VANCOUVER, B.C— After Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo was strafed by the Chicago Blackhawks in two straight first-round playoff games, Coach Alain Vigneault vowed to stick by him … and started Cory Schneider.
After seeing Luongo yield 12 goals on 58 shots in two games as the Boston Bruins tied the Stanley Cup finals at 2-2, Vigneault vowed to stick by Luongo for Game 5 on Friday at Rogers Arena.
“You can bet on that, yep,” Vigneault said Thursday.
This time he might mean it.
“I just felt at that time with Chicago there was a special situation, the fact that we had lost twice to them before in the playoffs and felt that we needed to change momentum a little bit,” Vigneault said. “My gut at that time told me that putting Schneids in was the thing to do. There is one thing: Roberto is the guy, he’s my guy and he’s playing. It’s that simple.”
Luongo acknowledged he and his teammates are “pretty upset with ourselves and our performances,” but he said they can draw on their seven-game victory over the Blackhawks.
“We obviously all remember that series and the ups and downs we went through and the adversity that we faced. We came in and rose above it at the end of the day and it made the victory so much sweeter,” he said.
“The same thing applies (Friday). We have to come out strong, firing. The last two games were a bit of a bump in the road for us, but the opportunity is still there for us. Nothing has changed from two games ago.”
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