Weepy Luongo means end of Nucks' season, era of star goalies?

To put last night's 7-5 elimination loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in perspective, Roberto Luongo(notes) hadn't yielded seven goals in any game, regular season or postseason, for the Vancouver Canucks in three seasons. Or during his entire NHL career for that matter, according to the Vancouver Province:

The star with the massive salary, the big ego and the bigger-than-life reputation gave up seven goals in all, two third-period leads and four third-period goals. "It was pretty wide open, but I have to make the saves," Luongo said. "Obviously, you let in seven goals, you're not very satisfied with your own performance, you know?"

Luongo exits the Chicago series 2-4 with a 3.50 GAA and an .879 save percentage.

Ouch. You can't help but feel for the guy, especially after watching bits of his postgame press conference where he gets all Messier on us (must come with the captaincy):

This is the second consecutive postseason in which Bobby Loo has held a teary interview with the media after an elimination game. They aren't getting any less awkward.

It's remarkable to think that "best goalies ev-uh!" Luongo and Martin Brodeur(notes) of the New Jersey Devils both stunk at critical times in the same postseason. Brodeur's numbers in Game 6 (4.00, .892) and Game 7's historic collapse against the Carolina Hurricanes (4.03, .871) don't reach the depths of Luongo's in Game 6 (7.24, .767) but they're awful in their own regard.

In a terrific piece about the future of the current Canucks' roster, Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail explores the notion that the necessity for star goalies like Brodeur and Luongo could be reconsidered when rookies like Simeon Varlamov(notes) and well-traveled veterans like Nikolai Khabibulin(notes) are backstopping teams to postseason glory. That ignores franchise goalies like Cam Ward(notes) and Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) being vital to their teams; but performances like the ones from Varlamov and Jonas Hiller(notes) certainly help along the argument.

As for Luongo, his legacy's been affected by this massive defeat, fairly or unfairly. We've already getting "this guy is so overrated" emails from puckheads about Luongo, like this one from Anthony B: "He has never accomplished anything that others in the all time great category have and hasn't even matched the accomplishments of lesser netminders."

Copyright PuckD - Puck Daddy
Contact Us