Early-season struggles are nothing new for Roberto Luongo. In seven October starts last season, he went 2-3-2 and allowed 20 goals. This season, he has gone 2-3-1 in six starts with 19 goals against. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)
Alain Vigneault didn't pump gasoline on the fire, but he certainly didn't help extinguish the flames that surround his embattled goaltender on Wednesday.
The Vancouver Canucks head coach reasoned that starting backup Cory Schneider at home against the St. Louis Blues was the plan all along. But clearly that plan could have been altered to give Luongo some much needed time between the pipes to find his form.
Luongo put forth another suspect performance in Edmonton on Tuesday. He surrendered three goals in the opening seven minutes of the second period against the young Oilers. Enough was enough. He was summoned from the crease, replaced by Schneider and proceeded to smash his stick over the boards when he arrived at the Canucks bench.
He could only be faulted for the second goal, when he misplayed the puck behind his net and didn't scurry back to the crease in time before Oilers centre Shawn Horcoff scored. But Vancouver fans don't want to be told to chill their fury for Luongo. They have their whipping boy. The only way the heat will subside for Luongo will be for him to respond with a win streak.
Fall patterns
Luongo has gone 2-3-1 in six starts this month with 19 goals against. His save percentage is an alarming .868 (38th in the league) and his goals against is a dismal 3.45 (36th). But early-season struggles are nothing new for the 32-year-old Luongo. In seven October starts a season ago, he went 2-3-2 and allowed 20 goals. He went 7-4 in November and 8-1-1 in December. By then the Canucks were on their way to the Presidents' Trophy.
The Canucks faithful, however, will not back off. Wrongly or rightly, Luongo has been blamed for the Canucks failure in the Stanley Cup final last spring. The play of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler and others in the final has been forgotten as well as the fact that the Canucks scored only eight goals in seven games. But Luongo's three stinky outings in Boston have not been misremembered as Roger Clemens once said.
We realize the goaltender position draws undue criticism and praise like a magnet. But Luongo also wears a 12-year, no-trade contract around his neck like an albatross. Therefore, there is no room for error for him. The expectations placed on him are sky high.
Finding his form
We queried a couple of scouts who know the goalie position about Luongo's technique. They see a goaltender struggling to play the back-in-the-net style that Canucks goalie coach Roland Melanson has preached to Luongo. They see a goalie who has not found his rhythm, has not followed the puck as soundly as he should be, has struggled to read the play and has not relied on his instincts.
A good goalie rarely loses sight of the puck. On that Horcoff goal the other night, Luongo not only messed up his delivery of the puck to Vancouver defenceman Dan Hamhuis, but lost sight of puck as he returned to the crease.
Our experts do not advocate that Luongo return to his former ways, his more aggressive approach. They simply believe that more instinct and less technique could benefit him in the short term.
"He's a guy who just looks unsure with himself right now," said a scout. "He used to be so confident in that crease. He's missing that demeanour."
He should be allowed to fight his way out of this funk, with time in the crease and with or without the support of the Canucks faithful.
Tim Wharnsby
Tim's worked the sports beat at The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Sun, specializing in Canada's one true sporting obsession - hockey. He knows the players, the coaches, the backroom boys and most importantly, the fans. That's what he brings to his stories. Knowledge, fairness and understanding are trademarks of a Wharnsby story. That's what you will get here as he writes for CBCSports.ca.
