Luongo wins the big game

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Hard to cut down the angle IMO when there are other us players buzzing around the crease looking for a rebound.

Flat out Brodeur lost us the first game against the US. Luongo didnt win us this game, but more importantly he didnt lose us this game.

Bah on the surface you can say that, but regardless of the pressure Canada put on the USA in that first game in the offensive zone, they were pretty wishy washy in their zone, something that improved greatly in the coming games. Brodeur did do his part, but it wasn't entirely his fault, he would of been just fine playing in yesterdays game, with the way Canada played defensively.

[The Yen Man]

Now that the Olympic love in is over, I can go back to hating everything Canucks.

He is back to being a LOOOUUUUU-SER in my books.

[Textcritic]

In the post-game evaluations across the country and especially here in Vancouver there is a huge amount of discussion concerning whether or not Luongo has taken a step beyond the criticism of his own ability to win the "big game", and quite honestly, most opinions seem to be cautiously optimistic. The very fact that this is even being discussed pretty much sums it up for me: it is still an issue and it will remain an issue until Luongo does something significant in remarkable fashion.

Yeah, Luongo is a gold medal winner; but so are Thornton and Heatley. I suppose we could agree that they all won the "big game", but how convinced are we after the fact that these players can will their teams to victory when they need it most?

[Infamous1]

Why is it that when Luongo makes 34/36 saves it's because the shots were easy and anyone could have made those saves? Could it be that he makes saves look easy? Nah...

Forget the players, no one in the Arena had more pressure on them than the Goalie for the team that is supposed to win for their Country and he came through.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by Infamous1

Why is it that when Luongo makes 34/36 saves it's because the shots were easy and anyone could have made those saves? Could it be that he makes saves look easy? Nah...

Forget the players, no one in the Arena had more pressure on them than the Goalie for the team that is supposed to win for their Country and he came through.

Cause it is true. Replace Luongo with Broduer, same thing, Canada limited high quality scoring chances, it's a fact.

Your second statement is true, and Luongo looked nervous, if bobbling the puck is a sign of nerves.

I don't think anyone has a problem with his performance, but it isn't the career defining performance for him yet. He was just another cog in a machine that was the sum of its parts, not one really stood out for Canada all tourney long....their depth won this tourney.

[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

.their depth won this tourney.

Including the depth in goal.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Fairweather

Yeah, at first I was like WTF Luongo. But then the replayed showed the Kesler tip and I settled down.

Ya me too. At first I was like "Luongo Special", but then I saw the replay and it was a nice tip.

Ya he played well enough to win, that was good. I didn't think he was amazing though. Kesler even said afterwards they were talking on the bench about how Luongo was "fighting the puck" a little, so they decided to just get as many pucks as you can on him and get bodies up front. He was solid when he had to be and made some big saves at big times, but he could also be a little shaky.

[The Yen Man]

Here's my take on it. Team Canada didn't win the game because Luongo stole any games in the tournament. They won because of the whole team package. Luongo made the saves when he had to. It's kind of like Detroit really. People will continue to criticize him until he carries a team to a championship (like Brodeur and Roy).

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Luongo was average in that game, nothing more, nothing less. He did not win Canada the game but almost lost it for them with a few glaring errors that almost cost this Country.

Really I don't care if you think I'm saying that because I'm a Flames fan but I would say the same thing about Brouder or Fleury if they let in those two goals and fumbled the puck like that in that type of game. Miller dominated Luongo, USA just didn't get any quality chances but quickly hopped on Luongo's mistakes to tie the game.

The whole bar I was at IN VANCOUVER was mumbling and grumbling about those two goals and I even heard a few "why does he always let in those soft ones" come from the groups of people wearing LUONGO #1 jerseys. But they were probably Flames fans in disguise.

Luongo wasn't dominant, but neither was Miller. He gave up a juicy rebound for the 1st goal and flubbed a pokecheck which led to him giving up the a soft goal which is likely the most important one in his career to date. He was also beaten twice in the third with shots that hit the post.

Luongo outplayed Miller in that game, plain and simple. Luongo made the saves and Miller blew it in OT. I can only imagine the crucifixion that would be going on right now if Luongo allowed the goal that Miller did.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Cause it is true. Replace Luongo with Broduer, same thing, Canada limited high quality scoring chances, it's a fact.

Your second statement is true, and Luongo looked nervous, if bobbling the puck is a sign of nerves.

I don't think anyone has a problem with his performance, but it isn't the career defining performance for him yet. He was just another cog in a machine that was the sum of its parts, not one really stood out for Canada all tourney long....their depth won this tourney.

that I dont agree with.

We lose that game in regular time if marty "i love to play the puck even if i am rusty and i love to flop on the ice like a fish out of water" plays.

For all the things i dislike about luongo, his shooter tutor style of butterfly make yourself big worked in that game. He also came up with enough key saves to win.

Brodeur is like Pronger and Neids, over the hill and have been passed on by younger more athletic players.

[TowelPower]

Someone on hf was saying thAt luongo had to change his catching glove to one that was "International standards". If that is true , it makes alot of sense because Lu wAs solid except his glove hand. It makes sense if true, because he has one of the best glove hands in the league.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by TowelPower

Someone on hf was saying thAt luongo had to change his catching glove to one that was "International standards". If that is true , it makes alot of sense because Lu wAs solid except his glove hand. It makes sense if true, because he has one of the best glove hands in the league.

I thought that was Dwayne Roloson.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by TowelPower

Someone on hf was saying thAt luongo had to change his catching glove to one that was "International standards". If that is true , it makes alot of sense because Lu wAs solid except his glove hand. It makes sense if true, because he has one of the best glove hands in the league.

Okay, but I don't remember NHL goalies playing in the Olympic tournament experiencing the same sort of difficulty with their catching hand. For that matter, it didn't seem to be much of an issue for Luongo before yesterday.

[shermanator]

Awesome quote from Ian Mendes in his Gold Medal game blog:

1:07pm - I don't mind the "Luuuuuu" chants when Luongo makes a save, but do they need to do it when he does simple things like stop the puck behind the net or take a sip from his water bottle? Then again, this is the same fan base that chanted "Luuuuuu" every time Lui Passaglia kicked an extra point, punted from inside his own 20 or trimmed his mustache.

Link: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2010/...ld_medal_blog/

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I thought that was Dwayne Roloson.

Nice to know Kelly Hrudey posts here

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Luongo outplayed Miller in that game, plain and simple. Luongo made the saves and Miller blew it in OT.

Miller also had to make a lot more fantastic saves then Luongo did all game. I give him props for being able to hold on and win it however he did not win the game for Canada, he was just good enough to win that day.

IMO it should have been 2-0 going into final minute of play and that's how it should have ended but one bad play on the tip and one bad play not being able to cover the puck and then to fumble it a few seconds later to allow that goal was bad. Looked very familiar to his other pressure games.

Glad he came through but I wasn't impressed where I think anything has changed where he cracks a little under pressure. Maybe he will get better as those games come.

Maybe it is just Flames hate but then I got pretty lucky to find Steamworks full of Flames fans in Vancouver because not one person was impressed with what happened in that game. Luongo was closer to losing the game for Canada than he was winning it.

[troutman]

Luongo played in the big game. That's as far as I'll go.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Awesome quote from Ian Mendes in his Gold Medal game blog:



Link: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2010/...ld_medal_blog/

Its true. I said this earlier, but if I was Luongo I would hate it when they did that. It kinda takes away the specialness of it when he does something awesome. Its like oh...so that save was only as good as when I caught the dump in from the red line?

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Miller also had to make a lot more fantastic saves then Luongo did all game. I give him props for being able to hold on and win it however he did not win the game for Canada, he was just good enough to win that day.

IMO it should have been 2-0 going into final minute of play and that's how it should have ended but one bad play on the tip and one bad play not being able to cover the puck and then to fumble it a few seconds later to allow that goal was bad. Looked very familiar to his other pressure games.

Glad he came through but I wasn't impressed where I think anything has changed where he cracks a little under pressure. Maybe he will get better as those games come.

Maybe it is just Flames hate but then I got pretty lucky to find Steamworks full of Flames fans in Vancouver because not one person was impressed with what happened in that game. Luongo was closer to losing the game for Canada than he was winning it.

So anything less than a shutout on 36 shots is unacceptable? Give me a break. I'm not going to sit here and try and argue that he stole the game or something, but he was not outplayed by Miller yesterday. If Luongo "cracked" then what do you say about Miller's two bad goals (at least bad if you're using the standard most seem to be applying to Luongo) and his 2 or 3 misses which were saved by the goalposts in the most important game of his life?


It's pretty amazing how everyone loves to shift the goalposts. Several months ago, Luongo wasn't even going to make the team, with Fleury and Ward making it in favor. Then once he made the team he'd be the 3rd string goalie because Fleury was more clutch, or if he was the backup it'd just be to pander to the fans. Then once he was cemented as the backup he'd get his token game, but there's no way he'd supplant Brodeur. Then when he came in, everyone was predicting he'd choke against Russia and Canada wouldn't even medal. Now that he won the gold medal by winning 4 elimination games in 6 days people try and find ways to undermine the accomplishment. Yet Miller, who had the benefit of playing Switzerland twice, Norway, and a Finland team that gave up about 2 minutes into the game is heralded.

Yes Luongo had a great team in front of him, but how many goalies win any kind of championships without great teams in front of them? There's a reason that only 2 teams in the last 20 years have won the Stanley Cup without having top 10 scoring in the league.

[6FeetDeep]

There will always be Luongo haters who will never be satisfied. I'm not a big fan of the guy as he is a Canuck, but the guy won the big game. It dosent really matter how he did it but he did. Do people say that Fleury didnt deserve the Stanley Cup because he had the worste stats of any cup winning goalie in the last 20 years, but noone seems to care because he won the big game. People will nitpick all the time with this guy, espicially on a Flames message board, but at the end of the day the guy with by far the most pressure on him won the game.