NHL Playoffs

[Asher]

sv%:

Crawford: 100% (36 saves)

Luongo: 66% (8 saves)
Schneider: 92.8% (13 saves)

Which one is the starter? To be fair, we should look back another game too.

[Ben Kenobi]

Again, apparently shutouts only matter when they are against Vancouver.

[Ben Kenobi]

team history

That's sad. Really sad.

[Ben Kenobi]

Anyhoo, congrats to the Hawks. Don't want to hear a peep outta y'all that I can't be a hell of alot more gracious in defeat than y'all.

[Asher]

From TSN's James Dunthie:

Here's all you need to know. Last two games offensively: Sedins 1pt. Corey Crawford 2pts.

[Asher]

Apparently AV says he's going to start Lou again in Game 6. I can't believe he'd be that stupid, but he may surprise me.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks-owning-luongo-right-now/article1995460/

Blackhawks owning Luongo right now

What’s going on in Roberto Luongo’s head right now?

He can say that he felt good before his latest playoff drubbing by the Blackhawks. He can say his back is fine and he’s not hiding some injury he suffered early in Game 4 when he dramatically arched his back to make a save. And he can say that the sight of Chicago jerseys hasn’t suddenly made his legs go weak.

But there is something seriously wrong with him right now.

For the second game in a row, Luongo was lit up by the Blackhawks. As a result their 5-0 Game 5 win Thursday, the defending Stanley Cup champs are right back in this series. They have all the momentum now, even though they still remain down a game. And they completely and utterly own Luongo, who was pulled for the second game in a row.

You could tell every time the Hawks came down the ice they couldn’t wait to get off a shot on the Canucks netminder. High glove side if possible.

That’s exactly where Marion Hossa scored both of his. The Olympic gold medal goalie barely moved on the first shot he faced from the big Chicago winger from 15 feet out in the slot. It was almost like Luongo’s nerves had paralyzed him. The next Chicago goal was high to the stick side. And on it went. Until finally, mercifully, Canucks coach Alain Vigneault pulled him after Hossa scored second his early in the second.

He probably should have yanked him after the third goal.

And now he should take him out of the series and put in backup Cory Schneider.

Pulling your star goalie in the middle of a series is never a good thing. It’s inevitably a sign that things have gone horribly wrong. And the Stanley Cup playoffs are littered with losing teams that made a goalie change mid-series. Often it’s a sign of desperation and nothing good comes of it. Sometimes, though, it works. The Canucks may have nothing to lose at this point.

Now, it has to be said that this loss was not Luongo’s alone. Just like the 7-2 Game 4 massacre in Chicago wasn’t. But just as every good team is built from the goal out, so are most victories.

But losses often start there too.

Luongo’s poor outing Thursday didn’t just give the Blackhawks a quickly gathering confidence, it seemed to destroy the swagger and bravado that the Canucks were known for all year. Just as importantly, it helped eliminate the home-ice advantage of which Vancouver was supposed to be taking advantage.

If the crowd wasn’t out of it after the first goal, it was certainly gone after the second less than a minute later. The fans booed their team and jeered Luongo. Not good.

Now, Luongo isn’t the only player Canucks coaches would probably like to stick on the bench for a while.

The Canucks’ regular-season stars have disappeared: the Sedins were no-shows again. So was Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows, two guys the team counted on for timely goals all year. Neither has a goal in this series. Go down the list. It’s hard to come up with one Vancouver player who showed up Thursday night.

The first two games of the series the Canucks, a team that won on finesse all year, pounded the Hawks into submission. It was the most physical Vancouver was all year. But it would appear that they used up all their hits in those initial games. Chicago was content to skate pretty much anywhere it wanted to without fear of any Canucks’ player laying so much as a glove on them, let alone a hip or shoulder.

It seems hard to imagine a series that seemed as good as over at the beginning of the week not going seven games now. And if Roberto Luongo is still in goal for that game, given what we've witnessed in the last two games, it’s difficult to see how it ends well for Vancouver.

It’s one thing to have a great regular season. But, of course, the pressure there isn’t anything like it is in the playoffs. And Roberto Luongo has yet to prove he’s capable of handling the post-season heat.

What’s going on in his head right now?

[Guynemer]

You don't sit one of the five best goalies of all-time during the playoffs, Ashur.

[-Jrabbit]

I see Ben has adopted the use of "y'all" in his posts...
Is this an affectation, or Texas law?

[Guynemer]

I have no idea why I spelled Asher with a "u"; I suspect my morning coffee had yet to kick in.

[Asher]

You don't sit one of the five best goalies of all-time during the playoffs, Ashur.

[Asher]

The three Vezina finalists (Luongo, Thomas, Rinne) are a combined 7-6/3.38/.886 in the playoffs so far.

[Guynemer]

Seriously, Luongo is THE anti-clutch goalie. Think of all the goalies in the past 20 years who, while maybe not winning every gotta-have-it game, won more than their share and you felt comfortable with them in the playoffs: Roy, Brodeur, Hasek, Osgood, Belfour, MAF, etc. Clutch guys in crunch time. Luongo does great during the regular season, but when you absolutely gotta have it, he folds faster than a Democrat.

[Asher]

Anatomy of a Collapse: Look at shot quality to try to determine if the defense is to blame, or goaltending.

They conclude: both.

http://canucksarmy.com/2011/4/22/anatomy-of-a-collapse

[Asher]

Luongo today on how he can get better:

"For me, nothing changes."

Yes, please don't ever change.

[Demonbinder]

Many experts who figured Hawks wouldn't win game 5 now predict a game 7.