Golden Knights can’t solve Canucks’ Thatcher Demko in Game 5 loss

Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud smacked the glass like a bug on a windshield after Vancouver’s Adam Gaudette ducked out of the way of a check in the first period.

Whitecloud hobbled off after a blocked shot and missed the final 5:33 of the first period. He went down hard in the second period and also battled through pain in the third.

The Knights went all out in an effort to eliminate the Canucks in Game 5, but couldn’t crack backup goalie Thatcher Demko and lost 2-1 on Tuesday night in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Knights have a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series, which continues at 6:45 p.m. Thursday at Rogers Place.

“When you get down to the last eight teams, it’s never easy to close anybody out,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “They found a way to win a game between some good goaltending and some opportunistic goals. We’ve got to look at it and come back and we’ll get another shot at it.”

Demko, making his first career postseason start, finished with 42 saves. It was an effort similar to the one turned in by Chicago’s Corey Crawford against the Knights in Game 4 of the quarterfinals when he stopped 48 of 49 shots to avoid elimination.

Elias Pettersson scored the go-ahead goal 3:19 into the third period as the Canucks extended their season.

Shea Theodore had the lone goal for the Knights, who fell to 8-1 in the postseason when scoring first.

“Obviously, their goalie came up big,” defenseman Alec Martinez said. “There’s going to be close games, and unfortunately, we’re on the wrong side of this one.”

Goalie Robin Lehner, who blanked Vancouver in two of the first three games of the series, returned to the crease after sitting in the second game of the back to back Sunday and made 15 stops.

The Canucks were held without a shot on goal for the opening 10:26 — J.T. Miller hit the post early in the first period — and didn’t test Lehner in the second period until 7:32 remained.

But after Lehner slid to his right to deny Brandon Sutter early in the third period, Pettersson was able to redirect a long shot by Brock Boeser to put the Canucks ahead 2-1 at 3:19.

“They didn’t have many shots, but I thought they had some chances,” Lehner said. “It would’ve been nice to come up with that save and go into the third 1-0, but it didn’t happen. Then they came out hot in the third in the beginning.”

Theodore extended his point streak to seven games with a magnificent individual effort to break the deadlock with 4:08 remaining in the second.

He danced through three Canucks defenders in the offensive zone and flipped a shot past Demko’s glove.

It was Theodore’s fifth goal of the playoffs, tied with Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman for the league lead among defensemen, and his eighth point in the series.

His 15 points are second among defensemen behind Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen (18 points).

“Sometimes I’m just trying to make a play,” Theodore said. “I’m trying to get the puck to the net and sometimes it works out.”

The Knights tilted the ice in the second and finished with an 18-4 advantage in shots on goal, but fell asleep 24 seconds after Theodore’s goal and allowed Vancouver to tie the score at 1.

Boeser worked a give-and-go with Miller and redirected the return feed past Lehner after driving past defenseman Brayden McNabb.

“There’s some mistakes that ended up in the back of our net,” Theodore said. “Those can’t happen this time of year. We’ll just have to refocus and get ready for the next one.”

Demko started in place of starter Jacob Markstrom, who was ruled unfit to play, and kept the Canucks close during the first 40 minutes.

He stopped 27 of 28 shots through two periods, including two point-blank chances by Jonathan Marchessault on a second-period power play.

“I thought we did a pretty good job of generating some opportunities,” Martinez said. “You have to generate traffic. Goalies in this league are too good. Not often you’re going to be at a guy clean.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.