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.

It’s funny. Shortly after praising Kevin Bieksa’s improved play since coming back from injury he had an awful gaffe that led to Todd Bertuzzi’s slump busting goal that opened the door up for Detroit’s offense. Stumbling around in the crease, not bothering to look down for a good 2 seconds or so was brutal. Not sure if it was in a blind spot or what, but that was a horrific goal.

Equally bad was the goal given up just a scant 5 seconds later, setting team records for both the Canucks and Red Wings. Although it’s tempting to rake Luongo over the coals for Datsyuk’s goal, I don’t think it was necessarily his fault. That sort of save was a really tough one to make and Salo’s stick getting in the way there made it even harder for Luongo to make the stop. Nevermind that Luongo was still mad at himself for the previous goal and hadn’t yet gotten back into the game.

Christian Ehrhoff also had a bit of a miscue when, being without a stick in the dying seconds of overtime, he pretty much gave Zetterberg free reign to do whatever he wanted. It’s been said that there are opportunities where it’s forgivable to take a penalty. With roughly 2 seconds left in the game, I’d argue that would be one of those instances. Ehrhoff wasn’t aware of the time left (I’d argue that even with 5-6 seconds remaining the Canucks would have been fine) and it ended up costing the Canucks a point in the standings. An important point, if they were hoping to move past third overall in the Western Conference and make a push for second or first overall.

More frustrating to me, though, was the performance of some of the Canucks forwards. I’ve been happy with Demitra since he came back with injury, arguing that he needed to get into the groove or pointing out his play right after the Olympics. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot to be defending from Pavol’s performance last night. He looked ineffectual and out of place for most of the game, running into opponents and making questionable decisions while playing. I’d even go so far to say as it was probably Demitra’s worst game of the season (small sample size, I know, but still.) I don’t know what’s going on here, but it’s frustrating.

Even worse would have been a potential linemate replacement with Mason Raymond. Since being demoted to the third line, I haven’t really noticed Raymond on the ice all that much. The most noticeable player on that line has been Kyle Wellwood and, to a lesser extent, Jannik Hansen. There was a great feed from Hansen in the second period to Wellwood, for example, in addition to Wellwood playing, well, like a man possessed. I’d like to see him get bumped back up to play with Kesler and Grabner, as that line was clicking and if there’s ever a team to beat up on in the NHL for the Canucks, it’d be the Edmonton Oilers.

I’m also getting a little worried about the Sedins. I thought Daniel looked great, but Henrik looked almost timid out there tonight. Haven’t heard anything regarding Henrik’s back, which was an issue going into the Olympics, but I’m really not looking forward to hearing that Henrik was playing with a sore back if the Canucks end up taking an early exit from the playoffs. Burrows also looked quiet for a lot of tonight, but I’ll attribute that to Detroit’s gameplan: it seemed as though they were actively seeking him out and focusing on him. Not sure if that’s the most effective strategy for playing against the Sedins, but it worked, as they were kept quiet for most of the night.

Sad stat of the day: Canucks have lost every game in which Shane O’Brien has managed to score a goal. Granted, it’s only been three games (this game, a tilt against the Blues and game 6 against Chicago) but still.

Canucks square off Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers. Hopefully they learned their lesson from last Tuesday and will come prepared to play a full 60 minutes!