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What is the most important save in Canucks history?


apollo

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So I've been thinking which save is the greatest in Canucks history?

Two come to mind for me. Only one of which I witnessed live: Luongo on Sharp & McLean on Reichel?

My first thought was Luis since I remember it %100 vividly. But after watching the McLean save repeatedly and the game... I can't decide. If I could go back in time for only 2 hours, I would go back and watch that overtime... to see that save and The Russian Rocket's goal would be absolutely priceless.

Both were against rivals in a 7th game overtime. Not only that... we then made it to game 7 of the SCF in both years.

McLeans save: Looks much nicer on camera and level of difficulty is higher. Was one of many more saves to be made by him. The call made was much better in both commentators versions. Required unbelievable precision.

Luongos save: I would say it doesn't look as good on camera. Came against our ultimate arch nemesis. There was far more pressure on Lui than there was on Kirk, had we surrendered a 3-0 series lead to our arch rivals... all hell would break lose. Wasn't a spectacular use of precision... just TEXTBOOK lateral movement and positioning.

And they both led to absolutely jaw dropping memorable goals for us. As Bure exploded like a rocket and Alex slayed the dragon.

My verdict is: Kirks was more spectacular but Luis was more important.

What do you think? Also do any other saves come to mind?

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Didn't watch the 94 run, however gotta say 2011. Bias as it may be, I'll list reasons why.

1) The era of our run. As tough of a game and competition as ever

2) Presidents trophy and an exceptional year

3) Losing to Chicago twice already, and that season blowing the series lead to end it so beautifully was just perfect, really gave us that feeling that we could win it all this year.

4) Jennings Trophy, Art Ross, Olympic Gold for Luongo.

Oops I guess I got into more of whats the more important playoff run, but hey I guess those saves are a part of it so thats fine, or else none of them would have happened.

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Both teams had similar out comes at the end of the playoffs. That being said we were up 3-0 in that series and Kirk was never an elite goalie so,

The Save of The Century

The only similarity between 94 and 11 was the 4-3 series result in the SCF.

In 94, we were down 3-1 to the top team in the league. We won 3 games in a row in OT. The save is so much better than a mildy remembered moment in 2011 it's actually seeming stupid this is even a topic.

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The only similarity between 94 and 11 was the 4-3 series result in the SCF.

In 94, we were down 3-1 to the top team in the league. We won 3 games in a row in OT. The save is so much better than a mildy remembered moment in 2011 it's actually seeming stupid this is even a topic.

Awfully strong opinion newguy.

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Both teams had similar out comes at the end of the playoffs. That being said we were up 3-0 in that series and Kirk was never an elite goalie so,

The Save of The Century

Kirk Mclean was never an elite goalie, hey? And I suppose Seinfeld was an average sitcom too, right?

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I have two which have probably already been mentioned on here around 500 times

1)Kirk Mcleans stacked pad save in the 94 run - EPIC

2)Lou's save off Patrick Sharp during game 7 OT on the PK, Burr in the box, when Sharpie received that filthy pass from Toews and Lou managed to slide over and block that, I was at that game and when I saw that pass I and everyone else in the building thought Game Over, but he made the SAVE, and the building couldn't get any louder than it already had until a minute or so later when Burr scored, that memory of Lou making that stop will be etched in my memory, good times great times

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Luongo on Sharp by a LONG shot. That was a bang-bang play and a tap in goal for Sharp in overtime, Luongo somehow went post to post to stop it. Sure it wasn't the best save from a goaltending perspective, but in terms of timing and consequences, it was by far the most important.

The Canucks had gone up 3-0 against the 8th seeded Blackhawks after winning the Presidents Trophy. This, to a team they had been blown out and lost against in the playoffs twice before. Then the Blackhawks storm back to win 3 straight and tie up the series. Of course, as we all know there's been less than 5 teams in the history of any professional sport to come back from 3-0 in a series to win Game 7, let alone an 8th seed against a 1st seed, let alone beating that team for the 3rd straight time in the playoffs.

Simply put, if Luongo lets in that goal in overtime and the Canucks lose to the Blackhawks for the 3rd straight time in the playoffs, we would have seen the biggest uphaul in franchise history. Management and coaches would have been wiped out, core players would all have been traded and a refreshing (not rebuilding) would have taken place. Instead, Luongo comes up clutch with some 30-saves (including a Hossa breakaway save during regulation which is on par with the Sharp stop) and combines with Burrows to churn out the most important victory in Canucks franchise history.

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Both teams had similar out comes at the end of the playoffs. That being said we were up 3-0 in that series and Kirk was never an elite goalie so,

The Save of The Century

McLean was an upper echelon goalie in the early 90s. Dont forget, he and Luongo are tied for Vezina nominations as a Canuck.

I think "The Save" was better. The '94 team was expected to do nothing that year and came back from 3-1 down against Calgary very largely due to that save. We've never come as close to the cup as we did with that cinderella team.

As much fun as the 2011 run was until it all went to hell in the Final, honestly I dont think Luongo should've even had to make his save on Sharp. We should've won that series way sooner than we did but due in part to Luongo's game 4 and 5 meltdowns the series went to the bitter end.

Hindsight of course is 20/20 but sometimes I wonder if it would've actually been better if Sharp did score. Sure, our team would be a laughingstock and we wouldn't have had the fun of a long playoffs that year, but just maybe some necessary changes would've happened to our team sooner. We won the PT again in 2012, with AV surely being fired after hypothetically blowing the 2011 playoffs and a few tweaks to our roster as well, maybe we would've gotten past LA and had the easy road to the 2012 cup instead of them. We'll never know I guess, it's a lot of 'what ifs?'.

Luongo's save preserved our 2011 run to a third 2nd place finish but potentially might have cost us a championship the following year.

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