Artūrs Šilovs Starting Game Four for Vancouver Canucks

Arturs Silovs Starting Game 4

After the debacle of seeing an 18-year-old being forced into NHL action a few years back, the Canucks made changes. Primarily, always having experience available between the pipes. Not just two players in the NHL, either, but also someone on the farm.

Jaroslav Halák, Spencer Martin, and Casey DeSmith were fine in their backup roles. But Martin backed up Halák, Collin Delia backed up Martin, and today, well, Artūrs Šilovs is starting for DeSmith.

Šilovs has nine NHL games under his belt, all starts. This season, he has three wins and one overtime loss with a .881 save percentage and 2.47 goals against average.

Vancouver focused on shutting down the Predators’ best chances last game with DeSmith in net, so expect that again today.

Third Time Lucky

Thatcher Demko‘s return from a month-long injury was a buoyant time for Canucks fans. Coming back with two games to go in the regular season was playing it close, but he was their long-term veteran. With the playoffs set, the team took every precaution he didn’t return early.

That lasted one game. One excellent game, certainly, but just one game.

According to the little information that Vancouver – or any team at this time of year – gives, Demko’s injury isn’t the same as what took him out of commission during the season. Unfortunately, that doesn’t provide a return date and we’re left with speculation.

In replacement, DeSmith has provided Vancouver with what he has all year long: decent, solid play. When he’s been in the net, he’s been good enough to not lose. That’s what you hope for in a backup.

DeSmith showed some nerves in his first playoff game in Vancouver, and understandably so. Replacing a Vezina-caliber goaltender for their first home playoff series in over a decade can’t be easy. But he settled down and was good enough to get his first NHL playoff win days later in Nashville.

What Does Artus Silovs Starting Mean?

The team obviously won’t say what the injury is or how he was injured. He took a solid hit from Michael McCarron behind the net but also withstood plenty of furious play late as Nashville tried to tie. An injury could have happened any time, with DeSmith noticing it after the adrenaline wore off.

The closest we have on a timeline is that Demko is “week-to-week” which tells us nothing. We haven’t heard of another player being called up from Abbotsford as of yet. The Abbotsford Canucks are prepared for the deciding game in their playoffs tonight against Colorado.