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Boo birds let Luongo have it
Goaltender lets in two goals on Nashville's first two shots
Jason Botchford, The Province
Published: Friday, November 02, 2007
For most of October, Roberto Luongo's play was protected.
He was granted immunity after last year's Vezina-worthy season. And rightfully so.
But avoiding criticism in Vancouver has become much more difficult for the league's highest-paid goalie at precisely 6:16 into the first period of Thursday's game. That's when a soft wrister from David Legwand leaked through his legs and into the net for a morale-busting start to a key home game for the Canucks.
"It's unfortunate because a goal like that early hurts the team, especially with the struggles we've had at home," Luongo said. "It took the wind out of our sails."
And Martin Erat didn't help Luongo's case, or the Canucks fragile psyche, when he, while on a breakaway, slid a puck through Luongo's five hole to put the Preds up 2-0.
In an instant the GM Place crowd dramatically turned on Luongo. The "Looouus," which have smothered him for more than a year, turned to "boooos" which rained down on the star netminder several times in the second half of the game.
The Canucks noticed. And they were surprised, even disappointed.
"To boo our goaltender after he let in two goals on the first two shots, I thought that was crossing the line a bit," Brendan Morrison. "I think it's horse(expletive). It's funny how these things work.
"He's the guy everyone is fawning over and then, as a team, we're having a tough start and all of a sudden everyone's (expletive) on him.
"He doesn't deserve it. I will take the (jeers) as a team because in a lot of instances we deserve it."
There's no question, Luongo should have a lot of leeway after stealing the hearts of most Vancouver fans during a sensational run in the second half of last season.
It was a run for the ages and one Luongo may struggle to ever duplicate.
But he's had a mediocre statistical start to the season, and it's one he can't explain.
"I've been feeling good but unfortunately that's not reflected in the statistics and there's nothing I can do about that," Luongo said. "I know I'm working hard. I know I've been feeling good and confident during the games. That stuff will sort itself out later on."
Luongo entered the game ranked 23rd in the league with a 2.92 GAA, one spot behind Alex Auld. His .903 save percentage was just a shade better than Peter Budaj's, placing Luongo 21st in the league. As for wins, the statistic he considers most important, Luongo has just four, good enough for a tie in the NHL for 14th.
But in spite of the stats, Luongo said the first goal in Thursday's game was "probably one of my first bad goals of the season, that I can remember."
"He shot it through the D-man's leg and I was slow to react," Luongo said.
Boo birds let Luongo have it
Goaltender lets in two goals on Nashville's first two shots
Jason Botchford, The Province
Published: Friday, November 02, 2007
For most of October, Roberto Luongo's play was protected.
He was granted immunity after last year's Vezina-worthy season. And rightfully so.
But avoiding criticism in Vancouver has become much more difficult for the league's highest-paid goalie at precisely 6:16 into the first period of Thursday's game. That's when a soft wrister from David Legwand leaked through his legs and into the net for a morale-busting start to a key home game for the Canucks.
"It's unfortunate because a goal like that early hurts the team, especially with the struggles we've had at home," Luongo said. "It took the wind out of our sails."
And Martin Erat didn't help Luongo's case, or the Canucks fragile psyche, when he, while on a breakaway, slid a puck through Luongo's five hole to put the Preds up 2-0.
In an instant the GM Place crowd dramatically turned on Luongo. The "Looouus," which have smothered him for more than a year, turned to "boooos" which rained down on the star netminder several times in the second half of the game.
The Canucks noticed. And they were surprised, even disappointed.
"To boo our goaltender after he let in two goals on the first two shots, I thought that was crossing the line a bit," Brendan Morrison. "I think it's horse(expletive). It's funny how these things work.
"He's the guy everyone is fawning over and then, as a team, we're having a tough start and all of a sudden everyone's (expletive) on him.
"He doesn't deserve it. I will take the (jeers) as a team because in a lot of instances we deserve it."
There's no question, Luongo should have a lot of leeway after stealing the hearts of most Vancouver fans during a sensational run in the second half of last season.
It was a run for the ages and one Luongo may struggle to ever duplicate.
But he's had a mediocre statistical start to the season, and it's one he can't explain.
"I've been feeling good but unfortunately that's not reflected in the statistics and there's nothing I can do about that," Luongo said. "I know I'm working hard. I know I've been feeling good and confident during the games. That stuff will sort itself out later on."
Luongo entered the game ranked 23rd in the league with a 2.92 GAA, one spot behind Alex Auld. His .903 save percentage was just a shade better than Peter Budaj's, placing Luongo 21st in the league. As for wins, the statistic he considers most important, Luongo has just four, good enough for a tie in the NHL for 14th.
But in spite of the stats, Luongo said the first goal in Thursday's game was "probably one of my first bad goals of the season, that I can remember."
"He shot it through the D-man's leg and I was slow to react," Luongo said.
MultiQuote
for a second there, I thought the game was being played at the Air Canada Centre.
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