Canuck Question of the Day: Can They Win it All with Luongo
Written by: Larry “The Nucks IceMan” Johnson
Another meltdown has occurred in these play-offs and it wasn’t the ninty degree heat in Boston either. Roberto Luongo has again run into problems stopping the puck allowing 12 goals in six periods of hockey. Granted, he has done this before in the Chicago series in games four and five when he sprang a leak for 12 goals , but at what point does the coaching staff think of team ahead of the goalie? This is after all, the Stanley Cup and who knows if they will ever get to this dance again?
The other problem that has devastated the Canucks defense was the loss of Dan Hamhuis. Without a shutdown pair it has been open season on Luongo and the so called depth on defense looks downright thin. Everyone on the defense has been coughing up the puck like fur balls.
Christian Ehrhoff continues to mount up the totals in the plus/minus column and now leads all NHL players with a -10. So my question to coach Vigneault would be, if you’re so quick to bench Keith Ballard every time he makes a mistake, how come Ehrhoff is still playing?
It must shake Ballard’s confidence knowing that every time he makes a mistake it could mean being benched for the series. If Coach applies the same tactics, then Edler should have been sat down periodically for his play.
I have no answers for the defense that looks so lost you’d think they were tripping around in the dark. There is only Sami Salo and Alex Edler left as a pair that has played together for any amount of time. So who does Kevin Bieksa play with? Ballard seems to be playing so tentatively, afraid of making mistakes, and you just can’t play hockey that way at play-off pace.
The Canucks need to find a shutdown pair on defense or Luongo better find his mojo real quick, because five-on-five, the Bruins are so far ahead of the Canucks they would need next year to catch them. In this series Boston has scored 11 goals to the Canucks four. Not only that, the Bruins’ supposedly pop-gun power play leads the Canucks three to one.
With Bruins Tim Thomas now the front runner for the Conn Smythe trophy, just how are the Canucks suppose to beat him when he sees most shots? Boston’s team defense has made the Canucks pay dearly for standing in front of Thomas and the Canucks again are a one line team. Stop me now if you’ve heard that before in the play-offs.
On the road, the poor Sedins are taking a wicked beating with no one on the Canucks taking to task the likes of Bruins Brad Marchand for his slashes to the back of Henrik’s legs. Hey Vigneault, how about sending Torres out there to deal with Marchand? If you remember what I wrote about before the San Jose series, then you’ll know that I thought the Sharks would eat up the Canucks physically. OK, so I was half wrong about them, but the physical toll the Canucks paid in that series is now surfacing in this Boston series.
The Canucks can not, nor do they have, the players to wear down the Bruins. I’ve been singing that song about the Canucks lack of toughness, grit, grease, whatever you want to call it, for three season now. The Sedins will be lucky to be standing by game seven, if there is one. Where is Todd Bertuzzi when you need him to ride shotgun for the Twins?
Speaking of Vigneault, he’s being out-coached by Bruins Claude Julien. How so you ask? Julien has juggled his lines continuously during the play-offs, to come up with a winning combination, sometimes due to injuries, while Vigneault has been standing pat except for the fourth line and really, have they contributed even close to the Bruins fourth line?
Ryan Kesler is noticeably playing hurt and if that’s so, why not move that line down to the third position and match them up against the Bruins third line. Manny Malthora, who continues to increase his playing minutes, needs to be utilized to his strengths before this series goes south. Best way would be to put him back with Jannik Hansen and Raffi Torres and have them be the second line.
At least they would produce more scoring opportunities than the Kesler line. Has anyone even seen Mason Raymong? And with Kesler getting less ice minutes, he may survive to play a game seven.
Maxim Lapierre, who has really played a strong role filling in for Malhotra, would add a little more grit on the fourth line and Vigneault would have another line to roll, instead of having to keep them on the bench. Don’t forget, Malhotra should be able to neutralize whatever Bruins centre he matches up against, whether it’s in the face-off circle or head-on
Back to where I started about Luongo. The pressing question is – can he come back and play a game without giving up a soft goal that demoralizes the team no matter how well they play? Because if the Canucks don’t win game five, then you might as well throw the Massachusetts Kid, Cory Schneider, into the game in Boston. Why? Cause he’s the future!
What about Luongo you ask? Hey, it’s about what’s best for the team and who gives the Canucks the best chance of winning.
Footnotes: So with Boston winning both games at home that shoots down my pick for the Canucks in five. In fact, with the way Thomas is playing, Boston’s five-on-five and their special teams, it looks like it could be Boston in six. Game five on Friday will decide if what I have seen in the first four games is correct. I sure hope I’m wrong!
Photo Credits – AP, Getty Images, Google Images and Yahoo Sports!
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