Vancouver Canucks’ goaltender Roberto Luongo produces positive results as changes occur
Roberto Luongo has gone through a lot and this season is getting tougher and tougher as Vancouver Canucks come close to winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in its 40-year history as a franchise in NHL.
Canucks’ goalkeeper has changed his goalkeeping coach and been put into a new role in the Canucks’ team.
The role sees him leading the team and making them click at the right time even in intense situations. As Canucks has made its way into the Western Conference Finals, it will surely be looking for Luongo to come up with a strong performance.
Luongo will be very well aware of the responsibilities and pressure that comes along with the role that he is playing and has done pretty well so far with it.
"I've waited my whole life to be in a situation like this and just going to take advantage of it and enjoy the moment", the 32-year-old said on Saturday. "It's going to be exciting. Conference final for the first time for me against a team that has some
skill up front, it's a fun time for me to be playing hockey.I've been waiting a long time to be in this position and I'm just going to go out there and have fun".
Luongo has also seen numerous changes in his role in the team.
He came up with some strong performances in Game 4 and 5 against Chicago Blackhawks and was benched for Game 6.
However, he came back into the team in Game 7 and showed his brilliance to win the game for Canucks in overtime to clinch the series.
"I think that criticism was maybe a little unfair. The couple if games where he got pulled, as a team we didn't play well", Canucks’ centre, Ryan Kesler, said.
Luongo came up with the best performance during the regular season that saw him ending the season with the best saves percentage of 0.928 and goals against average of 2.11 since the time that he has spent with Vancouver Canucks.
General Manager of Canucks, Mike Gillis, talked about Luongo saying that he has done great for the team so far and has led them brilliantly.
However, it should be kept in mind that Chicago Blackhawks knocked Canucks out of the playoffs last year with Antti Niemi in the goal.
Sharks has Niemi now as a result of the trade and now that Canucks faces Sharks in the Conference Finals, Niemi is in goal once again and will be hoping that he repeats last year’s performance.
Although Niemi doesn’t get the deserved recognition, but still he is said to be among the very best goalkeepers in the National Hockey League.
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