Canucks & Beyond
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How to Beat Roberto Luongo
by Alanah McGinley on 10/31/08 at 03:43 PM ET
Comments (7)
Rich Hammond at Inside the Kings snags this quote off LA Kings coach Terry Murray today:
Against Luongo, you need traffic. When I was in Florida, we traded for him, and you know what you’re getting. You knew what you were getting when he was going to be 27, 28 years old. He is that. He’s one of the premier goalies in the league, and if you give those top goalies lots of free looks, then they’re going to get the job done. You have to make sure you’re getting a lot of traffic and putting a lot of pucks at the net. The percentage of pucks that go in, the number is pretty high. You’ve got to get 20 pucks to the net for one goal, or hopefully one goal.
Call me crazy, but isn’t traffic always the best way to beat any goalie? Aside from crashing straight into him, or committing some other on-ice felony, I mean.
I’m not saying the Murray is wrong in his assessment of Luongo, only that it probably applies to every goalie out there. And I don’t think Luongo is any worse at battling traffic than any of those other netminders.
If Murray wants to understand why his team lost last night, I’d suggest he focus as much—if not more—attention on the Kings defensive game than on the prowess of Luongo. I mean, Luongo (and the rest of the Canucks) played a great game, but geez… the Kings were a trainwreck from the opening seconds, and didn’t put up a whole lot of resistance throughout, imho.
So here’s hoping the Ducks are feeling just as reckless tonight.
Perhaps Canucks fans can ask George Parros for a favor.
Update 1:35pm PT:
A nice compliment for me from user ladiesandgentlemen at the All Ducks.com forums (thanks!) plus a note that crashing Luongo probably qualifies as a sound strategy in the mind of the Ducks (alas, I wouldn’t expect anything less...) but then it all goes horribly wrong with this final observation:
“I think she’s got a thing for Parros”
Bloody hell. How does everyone know this? 
Update 1:59pm PT:
This is too funny not to post. The LA Kings released this homage to Halloween today, featuring their mascot and… the Vancouver Canucks? A scary psycho sort of team we are!
Filed in: | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: anaheim+ducks, george+parros, roberto+luongo,
Comments
“The goalie can’t stop what he can’t see”
“Keep tossing pucks and sooner or later one has to go in”
“He can’t make the save if he’s got an ass in his face”
They’re all gold in their own special way 
Posted by Shane from Saskatoon on 10/31/08 at 03:44 PM ET
Call me crazy, but isn’t traffic always the best way to beat any goalie? Aside from crashing straight into him, or committing some other on-ice felony, I mean.
I’m not saying the Murray is wrong in his assessment of Luongo, only that it probably applies to every goalie out there. And I don’t think Luongo is any worse at battling traffic than any of those other netminders.
Sometimes, big slappers from center ice work pretty well too? Cloutier-isms aside, coach talk is coach talk. Gotta love it. Sometimes things really are that simple. “You’ve got to shot to score” is a mike babcock favorite and it’s no less true because of it being common sense.
If anything, I’d take the comments as a plus for Luongo rather than as suggestive of him being weak against traffic. I, personally, read them as, “We’ve got to get traffic, because there’s no chance in hell he’s letting in a shot he sees well.”
Posted by Shane from Lubbock on 10/31/08 at 04:16 PM ET
SENShobo -- Very true. I’m not sure that was the particular problem in that game, but in general, it’s definitely noticeable when players overthink an opposing goalie too much—sometimes the answer is simply “Just shoot the puck, already!”
Shane from Sask -- Gotta love the standards...!
Shane from Lubbock -- I agree, and I certainly saw the compliment to Luongo in Murray’s words. I just think he’s almost too complimentary to him in the sense that I would argue the Kings had bigger obstacles than Luongo in that game. Namely, themselves.
P.S. You are not going to be forgiven easily for reminding me of that Cloutier moment. Bah!
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 10/31/08 at 04:24 PM ET
To beat Luongo, shoot at it head. He doesn’t like it...he doesn’t wear protection around his neck. The guy freaks out when a puck comes in around his head.
Posted by GZ Expat on 10/31/08 at 06:11 PM ET
“To beat Luongo, shoot at it head. He doesn’t like it...he doesn’t wear protection around his neck. The guy freaks out when a puck comes in around his head.”
Shhhhhhh!!!!!! Quiet! 
By the way, anyone looking to watch the Canucks/Ducks game online tonight, there’s a good chance this link will work at game time. The site’s broadcast of games last night was excellent.
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 10/31/08 at 06:25 PM ET
“I’m not saying the Murray is wrong in his assessment of Luongo, only that it probably applies to every goalie out there. “
Yes, well, it’s that kind of piercing insight from Murray that has the Kings rocketing to the top of the standings.
Posted by the sieve from Calgary on 11/05/08 at 12:32 PM ET
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About Canucks & Beyond
Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003, sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen. In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla’s Korner, Alanah is one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast, as featured at Canucks.com.
She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.
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Other Canucks Blogs
Obvious? Yes. But sometimes you get awestruck, and players need that simple reminder.
48 shots, and the Leafs got 5 goals out of Brodeur. A few seasons back, the Sens nabbed 8, can’t remember if he was chased.
Sometimes though, someone will see 50 shots and still walk away with a shutout. But eventually, you make a goalie work enough, and he’ll get tired, frustrated, maybe both. What better way to take out scoreless frustration than whipping vulcanized rubber at a goalie at 100MPH?
Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 10/31/08 at 03:05 PM ET