The injury bug has infested the Canucks since the start of the season, but when the games are so frequent and the demands are what they are, an injury to the oft-hurt Thatcher Demko was always the big one.

After beating the Lightning on Sunday with a six-goal outburst the Canucks followed it up with five goals on just 15 shots. While it’s easy to pick on goalie Jiri Patera for his seven goals against, before Rat Marchand’s empty netter finished it off, his save percentage .825 was much better than Sergei Brobovsky’s .667, giving up 40 shots versus just getting 15 yourself is a recipe for failure.

And while the Canucks have fought admirably through this tough stretch of top teams, they’re 1-2-2 in their last five. At least the schedule abates now as they come home and have just two game

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