Canucks' coach Tocchet says he pulled Thatcher Demko after puking in his mask

It’s a great day to be a fan of the Vancouver Canucks. During their season opener, the Canucks throttled the Edmonton Oilers 8-1 and it would make sense to take a victory lap, but that’s not why starting goaltender Thatcher Demko was pulled inexplicably.

Demko was battling the flu during Wednesday’s opener, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters postgame — and here’s where you may want to brace yourself: he threw up in his mask during the game.

“He started to feel dehydrated,” Tocchet said of his starting netminder post-game. “He didn’t really want to come out, but then when he puked in his mask, I said ‘You got to come out.”

The Athletic’s Thomas Drance reported that the Canucks have been battling the flu this week. While multiple other players missed the game for reasons listed as day-to-day, including offseason acquisitions Teddy Blueger and Carson Soucy, it's unclear if they too were dealing with flu-like symptoms.

In any event, Demko performed well, making 21 saves before being relieved by Casey DeSmith, who stopped all five shots he faced. To be fair, it’s probably much easier to stomach a nasty flu when you rout a leading Stanley Cup contender on opening night as Vancouver picked up their largest margin of victory over Edmonton since a 9-0 thrashing in 1992.

Vancouver will hope to have Demko and the rest of their squad back at full strength in time for the second half of the home-and-home start, with Oilers and Canucks heading eastbound to Rogers Place in Edmonton this coming Saturday for part two of the showdown.

There's also no word on who will be between the pipes for Edmonton, who yanked starter Jack Campbell after four goals on 16 shots, an ugly number identically matched by understudy Stuart Skinner.

Nevertheless, Demko battled through the flu to shut down an offense featuring two Hart Trophy winners in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and honestly, that’s pretty sick.