Canucks hang Silovs out to dry in NHL debut with porous defence vs. Rangers

A 21-year-old goalie played his first National Hockey League game on Wednesday. And even after playing it for the Vancouver Canucks, Arturs Silovs wants more.

The Canucks’ minor-league starter and top goaltending prospect, Silovs was recalled from the American League to get experience in Wednesday’s start against the New York Rangers, so that the Latvian will have a better idea what’s required to play at the top level when he competes for an NHL spot next season and beyond.

The same work experience was granted Thatcher Demko for one game near the end of the 2017-18 season, a year before Demko became an NHL regular and three years before he succeeded Jacob Markstrom as the Canuck starter.

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The problem with what Silovs experienced Wednesday is the same problem Demko, Spencer Martin and Collin Delia have all experienced this season: the porous defensive play in front of them.

The Rangers pumped five pucks past Silovs and fired another into an empty net to win 6-4 at Rogers Arena as the Canucks lost for the fourth time in five games and allowed five or more goals for the fifth time in six. In the only game they allowed less, the Canucks lost 4-3 to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden last week.

Since new coach Rick Tocchet took over from Bruce Boudreau’s team that was 31^st in the NHL in defending, the Canucks have allowed a league-worst 4.56 goals per game. Even more grotesque, the goalies filling in during the final stages of Demko’s recovery from a serious groin injury have stopped only 82.9 per cent of shots during the 3-5-1 start to the Tocchet era.

That kind of goaltending over an extended period doesn’t keep anyone employed in professional hockey, let alone in the NHL. But it also reflects the quality of the scoring chances the Canucks create for their opponents (and Vancouver goalies). On Wednesday when, for example, Vancouver defencemen Riley Stillman and Tyler Myers turned a New York three-on-two rush into a two-on-one, then an open-net tap-in for Chris Kreider to make it 4-2 a minute into the middle period.

“Yeah, tough spot, but he battled,” Tocchet said of Silovs. “That’s what you want from young goalies. He got the call yesterday and he battled hard.

“You don’t want to throw them to the wolves, but I think he battled and our team battled. That (Rangers) team is built for the Stanley Cup and we had a couple of guys hurt. Like I said, we had a couple of guys (make) some mistakes, egregious mistakes. But other than that, I thought we played hard.”

The Canucks lost defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and checking centre Curtis Lazar mid-game to what the team announced as lower-body injuries. Tocchet expressed hope afterward that neither injury will prove too serious.

Silovs allowed the five goals on just 27 shots but really couldn’t be directly faulted on any of them. He was frozen by Mika Zibanejad’s pump fake before the Ranger slid the puck between the newbie’s pads after skating in alone from right wing when Kreider picked Ekman-Larsson at the Canuck blueline.

Goals by Artemi Panarin and K’Andre Miller deflected past Silovs off Canucks, and Panarin also scored on an uncontested, back-post, one-timer after Vancouver defenceman Quinn Hughes made a weak play on the puck and Ranger Jimmy Vesey was able to amble with it to the slot before dishing off.

The experience should help Silovs when he returns to the Abbotsford Canucks. But it would have been helpful if the Canucks played a little better in front of him – or any of their goalies.

“Obviously, it’s his first game; I’m super happy for him,” Canuck centre Elias Pettersson said. “He played great. We should have helped him more. But he kept us in the game.”

“For sure, it’s different,” Silovs said. “Different skill, different, like, speed. It was fun to play, getting that experience. That’s good for me. I think it’s going to help me a lot … long-term because at least I know what it is. I know what I can be better at. I can push myself even more.”

Silovs has had a terrific season developmentally, claiming the starting position in the AHL and winning 21 times in 35 games. He logged only 21 games in his first two seasons of professional hockey. But Silovs, an athletic six-foot-four, has turned himself into a legitimate NHL prospect after being drafted in the sixth round just 3½ years ago.

He is a good story for the Canucks. But Silovs’ story on Wednesday could have been so much better with a little more defensive support. And better luck.

“When minor-league guys come up and you give them a little taste, it makes a difference,” Tocchet said. “They go down there (back to the minors) and … the game is slower for them down there. I think it’s always good to give guys a little taste of the NHL.”

Asked if the way Canuck skaters play makes it hard for their goalies, Tocchet said: “Sometimes, yeah. The way we’re built, we can’t have turnovers. Petey (Pettersson) can’t turn pucks over and Millsy (J.T. Miller) and Hughsie, they have to continue to play a … more north-south style.”

Demko is expected to back up Delia on Saturday when the Philadelphia Flyers visit the Canucks, and last season’s team MVP hopes to be able to return to his starting role next week.