After some rocky times, Roberto Luongo has his sights set on another banner season. (Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

For Roberto Luongo, this season is a tale of two halves.

Heading into Wednesday's game at Chicago, the first 24 appearances of the all-world goalie's second campaign with the Vancouver Canucks can be seen as two equal parts - mirror images of each other.

While one reflects a pretty picture, the other is considerably uglier. Luongo, though, has maintained a steady gaze no matter what is staring back at him.

Let's start with the dirty dozen. Coming off a banner first season with the Canucks in which he led them to the Northwest Division title and into the second round of the NHL playoffs, the Vezina and Hart Trophy finalist bombed in his first 12 starts of 2007-08, going 4-8-0 with an unsightly 33 goals allowed through the first of November.

Not surprisingly, the Canucks - at best, a mediocre offensive club - struggled out of the gates as well, allowing the Minnesota Wild to seize control of the Northwest.

"It's obviously a tough time right now. We've been booed here for the past few games," forward Brendan Morrison said after the Canucks hit rock bottom with a 3-0 shutout loss to Nashville on Nov. 1 that dropped Vancouver to 1-6 on home ice. "But fans pay a lot of money to come here and they have every right to do that."

Since then, both the team and its best player have seen their fortunes - joined at the hip, it seems - make an abrupt U-turn.

A little help from his teammates

Beginning with a 4-3 win at Colorado on Nov. 3, Luongo has posted a sizzling 8-2-2 record in his last 12 games while surrendering a minuscule 18 goals and picking up his first four shutouts of the season. The Canucks (surprise!) have gone 9-1-2 over that stretch to climb into second place in the division, just two points behind the Wild.

Luongo's absurd play of late has clearly keyed the turnaround. Before dropping a 2-1 decision at Minnesota on Sunday, he had rattled off three consecutive shutouts to run his whitewash streak to 210 minutes, 34 seconds, shattering Ken Lockett's franchise record of 184:20 set in April 1975.

Still, on a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Luongo chose to spread the credit around.

"As a team we really decided to regroup and realized that, if we're going to win some games from now on, we're going to have to work hard, but at the same time we're going to have to work smart," said Luongo, who was named the NHL's second star for November after posting a 1.56 goals-against average and .940 save percentage. "We adjusted a couple things with our system as far as our forecheck and play in our own zone. Since then, it's really been going well for us."

The netminder also claimed he never lost faith in his own abilities during the bumpy start.

"I felt exactly the same way as I did in October, to be honest with you," he said. "I felt comfortable since the first game of the year. I was confident the whole time.

Luongo has thrived despite having to go stretches without Mattias Ohlund, left, and other top blue-liners. (Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)

While few hockey observers were surprised to see Luongo flip his season around - he has, after all, been considered a star since his days of keeping the woeful Florida Panthers in games they had no business being in - what's perhaps most impressive is how the man affectionately known around GM Place as "Bobby Lou" has righted his ship amid the storms surrounding him.

Take the uncertainty surrounding Vancouver's defensive corps. Mattias Ohlund, Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo - three of the Canucks' top four blue-liners in total ice time last season - have missed games due to injuries or suspension.

No skin off the back of Luongo, who noted that the team's resurgence began after Bieksa (calf injury) and Salo (broken nose) were sidelined with injuries suffered in the Nov. 1 shutout loss to Nashville. (Ohlund also missed four games as the NHL's punishment for a vicious slash on Minnesota's Mikko Koivu in the middle of the month).

"It's weird because once two of our top four defencemen were out of the lineup, things kind of worked out better for us," Luongo said. "It was kind of a blessing in disguise in a way for our team.

"At the same time, everybody knows the system," he said. "We all know what type of game we play. As long as the communication is open between me and my defencemen, things go pretty smoothly out there."

New equipment views

Luongo has also maintained his cool despite word from last week's NHL board of governors meetings that owners are again considering expanding the size of nets while further shrinking goalie equipment in an effort to boost sluggish scoring totals.

Back in September, Luongo took a hard-line approach to such suggestions, telling reporters he'd retire if the goals were widened by even a few inches ("I have no intentions of playing with bigger nets," were his exact words).

This time around, Luongo softened his stance considerably when asked about the ideas being bandied about in NHL boardrooms.

"I'm not sure which part of the equipment they want to reduce," he said. "As long as it's nothing that jeopardizes the safety of the goaltender, those are things we can look at."

Luongo, though, did draw the line at one piece of protection.

"The one area that concerns me a little bit is they're talking about the gloves. I've never had bruises on my hands like this in the past.

"I'm a little afraid to think of what it would be if they would go smaller."

At the rate Luongo is going, goal scorers throughout the league should fear that's the only way to beat him.