Despite Recent Meltdown, Luongo Finalist For Vezina
CHICAGO (CBS) Roberto Luongo has never led the Vancouver Canucks past the second-round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Over his career he's built the reputation of a player who has a great regular season, but crumbles in the playoffs.
After the first three games of this series it appeared as if that reputation was in the process of changing. Luongo was 3-0 with a .944 save percentage, and looked as dominant as he had been throughout the regular season when he posted a 38-15-7 record, a .928 save percentage and a 2.11 goals agaisnt average.
However, with the Canucks one game away from sweeping the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks out of the first round, the playoff-Luongo came out of hiding.
Over the last two games, Luongo has lasted only 65 of the 120 minutes of game action, pulled in the third period of Game 4 and the second period of Game 5. The Blackhawks have abused Luongo's glove-side, which appears to be injured, and put up 10 goals in their last 40 shots against the Canuck goalie.
Luongo's recent struggles crept up just before he was named as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. A trophy, that as the NHL phrases it, is given annually "to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at his position."
The award is voted on by the general managers for all 30 teams, and if any of them were planning on voting for Luongo, they might want to wait until this series is officially over.
