On a night honoring Luongo, Canucks beat Panthers 4-0

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Thatcher Demko made 36 saves after Vancouver added former star goalie Roberto Luongo to its Ring of Honor in a pregame ceremony and the Canucks beat the Florida Panthers 4-0 on Thursday night for their fourth straight victory.

“It’s poetic, right? It’s almost in the air,” said Demko, who also took part in a ceremonial faceoff with Sergei Bobrovsky, his Florida counterpart.

Demko had his third shutout of the season and sixth in the NHL. Dakota Joshua scored twice, Brock Boeser had his 22nd and Andrei Kuzmenko added a goal. Vancouver improved to 20-9-1, going 4-1-0 on a five-game homestand.

“We’re still trying to establish our identity,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said “We’re chipping away at it and trying to be a hard team to play against, being smart in our own end. We’re still learning. There’s still some times when we’re giving the puck away when we shouldn’t, but I think that’s part of the maturation to get to the next level.”

Bobrovsky made 13 saves for Florida in the first two periods, and Anthony Stolarz stopped the lone shot he faced in the third. The Panthers dropped to 17-10-2, also falling 4-0 at Seattle on Tuesday night.

“We weren’t very good here tonight but in a highly unusual way, and I’ll take solace in that fact,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We have a handful of things that we do well, none of what you got to see tonight.”

Luongo, now part of Florida’s front office, spent parts of eight seasons with Vancouver. He retired in 2019 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last year.

Fans cheered with choruses of “Lou! Lou!” throughout Luongo’s speech and while he performed the ceremonial faceoff between Demko and Bobrovsky.

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