‘You want to be the guy’: Canucks goalie Lankinen ready if Demko injury lingers

Almost a quarter of the way into the NHL season, things are not looking great for the Vancouver Canucks.

VANCOUVER — Thatcher Demko’s return to the Vancouver Canucks’ lineup was woefully short-lived.

After missing three games for maintenance last week, the 29-year-old goalie started in net against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.

He played a single period, giving up three goals on eight shots before being sidelined by a lower-body injury.

A Canucks spokesperson said after the game that the ailment is not related to the maintenance days Demko took last week.

How long he’ll remain out of the lineup, however, remains unclear.

“We’ll find out tomorrow the time,” head coach Adam Foote said after Vancouver (8-9-1) fell 5-3 to the Winnipeg Jets.

Kevin Lankinen took over the net to start the second period and made 20 saves.

The Finnish netminder said he didn’t get a chance to speak with Demko after the game, but felt for him nonetheless.

“Of course, we’re all human beings, and I don’t think anybody understands a goalie as well as another goalie,” Lankinen said. ”Like I said, I haven’t had a chance to talk to him, so I don’t know. I’m not quite sure what’s going on, but I hope for the best.”

Coming in off the bench is simply part of the job, he added.

“That’s what we do,” Lankinen said. ”You got to be ready at all times, and it’s part of my preparation to be ready every single night, whenever I get called upon and play my best game.”

This isn’t the first time Lankinen has stepped in for the injured Demko.

He first signed with Vancouver last September after the Canucks announced at training camp that Demko would miss time recuperating from a knee injury he suffered in the first game of Vancouver’s first-round playoff series against the Nashville Predators in the spring of 2024.

The six-foot-four, 192-pound goalkeeper from San Diego, Cali., did not play again until Dec. 10, 2024, and struggled to stay healthy through much of last season. He played just 23 games, and posted a 10-8-3 record with a .889 save percentage, a 2.90 goals-against average and one shutout.

Demko then signed a three-year, US$25.5-million extension on July 1. He’s now 5-4-0 with a .903 save percentage and a 2.80 goals-against average.

Tuesday marked Lankinen’s fourth game in seven days. Asked whether that workload is sustainable, the goalie said he’s ready to play every single game.

“You want to be the guy. You want to carry the load, help the team win,” he said. “And I’ve been feeling really good, and hopefully we’re going to get some more results here soon.”

After being tagged with Tuesday’s loss, Lankinen is 3-5-1 this season with a .885 save percentage and a 3.57 goals-against average.

Vancouver’s goalie tandem was touted as a strength before the season began, with many expecting Demko to return to form.

“If you look at the league, anyone who’s won, gone deep in the playoffs, had a good goalie,” Foote said. ”And we talked about this at the beginning of the year — it’s like football, you need the quarterback. And we have a good goalie tandem. So it is what it is.”

Crisis averted

The Canucks skirted yet another major injury.

Captain Quinn Hughes got his stick tangled up in Mark Schiefele’s body midway through the second, and appeared to hurt his arm or shoulder on the play.

He dropped his stick and grabbed his arm, then went down the tunnel to the locker room.

“Weird play, just one of those weird ones,” said the star defenceman. “I think I’m all good.”

Hughes returned later in the period after hearing on the radio that his team was heading to the power play.

“They were taping me up, and I heard that it was (happening), so just good timing,” he said.

Drought snapped

Winnipeg’s power play limped into Vancouver, having gone scoreless on its last 14 attempts across four games.

Josh Morrissey ended the drought at the 14:38 mark of the first, unleashing a shot from inside the blue line that ticked off Canucks winger Kiefer Sherwood and in past Demko to level the score at 2-2.

The Jets went 2-for-4 with the man advantage on Tuesday, with Gabriel Vilardi popping a shot past Lankinen 48 seconds into the third.

Getting the power play going was big, said Morrissey, who had a goal and two assists on the night.

“We want to be a difference maker in a positive way for the group,” he said. And whether it’s, of course, trying to score goals, but also trying to bring momentum and build momentum for the shifts after if we don’t score. … It was nice to get a few."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2025.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press