If the Vancouver Canucks have aspirations of going any deeper in the playoffs than the second round, they’ll need Roberto Luongo to be just a bit more consistent. He has the ability to be an elite goaltender, and is routinely considered one of the top netminders in the NHL. Yet there are times when he falls apart mentally, forgets his mechanics and positioning and is wholly beatable.
Last night, as Jason Botchford of The Province writes, Luongo finally looked a bit like the goaltender the Canucks will need him to be. After his big save in overtime, it seems that Luongo may be feeling it as well.
“Quick had just made one on the 2-on-1 with Henk,” Luongo said. “After I made the first save on Smitty, the puck jumped and hit their guy in the leg. As it was coming back, I knew I got a piece of it. But I felt I didn’t get the whole thing.
“I was able to swing back and swipe it away. It was just a reaction. It just came naturally, to react that way.
“The OT was the best I felt all game.”
Despite a 9-5-1 record after the Olympics, Luongo was yanked twice after allowing an atrocious amount of bad goals and in those 15 games had a very, very poor save percentage of .871.
Watching the game last night, he looked just as uncomfortable in the the first two periods and truly didn’t start to settle down until overtime started.
Will that confidence carry over for the rest of the playoffs? The Canucks sure hope so.