Rookie Arturs Silovs will start Game 5 for Canucks

This just in, it appears that the Vancouver Canucks will once against turn to third-string goalie Arturs Silovs this evening for Game 5 against the Nashville Predators.

Canucks insider Irfaan Gaffar from practice this morning:

The 23 year old Silovs, of course, played Game 4 in place of backup goalie Casey DeSmith who was injured late in Game 3. Canucks starting goalie and 2024 Vezina Trophy nominee Thatcher Demko is out week to week with a suspected knee injury.

Read below for our earlier report on DeSmith's injury, published yesterday.

The Vancouver Canucks have been put in an incredibly difficult position heading into Game 4 of their opening round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Nashville Predators, but thankfully there appears to be a silver lining.

Not only did the Canucks lose star goaltender Thatcher Demko after just one game in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but they have now also lost backup goaltender Casey DeSmith to injury after a heroic performance from DeSmith in Game 3.

DeSmith was shaky when suddenly thrust into the playoffs in Game 2, stopping just 12 of the 15 shots he faced on his way to a save percentage of .800, but DeSmith bounced back in a major way for his team with a 29 save performance and a .967 save percentage in Game 3.

Now however the Canucks will have to rely on Arturs Silovs, who has just 9 games of NHL experience in his entire professional hockey career.

Thankfully as I mentioned there does appear to be a silver lining here and that is the fact that DeSmith's injury is believed to be relatively minor. According to NHL insider Frank Seravalli, DeSmith could even be back in the lineup as soon as Game 5, although Seravalli did leave some wiggle room there.

That being said this does make it sound like a very minor injury, so perhaps the Canucks have avoided the worst of it.