Roberto Luongo is trying to erase the memories of that horrible night we all remember in the Windy City last summer. Some would say, he isn't quite on his way to doing that yet. Another poor outing from Roberto Luongo was enough to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a win last night as the Canucks played their home opener at GM Place.Henrik Sedin scored first for the Canucks, but the Blue Jackets tied it at the end of a Canucks powerplay, a man advantage in which the Canucks had a 1:30 5 on 3 but couldn't finish, and in the end, that was the turning the point in the hockey game.
Columbus came out in the second period and scored 3 goals, on 3 consecutive shots on Roberto Luongo in under 3 minutes. A stunned crowd at General Motors Place was silenced, until Christian Ehrhoff was (finally) able to get a shot from the point through which found the back of the net. The Canucks went into the third in familiar territory, trailing by 2 or more goals.
Willie Mitchell made the game close, but a hooking penalty on Mikael Samuelsson with 5 minutes to go would prove to seal the deal, as Fedor Tyutin was able to get a seeing eye shot through traffic and past Andrew Raycroft, who was solid overall in relief of the Canucks Captain.
The slow starts are common with Roberto Luongo, but that doesn't mean he should be given a free pass. As the highest paid player and captain of this hockey team, he needs to be ready to play from October to April and beyond, not November to April and beyond. The points matter just as much now, as they do down the stretch.
Luongo needs a solid outing to shake off the comments that he can't focus in big game situations lately.
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