Five years ago today, the Vancouver Canucks were eliminated from the second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Vegas Golden Knights. Despite a heroic effort by goaltender Thatcher Demko, Vancouver lost 3–0 in Game 7 of the Pacific Division Finals, marking the end of their 17-game playoff run.
While Vancouver was expected to make the 2020 playoffs during the regular season, the COVID-19 pandemic shut the year down early. As a result, teams that weren’t at the top of their divisions played in a qualifier round to earn their spot in the postseason. Despite losing their opening match in this series against the Minnesota Wild, Vancouver strung together three straight wins to officially clinch their spot in the playoffs. One of the most memorable parts of this playoff run came as a result of their 5–4 Game 4 overtime win, during which grizzled veteran Chris Tanev scored from the blueline to send the team off the bench and on the ice in celebration.
Despite their success, the Canucks’ opponents only got more and more difficult. In the first round of the 2020 playoffs, Vancouver was matched up against the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues. With the odds somewhat against them, Vancouver stormed their way to a 2–0 series lead. However, the Blues tied things up by the end of Game 4, proving to Vancouver that there would be no easy route during the playoffs. The Canucks took this challenge head-on, winning Game 5 by a narrow 4–3 score, and ultimately defeating the Blues in Game 6 to advance to the second round.
Vancouver seemed to have met their match in the second round, with the Golden Knights opening the series with a dominant 5–0 win. Despite winning Game 2, the Canucks dropped Games 3 and 4 to give Vegas a 3–1 series lead. Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner tallied two shutouts in this span of time, and would later add a third after Game 7.
At the time, it felt as though Game 5 would be Vancouver’s last in the 2020 Playoffs. Things only looked worse when it was announced that Jacob Markström would miss time due to injury, leaving the door open for Demko to take the starter’s crease. There weren’t many who expected Vancouver to claw back and force a Game 7 — but sure enough, they did. Demko stopped all but one of the 43 shots piled onto him by Vegas in Game 5, cutting the Golden Knights’ series lead to one game.
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