Luongo Interview: Monday, July 8 - 99.3 FM - 7:30 a.m.

[poetica]

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BTW, Schneider was soooo great with the Canucks that he won 1 game in the playoffs....oh wait...he has played in 10, but only won once...hmnnn...that doesn't sound so great after all....

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[Me_]

Good point.

If I'm looking at it like Luo/Horvat vs Schneider and 5.3 in cap, it's really Luo/Horvat and 4.

[Me_]

That's just a testament to his inconsistency. Brilliant one game, 4, 5, 6, 7, or one time 8 goals against the next game.

[pimpcurtly]

I'm not trying to bash Lou here but he has lost his last six playoff games? I don't think you can point fingers at Cory's 1-5. The only way any of the two could have won any of there last six starts if if the stole the game, Cory did it once Lou did it zero. We need to come to terms our team sucks not the goalies.

[poetica]

That's just a testament to his inconsistency. Brilliant one game, 4, 5, 6, 7, or one time 8 goals against the next game.

[smurf47]

He could certainly be more consistent (just like the rest of the team), but he's not nearly as inconsistent as people like to portray him.

In his 64 career playoff games (62 starts), he's allowed:

• 0 goals in 5 games

• 1 goal in 13 games

• 2 goals in 17 games

• 3 goals in 13 games

• 4 goals in 9 games

• 5 goals in 3 games

• 6 goals in 2 games

• 7 goals in 1 game

• 8 goals in 1 game

That means he's allowed 3 or fewer goals in 48 games (75%).

In 10/11, including his 4 shutouts, Luo allowed 3 or fewer goals in 19 of the 25 games he played in (76%). Of the remaining games, he allowed 4 goals in 4 games, 6 goals in 1 game and 8 goals in 1 game. In fairness, Luo was pulled in 4 games, but only once before 4+ goals. So, even if you don't give him credit for the one game he was pulled after 3 AND you don't give him credit for the game in which he went in in relief of an injured Schneider, that means Luo allowed 3 or fewer in 17 of 24 games (71%).

By contrast, that year the team scored 3 or more goals in only 12 of their 25 (48%). They were also kept scoreless in 3 games and managed only a single goal in another 5 games. So, you could argue Luo had 7 bad games that year and that's probably fair, but the team had 8. (And Luo managed to get a shutout to win 3 of those games.)

The reality is a far cry from "one good game, one bad game" some people think he has. And that's a good thing!

[poetica]

Just to play Devil's advocate...3 goals against won't win you many playoff games as scoring tightens up.], and 3 goals against is much higher than his seasonal average. So, for arguments sake Lou let in 3 or more in 29 of 62 games or 47% of his games were over his seasonal average, which is indicative of his good game bad game reputation...either lights out or mediocre to poor.

[Primus099]

i dont understand why you fan think highly of luo ..the guy is the most over rated goalie in the league ,have not won anything ,slow ,flop too many time and he is too old to be #1 goalie in this league..no wonder canuck will never hoist the cup ,coz of this lazy bum ...this day and age expoerience meant nothing in goalie ,as you look around ..the last 3 year ,it the young and inexperience goalie that won the cup ..i would say canuck have a great chance of winning the cup with corey ,but that vanish after he get trade to new jersey..you vancouver fan can keep dreaming of the cup as long as luo still here for the next decade !! good luck with that

[Primus099]

Just to play Devil's advocate...3 goals against won't win you many playoff games as scoring tightens up.], and 3 goals against is much higher than his seasonal average. So, for arguments sake Lou let in 3 or more in 29 of 62 games or 47% of his games were over his seasonal average, which is indicative of his good game bad game reputation...either lights out or mediocre to poor.

[Primus099]

Frankly, I'm a bit shocked that someone who professes so much hockey knowledge continues to stubbornly refuse to consider any context at all.

[pimpcurtly]

The Blackhawks allowed 3+ goals twice against the Bruins and won both games, your team can outscore the other team it's not always up to the goalie to hold them to 2 or less goals

[Primus099]

Not our team.

[Trebreh]

exactly, that was our problem. not goaltending

[pimpcurtly]

What significant injuries did the hawks suffer again? They beat a Bruin team without Campbell and Bergeron who shouldn't have played. The Canucks team that the much healthier Bruins took 7 games to beat was in tatters, our game 7 lineup had allstars like Tambellini,Glass,Rome,Alberts,Oreskovich,Malhotra and a rookie Tanev. Do you guys suffer from long term memory loss or something? They also had Thomas who won the Vezina and played lights out. Hard to score goals on a defensive team with a goaltender that stops everything then see your goaltender let him weak goals deflating goals, especially in game 7.

[smurf47]

I obviously used the 3 against threshold because the message I was replying to specifically defined a bad performance as 4 or more against. But, as it happens I don't believe that a goalie allowing 3 in a game is the definition of "mediocre to poor" play. Sometimes it may be, while other times it's good or even stellar play when taken in context.

For example, by all accounts Luo was the best Canuck on the ice in both of his SJ starts this year and was doing his part to keep his team in it, but in both games he gave up 3 goals. Does that mean we should look back at only the score, ignore the context and declare that he played "mediocre to poor" in those 2 games? I don't think so. (The first game in particular is a perfect example because while Luo he ended up with a SV% below .900, in context he was was rightly described by the National Post, among others, as having a "strong performance.") Frankly, I'm a bit shocked that someone who professes so much hockey knowledge continues to stubbornly refuse to consider any context at all. Speaking of which....

While you rightly pointed out that scoring is trending down, I don't understand why you are ignoring the fact that the vast majority of Luo's playoff games were played in previous years in which scoring wasn't as tight. As recently as 10/11, 6 teams in the playoffs averaged over 3 G/G. (Luo played in 25 playoff games that year.) And the year before that, half of the 16 playoff teams averaged 3 or more G/G. (Luo played in 12 playoff games that year.) That is the context in which most of Luo's playoff games were played and over half of them were won.

I'm also a bit confused by your point about 3 being above Luo's season average. As it's impossible to match a fractional goal count in an individual game, unless goalie has an exact GAA (2.00 for example), every game will result in a score either above or below his season average. That's just how it works, and the reason you don't compare an individual game against a GAA. But if you wanted to...

By that standard Cory, who you declared more technically proficient and therefor less prone to off games, has been "mediocre to poor" in 50% of his 6 playoff starts as he's allowed 3 or more goals (which is above his season average) in half of his playoff starts. He's also been below his season SV% in 3 of his 6 starts and 4 of his 10 games played in. In fact, last year was the only time Cory's playoff stats have bettered his season stats and that was only in 3 games. See how a good goalie can appear bad when you ignore context?

[poetica]

Poetica, don't focus on just the 3 goals, take into account 3 is on the low side of the numbers. I was just pointing out that there are different angles to look at things and I don't for a second believe that GA is a definitive reflection on how a goalie played.

[poetica]

What significant injuries did the hawks suffer again? They beat a Bruin team without Campbell and Bergeron who shouldn't have played. The Canucks team that the much healthier Bruins took 7 games to beat was in tatters, our game 7 lineup had allstars like Tambellini,Glass,Rome,Alberts,Oreskovich,Malhotra and a rookie Tanev. Do you guys suffer from long term memory loss or something? They also had Thomas who won the Vezina and played lights out. Hard to score goals on a defensive team with a goaltender that stops everything then see your goaltender let him weak goals deflating goals, especially in game 7.

[Primus099]

First, other teams managed to score against Boston despite their strong defense. Montreal did it 17 times in 7 games. Philly did it 7 times in 4 games. And Tampa did it 19 times in 7 games. It's not that no one could score against them, it's that we couldn't. (Note that Philly only scored 1 fewer goal than we did against Boston but in 3 fewer games.)

And unlike Thomas, Luo didn't have a D squad that included a giant or that could break necks or backs with impunity. Instead, his D got the longest SCF suspensions for a legal hit delivered less than a second late.

Second, Boston wasn't just a defensive team, they were the 5th highest scoring team and that scoring support is what got them to the SCF to begin with. That year, Boston managed to win 2 games after Thomas gave up 3 goals, 1 game after Thomas gave up 4 goals and 1 game after Thomas gave up 5 goals. We won only 2 games in which Luo gave up 3 and none when he gave up more. So, clearly scoring support was the secret to winning the Cup and we just didn't have enough of it.

And you want to talk about deflating? In game 4 of the ECF, Thomas gave up 4 goals and in doing so blew a 3-0 lead Boston had taken in the first period and tied up the series at 2-2 instead of letting Boston take a 3-1 series lead.

[oldnews]

So that's good news yes? You're then 76% happy.