from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

The Vancouver Canucks set up Michael DiPietro to fail, and on Monday night, in a premature National Hockey League debut, he did.

The 19-year-old goaltending prospect, an emergency callup from the Ontario Hockey League last week, was forced into an NHL start when Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom reported to work Monday morning experiencing tightness in his lower body.

The idea when backup goalie Thatcher Demko sprained his knee during the pre-game warmup in Philadelphia last Monday was that the Canucks could bring in DiPietro and the 2017 third-round draft pick would gather invaluable experience and intel practising with NHL players and working with Canucks goaltending coach Ian Clark while Markstrom played.

And during the two weeks or so Demko would miss, Canucks general manager Jim Benning and his staff would continue to search for an inexpensive, suitable “third goalie” to bring into the organization for depth. They never found one in time.

DiPietro lost his first NHL start 7-2 to the San Jose Sharks....

So DiPietro was thrown literally to the Sharks.

Talented and promising as Team Canada’s world junior championship starter is, DiPietro isn’t ready to start games in the NHL. Almost no 19-year-olds are. Not in goal.

DiPietro had an NHL goal-against before he had an NHL save. The Sharks, one of the best and highest-scoring teams in the league, scored three times on their first five shots.

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