Luongo struggles after committing two mortal playoff sins.
BOSTON — "It’s an easy save for me."
Six little words that passed Roberto Luongo’s lips — surrounded by a bunch of others that you have no doubt read, but have been largely forgotten here in Boston — that have interpreted, misinterpreted, and re-interpreted over and over.
"It’s an easy save for me."
Like Luongo, the best goaltender ever to be doubted this much in his own city, needed the extra pressure.
Was he taking a shot at Bruins goalie Tim Thomas after Max Lapierre’s winner in Game 5? Or was he just a goalie talking goaltending, one who had only this year changed his style from roaming to sitting back on his line?
Why would he commit two mortal playoff sins at once: stepping outside the goaltenders’ union and critiquing the opponent’s play in the same sentence? And why oh why, given a mulligan at the Vancouver airport the next day, did Luongo not retract, or explain himself more clearly, sweeping the entire episode under the rug once and for all?
Instead we get: "I’ve been pumping his tires all series. I haven’t heard him say anything nice about me."
And like so many others on this Canucks squad, Luongo steps right in line as anything but a sympathetic figure, and the pucks begin flying past him the next night in Boston like locusts in a plague.
"It’s an easy save for me."
"Which one?" Boston fans were asking Monday night, as Luongo was scalded for three goals in the opening 8:35 of yet another Bruins blowout here.
The one that Brad Marchand wristed short-side from about 22-feet, where Luongo left an open top corner big enough to fit a goodly sized house pet?
"It was a good shot but I’ve got to make that save," Luongo said after the 5-2 loss in Game 6. "He put it where he wanted, but I’ve gotta make a save there."
The one Milan Lucic rifled through his legs just 35 seconds later, when the Canucks so desperately required a big save from their Vezina candidate?
"I didn’t make enough key saves to weather the storm early."
Or was it the long slapper by Andrew Ference that found its way through the crowd, past the technically sound Luongo, and into the net for a 3-0 lead that blew the roof off the raucous and rude TD Garden.
"Obviously," said Luongo, who can not be accused of ducking the media after one of the worse nights of his professional life, "I’d like to have had a better game. But now there’s one game for the Stanley Cup. You can’t hang your head now and feel sorry for yourself. That would be the worst thing I could do."
Alain Vigneault pulled Luongo after that third goal, at the 8:35 mark, and after three losses here in this Final Luongo leaves with heinous numbers at the Garden: an 8.05 goals against average, a .773 saves percentage, and 15 goals in 111:52.
Talk about neck burn.
The good news, Canucks fans? His Cup Final numbers at Rogers Arena are stellar: 3-0 record, two shutouts, a 0.67 GAA and .979 save percentage. He's allowed 2 goals on 97 shots in Van City, so anyone asking who might start Game 7 for the Canucks can stand down.
"Four bad minutes, and the game was gone," said Canucks defenceman Christian Ehrhoff, who was on for two of the four Bruins goals which came in 4:14, eclipsing a Stanley Cup record established by the Montreal Canadiens in 1956.
"Statistics aren’t really our strong suit in this series, so who really cares?" said defenceman Kevin Bieksa. "We lost the game again … and we’re going to get ready for the next game."
Recent history has given us opposing examples of how a Game 7 can go.
Two years ago, Pittsburgh walked into Joe Louis Arena and knocked off the mighty Detroit Red Wings, notching the only road win of that Cup final. But in ’06, Edmonton dominated Carolina at home in Game 6 and appeared sure favorites, but lost a heart-breaker by a 3-1 score in Raleigh, on an empty net goal.
As you know, there hasn’t been a road win in this final yet. In seeking one, Boston will try and become the first team to ever win 3 Game 7’s in one playoff year.
And if you’re looking for Luongo over the next couple of days. You might try the seawall. He’s got some head trash to unload.
"I’ve got to believe in myself, right? That’s a big component in bouncing back and playing a good game," he said. "We’re going to put what happened tonight behind us as soon as possible, and get ready for what is going to be a dream, playing in a Game 7.
"I mean, it’s a Stanley Cup final. One game, winner-take-all. I’ve been in those situations."
We can think of one in particular. Canucks fans can only dream that the same arena could host another celebration like that one, Wednesday night in Vancouver.
