Shilov repeats history, writes records and earns a new contract – Hockey – Sportacentrs.com

When the team’s first goalkeeper Thatcher Demko was injured at the end of the regular season, Artur Shilov performed better among the substitutes. But when Demko was injured again late in Game 1 of the first-round series, it only made sense that Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tuckett passed the baton to Casey DeSmith instead of Shilow. It was with this intention that Desmits was traded less than a month before the start of the season – if all the strings were missing, to have another experienced goalkeeper in the team. Desmit’s injury followed two games later.

The baton went to Artur Shilov. The World Championship MVP made several entries in the history books. By winning in Shilov’s first appearance, the Canucks became only the second team in NHL history to win the first three games in a series with three different goaltenders, and it was the first of the season for each of the goaltenders. playoff the game. Previously, it only succeeded… “Canucks” in 2004. That time, Dan Cloutier won the first game of the series, Johan Hedbury won the third game, and Alex Old won the sixth game. Each of them won only one victory. 20 years ago, Vancouver lost a seven-game series to the Calgary Flames in the first round.

This time, thanks to Shilov’s 28 saves and his second win, the point came in the sixth game. At 23 years and 42 days old, Shilov became the youngest goaltender in Canucks history to keep a clean sheet in a playoff game. Also, he became the first rookie with whom the “Canucks” celebrated a series victory.

Yes, Shilov made his NHL debut last season, but in NHL terms, a rookie is a player who has not played more than 25 games in the previous season, or has not played six or more games in each of the previous two seasons.

It should be noted that Shilov became only the second goalkeeper to have a dry game in this year’s Stanley Cup. The previous Sunday, Stuart Skinner became the first, making 33 saves. In the second round, Vancouver will face the Edmonton “Oilers” represented by Skinner. Of course, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard are the first in Edmonton’s star alley, but the goaltending duel will be significant. As in any series.

4:2, 1:4, 2:1, 4:3, 1:2, 1:0 – the duel against Nashville “Predator” was very difficult. The most productive victory of the series was won by coming back from a two-goal deficit in the last three minutes and prevailing in overtime. In the final game, the only goal was scored with one minute and 39 seconds left.

The game was also tense, in which Vancouver did not take advantage of the opportunity to score a point at home. With a controversial goal and questions in head coach Rick Tockett’s direction. In the fifth match of the series, “Predators” played back and won 2:1. The equalizer was achieved by team captain Roman Jozi, who was not near the goal when the puck crossed the line. Gustavs Nykvist worked, pushing Shilov with his stick and getting the puck into the goal.

Toket chose not to accept the coach’s challenge and not to ask the referees to evaluate the replay, because he did not want to risk – in the worst case, not only would the goal be counted, but he would also have to play in the minority. Tokets has been a conservative demander of repetitions throughout the season – only four in 82 games of the regular season. Only Detroit “Red Wings” and Winnipeg “Jets” used this opportunity less often.

A missed opportunity to win the series at home. In order not to have too gloomy a mood in the team, Jatee Miller went to practice in Shilov’s pink away shirt before the sixth game, surprising the goalkeeper and amusing his teammates. Although Quinn Hughes was nominated for the Norris Trophy and is already considered the best defenseman in the history of the Canucks, as he is the first to receive such an honor, the fans recognized Miller as the MVP of the season.

It wasn’t Miller’s first shirt outing this season. To mark forward Connor Garland’s 400th NHL game, Miller made sure all of his teammates had jerseys with Garland’s face on them. At that time, the Canucks experienced a decline in results – five losses in six games. In the jersey game, Garland had two goals, including the game-winning drive, as Vancouver beat the Las Vegas Golden Knights 4-3. Coincidence or regularity, but Miller’s humor brings results.

Although Desmits has recovered from injury, it is now impossible to imagine a scenario in which Shilov does not start the series against Edmonton. The next games can also change the future of both.

Shilov is out of contract after the season, becoming a restricted free agent. The contract will also expire for the 32-year-old Desmit, who will become an unrestricted free agent. This season, Shilov earns 786 thousand, Desmits – 1.8 million. If Shilov continues to shine, he can earn a spot as the Canucks’ number two next season.

Before playoff the initial plan contained the desire to extend the contract with Desmit and give Shilov another season in the goal of the farm club. If the World Championship does not affect a player’s NHL future, then the Stanley Cup does. Vancouver’s number one Demko is proof of that.

In the series against the “Oilers” a lot will be decided by the game in different lineups. Edmonton had both the best majority (45%, 9/20) and best minority (12/12) in the first round. Of course, most of the rules were dictated by McDavid (nine out of 12 points collected directly in the majority) and Draisaitl (seven out of ten), as well as Bouchard (five out of nine) who was on duty on the blue line.

The “Canucks” minority was also unplayable – 90.9%, or the third best. Among the forwards of the team, Teodoras Blüger had the longest playing time in the minority (15:43). The only goal that was lost with a Latvian on the ice was the already mentioned debatable Jozi goal. It should be noted that Blüger did poorly in minority shots (0/4), as well as shots in general – 33.3% was the lowest rate among Canucks centers.

Five-on-five Blüger, spending 60:54 minutes on the ice, was one of only two Vancouver forwards with whom the team did not lose a single goal on the court. The other was his exchange partner Filip Di Giuseppe (55:13). Blüger formed the fourth line with Di Giuseppe and Sam Lafferty, but at the end of the incredible save, he was briefly paired with Dakota Joshua and Connor Garland, with whom he showed excellent results in the first half of the regular season.

In the regular season, Vancouver defeated the “Oilers” in all four duels, but Bluger missed the first three games due to injury. For Shilov, next week’s meeting will be the first against Edmonton’s attacking dragon.