Good night: LOLuongo
The Lead
Sentence I’d never thought I’d type ever: “Andrew Raycroft was considerably better than Roberto Luongo tonight.”
Indeed, it was that Raycroft made 11 saves on 12 shots, while Luongo made eight on the same number. Really. I don’t want to start making wild assumptions here, just three games into the season, but there’s got to be something seriously wrong, physically, with Bobby Lou (more like Bobby Loo, and that’s a joke for all my British readers), right?
He might have been helpless on the goal from Antoine Vermette, and it looked like one of his defenseman got a piece of the Rusty Klesla marker, but the goals from Kristian Huselius and Nikita Filatov? Yeah, he’s gotta get those. The Huselius goal especially was just ugly. An unscreened wrister from the circle, no matter how hard, shouldn’t be beating Roberto freaking Luongo middle glove. It should be a physical impossibility. He barely even reacted as it rocketed past him.
Luongo just doesn’t seem himself, as the Raycroftian stat line this season more or less bares out. Granted, the defense hasn’t been helping him much, and his run support to this point has been virtually non-existent, but this is the guy Hockey Canada wants repping the country on its home turf come the Olympics? The way he’s playing right now, Belarus would give them a game (and by that I mean lose 11-1, not 11-0).
Hockey Canada should really consider having a look at Steve Mason, the kid at the other end of the ice who made a number of spectacular saves and isn’t making Andrew Raycroft appear to be a viable option as a starter. At least he couldn’t be any worse than this Luongo joker.
Elsewhere…
New York Rangers 3, New Jersey 2
Speaking of goaltending disasters, it’s the guy that used to be Marty Brodeur! See if you can track down the highlight of Matt Gilroy’s first NHL goal, which stood up as the gamewinner tonight. I’m no expert in goalie-ing, but I gotta think even an AHL netminder circa 1992 wouldn’t think Marty’s form was conducive to preventing a puck from getting past you. Protip, pal: keep your five-hole smaller than the person shooting the puck. I really shouldn’t have to tell you this.
Just in case you can’t see it from the grainy youtube screenshot, he has his left leg straight up and his right leg at maybe a 20-degree angle, plenty of room for a puck to get in because he didn’t have his paddle down for some horrible reason. Look at all the daylight between pad and ice. That’d be a weak attempt at a save in street hockey when you were 11. Christ.
October 6th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Honestly, I just found your blog lastnight, a link from Yahoo Fantasy Blog, and it is wonderful. I love your insight, and the way you look at the games.
I grew up in Calgary, and am a Flames fan. My brother, born in Toronto, is a Bruins fan, surprise. These, however, are not reasons I like this blog, just a nice topping. I now live in France, where it is nearly impossible to find any information on hockey, so I of course, rely on internet resources instead of in my newspaper, so thanks.
I have gone back and read lots of your stuff, and I will become a follower of this blog. Thank you kindly, keep it up.
October 6th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I’m just going to ignore his October record and pretend that Kane and Byfuglien ruined Luongo
October 6th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
FYI, that’s how Marty has been making saves for years. He just didn’t get his right leg down on the ice like he normally does. This picture shows a high shot, but it’s closer to his usual positioning.
http://www.thehockeynews.com/imgs/dynamique/photos/original/h042373A.jpg
October 6th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
I just found your site, and it’s great. I completely agree with you about Luongo’s poor performance and the need for Team Canada to reconsider their thoughts.