a clue what might occur on a given sheet of ice once the tournament commences, even from a hub city. Especially from there.

“Their goalie came up big,” is how Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez put it.

Martinez also thinks it might grow chilly across Canada in a few months.

‘Marky’ gets rest

Demko started over Jacob Markstrom, the latter having started 14 straight playoff games and looking exhausted at the end of Game 4. The Knights scored three goals on four shots in the third period of a 5-3 win Sunday.

Markstrom was gassed.

Enter silk robe and cognac guy.

“I found out that I was starting (Monday night),” Demko said. “They just wanted to give Marky some time to feel things out, and they needed me to play. Going through an (abbreviated) training camp and now being in a bubble, you just never know what’s going to happen or when it’s going to happen.

“Just work during practice and make sure you’re mentally tough and that you’re prepared when and if you get called.”

Marky — um, Markstrom — sat in the press box at Rogers Place wearing a backward baseball cap, a mask protecting his face in these COVID-19 times. He was seen clapping throughout the night at Demko’s play.

Marky clapped a lot.

Demko tallied 42 saves, and Vancouver made Elias Pettersson’s go-ahead goal early in the third period stand up.

It actually took one of the more skilled and memorable goals of any recent playoff game to just beat Demko once.

But as pretty as Shea Theodore’s score was to make it 1-0 in the second, the Knights couldn’t find another despite outshooting Vancouver 43-17. That’s how inexplicable hockey can be. Domination doesn’t stand a chance against this type of red-hot goalie.

“(Demko) was really good,” Knights coach Pete DeBoer said. “They were opportunistic. We’ve got to make it harder on them. You can’t overreact. You have two good teams going at it, and we have a chance to win this thing (Thursday) in six.”

This much is obvious: The Knights will have to earn any series victory.

Not going away

A prevailing thought was that if the Knights could score first and have elimination creep into the minds of the Canucks, it would stand that Vancouver might start thinking about escaping the hub and returning home to their families and a normal daily existence.

That lasted all of 24 seconds, which is how much time it took for Vancouver to answer Theodore’s goal and tie things at 1 entering the final 20 minutes.

Once there, a 24-year-old making the most important start of his career stood much taller than even his 6-foot-4-inch frame.

“It’s special, my first time being in the playoffs,” Demko said. “Obviously, these are unique circumstances, but it’s the playoffs nonetheless. This is what I have wanted to be part of ever since I was a kid, so being able to get this opportunity is super special. I just want to keep helping in any way I can.

“No one wants to go home. We’re going to fight until we are out for good.”

That’s not yet. The kid from San Diego, that hotbed of hockey, made sure of it.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.