Running Stanley Cup Playoff Thread

Alex Semin can't.

 

Let me reiterate...Luongo will most likely never be the reason a team wins the cup. He is far too inconsistent and is not a big-game player. And his glove side is beyond weak.

He is what he is...an aging above-average goaltender. Can he win a cup? Of course...Tukka Rask won a cup but, as Johnny D pointed out, he was not the reason Boston won it. If Vancouver has a goalie like Price in there they win it all instead of Boston. Luongo was not good enough. As posters on here said, his defense was not terrible in the series. He just gave up too many soft goals for his team to overcome his shortcomings. Luongo should spend the enitre off-season working on his glove side.

 

Heck, if a career fourth-line enforcer like Shawn Thornton can win two Cups with two different teams, anyone can.

Hockey is a team game, with 20 guys dressed every night. Grant Fuhr didn't have outrageous numbers when he was a player, but the team in front of him scored almost at will, and so he has four Stanley Cup rings with the Oilers.

The one guy who can maybe steal a game when the offense isn't pumping is the goaltender -- much like a pitcher can in baseball. Luongo had shutouts in Games 1 & 5 of the SCF this year. He gave up some bad goals and things snowballed in the three games in Boston, but most goaltenders will usually let in a stoppable goal or two. What Tim Thomas did in net in eight of the last nine games (Game 6 against Tampa excepted, where TB scored three power-play goals) he played is a goaltending performance like I've never seen in the three decades I've been following hockey.

The book on the Canucks coming into the series was that they were mercurial and physical play could take them out of their game because they'd get into yapping/retribution/whining. That's exactly what happened. Once Boston put some pressure on them, they folded. The Canucks only came from behind once in the series, and that was a game in which they scored the first goal. When Boston scored the first goal, they fell apart.

 

Price would have made 8 goals in 7 games stand up?

 

Two things the Bruins' D did well: made sure Thomas didn't have to deal with a lot of screened shots, and cleaned up the zone. Aside from that overtime debacle, I can't remember any significant, bad giveaways/screw-ups while trying to clear the zone. Van forecheck got them on their heels a number of times -- to be expected -- but I can't remember any free lunches.

Left to defend the crease, Thomas treated it like a mama Grizzly Bear looking out for its cub.

 

So are you saying a team will score the same amount of goals no matter who is in net? You leave no room for momentum and/or confidence. You could tell in the final two games the Canucks had no confidence in Luongo. They knew, once a couple of goals were let in, that they were cooked. With Price back there the team may have felt like it still had a change. With Luongo...not so much.

 

Generally, a team behind a worse goalie will score more goals, because they'll have to press for offense more because they are behind. A team with a good goaltending performance will sit on their lead and score less.

 

WTF has Price done to earn that confidence? Christ it keeps getting better with you.

 

Price is one of the top young goalies in the game. Who would you rather have if you were starting a franchise, Price or Luongo?

 

Starting a franchise? Price.

Heading into a playoff series? I'd have to think about it. Luongo has some mental issues, but he's also more likely to steal you four games if that's what you need him to do. I guess it would depend on how good the rest of my team was.

 

Luongo was really good in the San Jose series; if I recall correctly, he totally stole Games 4 and 5. So it's not like he's incapable of playoff success. And the Sedins' failures were the primary story of the Cup final from a Vancouver standpoint ... or at least they should have been. Alas, Luongo's lack of tact in front of the media combined with his poor play in Boston to steal the attention.

 

We aren't talking about starting a franchise. I like Price a lot but is this the same Price who almost got run out of town last year?