Luongo's Demons Are Dancing

Friend of RLD Hockey, The Hockey Guys Joe Depto and Anthony Curatolo, discuss the breakdown of Roberto Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks.

It was impossible to many, but inevitable to us.

Impressive throughout most of the first round, as well as Game 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks, the demons in Vancouver Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo's closet have been missing in action.

Last night, the second-best offense in the league competed in a goal-derby against the third-best offense in the league. However, it was the latter who was victorious.

::beep, beep, beep::

The demon's GPS system can be put away.

The Blackhawks, led by Captain Jonathan Toews' hat-trick, brought the Vancouver Canucks to the brink of elimination with a 7-4 victory.

The bookies made out tonight, if you are into sports betting that is. The Canucks, who had a home record of 30-8-3 during the regular season, are now 2-3 in the 'second season'.

We all know that having consistent goaltending is imperative for postseason success. So how much of this sub-.500 postseason struggle can be placed on the heralded netminder in Vancouver? Let's let the numbers do the talking for a moment :

Goalie A is an even 5-5 record (tied for the worst of any active playoff goalie) in the postseason with a 3.27 GAA (also the lowest of any active playoff goaltender) and a .892 save percentage (you may be noticing a trend here - but once again, the lowest of any goalie of any team left standing in round two). He is highly regarded as one of the NHL's elite goalies and has a bevy of talented forwards playing in front of him. In fact, his top line's center is an MVP candidate, and his second-line center is up for the Selke award.

Goalie B also has 5 wins, but also boasts a 2.43 GAA (top 3 in active goaltenders) and a .913 save percentage, good for fourth among active goalie in the playoffs. He is largely viewed as a career backup; and if not for injuries to the netminders on the depth chart in front of him, he likely would not have seen the ice this spring in a starting role. Many felt he would be the reason for his team missing the playoffs, rather than holding his own in the playoffs, despite two of his team's two best forwards being injured. In the first round, he was a huge factor for his team upsetting a drastically higher-seeded team.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Goalie B is Philadelphia's Brian Boucher. Goalie A is the man in question, Roberto Luongo.

Vancouver fans, along with many NHL pundits across the globe, are content with Luongo's play during the season... and for fairly good reason. But when the spring weather blooms, Luongo shows himself to be a mentally-fragile goalie capable of costing his talented team a shot at playoff glory.

Given his recent play against Chicago, it seems that the big numero uno in net for the Canucks is starting a marketing campaign of his own -- What if history wasn't made?

But the fact is, history is indeed repeating itself. The tiny black shadows dancing through Luongo's eyes, at the skates of Captain Canuck, are the demons that have escaped (one of them may be Dustin Byfuglien). They may have taken some time to find good ol' Bobby Lu, but now it seems as if they are here to stay.

Chicago is taking a commanding 3-1 series lead back to the United Center where the seventh man can help back the Hawks to the Western Conference Finals, just like they did last spring against this same Vancouver team.

So much for having a dominating offensive attack when your shaky blue-line and unfocused goaltender decide to buy a ticket instead of suiting up.

Debate what you will, most of the blame should fall on Luongo with the Canucks being pushed to the brink. And yes, the defense is at fault as well, especially when your penalty kill's hangover does not fade away.

Against the Los Angeles Kings, thanks to Drew Doughty's best Bobby Orr impersonation, the Canucks penalty kill ranked at 61.5% as they killed off 16 of 26 attempts. The Kings scored 18 goals in the entire series, which shows over half of the offense came via the man advantage.

These playoffs, the Canucks going down a man becomes as costly as Lawrence Taylor's lawyers.

Thus far, the Canucks possess a shoddy 63.6% penalty kill rate for this series, as they've escaped 14 times out of 22 attempts.

Chicago only scored on 4 of 23 power plays against the Nashville Predators; this round, they have scored on 7 of 22 attempts against the Canucks.

They say your best defense on a penalty kill is your goaltender. I guess Luongo missed that day at goalie school.

If the Canucks have any intentions on making this a series again, Luongo must play like the elite-level goaltender he is so often made out to be.

If his head is in the clouds, the air versus sea battle to crown the West will begin.

The Sharks have begun erasing their demons. Is it too late for Roberto Luongo to do the same?

Photo credit: Getty Images
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Be sure to tune in to "The Hockey Guys" this Sunday from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. EST for some of the best live discussion on the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

Also, Joe Depto will be appearing on next Tuesday's "RLD Hockey Talk" at 1 p.m. EST; be sure to tune into that RLD fans!

Follow Joe Depto on Twitter: @JoeDepto
Follow Anthony Curatolo on Twitter: @HockeyGuy_AC
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