So Roberto Luongo has been getting it from all angles as of late and Saturday’s game against the Sharks, an affair where he gave up 3 goals in a losing effort has ratcheted up the criticism. (Sidenote: I apologize for the lack of a Postscript for the San Jose game, I came down with something and was incapacitated for Saturday night/Sunday. Oops.) While I wasn’t a fan of the Marleau goal (which came after a smart play from Rob Blake, forcing Alex Edler to turn over the puck) and thought he ‘ran out of mulligans’ against the Oilers, I do think some of the criticism is being a little over the top.
Take, for example, Dave Hodge’s feature on TSN during the Edmonton game. Sold as looking for reasons as to why the Canucks won’t win the Cup this season, it quickly morphed into Hodge running Luongo down, claiming he is the reason why Vancouver won’t win the Cup. On Sunday during TSN’s The Reporters, Hodge brought up Luongo again with most of the guests taking their turn at bashing him. I understand there’ll always be differing opinions in the world of sport, you sort of have to wonder about the motivations of folks like Damien Cox, whose criticism of Luongo you have to take with a grain of salt.

I am le horrible with le blogging. I know. Interviews and other responsibilities have taken me away from this. Or, excuses, excuses. What will the lazy bastard come up with next?

Ahem. So, the Edmonton game was pretty horrible. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to blog that, as I like to try and write something up even when the Canucks lose. So, sorry. I do think that Luongo looked bad and that he’s probably run out of mulligans this season for off nights. I’ve got something brewing shortly looking at Luongo, but, well, time.

Normally if a goalie makes 50 stops, you’d figure that they won the game after putting up such an impressive performance.

Not the case tonight for Roberto Luongo, who may felt like he was back in Florida playing for the Panthers. It was in Florida, you’ll recall, that Luongo set a dubious record for most shots faced in a single NHL season. The fact that the Canucks defense was having, and this is putting it charitably, an off-night must’ve had him thinking he had fallen asleep in a hot tub and gone back in time.

Yeah, I’m skipping the Islanders game. Don’t worry, I have a blog post forthcoming on that game! Chronological order? What’s that?

I know, I’m late. Furthermore, I’m like two weeks behind with the Week That Was. Unfortunately, paid work trumps unpaid work.

I’m going to do a 2 in 1, sort of, for this, considering I missed blogging the Sens game as well. (That sound you hear? Google Analytics dying of crib death…) I thought this was probably one of the best games, top to bottom, from the Canucks in a long time. Kevin Bieksa looked good coming back in his first game since his calf was sliced and diced, Luongo was in fine form and just about everyone was doing their job. Even guys like Ryan Johnson.

It’s over. Finally.

The marathon 14 game road trip with the Canucks ended tonight in Arizona and probably not a game too soon. Naturally, on the very last game of the Canucks road trip, a slight detour had to be made with some overtime and the shootout.

Bret Hart once said, who are you to doubt El Dandy?

I guess it’s my turn to say, who are you to doubt the Canucks?

There was a bit of excitement over the weekend as I over a story that I also tweeted about regarding Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun’s article suggesting that Canucks first round draft pick Jordan Schroeder may be leaving his NCAA team, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and joining the Moose. This would follow rumors from earlier in the season that Mike Gillis was trying to get Jordan Schroeder to turn pro and sign with the Canucks. Given how much Gillis wants to be ‘hands on’ with player development, I can’t blame him for wanting to do so. Schroeder, to his credit, has remained interested in staying with the Gophers.

So, is it premature to be getting excited about the playoffs?

On one hand, the Canucks have become the team that doesn’t die. Today’s win over the Nashville Predators marks nine instances this year where they have battled back from being down after 2 periods, winning the game. That sort of ‘never say die’ attitude and work ethic is something that will be incredibly useful going into the playoffs and I have to say it makes me optimistic about the Canucks chances. (Also, you have to wonder if the Canucks being so strong in the third period is reflective of some of the initiatives Mike Gillis has introduced, like the sleep specialists. Are the Canucks better conditioned than their opponents? Something to think about.)

You win some, you lose some.

And sometimes you lose horribly. Guess what category tonight’s game slots into?

Yeah, this matchup had just about everything tonight. Some fights, some 5 on 3s, a goalie getting pulled, a lopsided score. Just about everything.