The Vancouver Canucks won 5-0 last night in a lopsided affair against the usually stingy defense of the New Jersey Devils.
The Canucks earned the win largely because Roberto Luongo was back in the lineup after returning from a rib injury. Luongo, who had not played since December 8th, was very solid as he posted a 32 save shutout for the 37th of his career and the 5th of the season.
Martin Brodeur on the other hand, was not so solid in net as he struggled in a performance that matched his season high of 5 goals allowed while only facing 24 shots from an offense not normally known for its explosive play.
Judging by Brodeur's career numbers and his current standing in the All-Star voting, it doesn't make much sense to write him off just yet. But this game that showcased two of the league's marquee goaltenders leads one to question whether or not Luongo is emerging as the future face of goaltending in the NHL, as Brodeur's career enters its twilight years.
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There is no question that Brodeur remains an elite goalie in the league right now, and undoubtedly will go down in history as being one of the best ever—especially since his career shutout numbers recently started to push the legendary Terry Sawchuk's aside. However, as the "New NHL" is evolving into a faster game with more goals, and more talented shooters finding more ways to score, good goaltending is going to always be at a premium. And goalies with game-changing abilities like Luongo are becoming harder and harder to find.
Luongo is still a ways off from establishing himself as being an NHL legend like Brodeur. But his career .920 save percentage is a good indicator of his potential for success, especially considering most of his career to this point was spent guarding the nets for a pathetic Florida Panthers team.
This debate is likely to re-emerge in the future, when Team Canada has to reach into its incredibly deep talent pool and decide which of its many goalies to go with for the 2010 Olympics.
The popular choice for the last few Olympics has been Brodeur, but after Luongo out-duelled him last night in Vancouver, it appears as though his monopoly on the national goaltending job may be coming to an end. While others like Marty Turco will certainly be in the mix, last night's performance by Luongo, both statistically and symbolically, would seem to have put Luongo into the running to take over the job.
It's maybe a bit early to be determining things like this for the 2010 Olympics, and to take one game as the determining factor would be ridiculous. But Brodeur's struggles last night, accompanied by Luongo's stellar play, was certainly an indicator that Team Canada and the NHL are about to experience an inevitable change in their goaltending futures.
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8 months ago
Its no doubt Brodeur had a bad night. But the fact that 3 of his defensemen deflected 3 of those goals into the net didn't help. It also didn't help that they had plane trouble so they ended up flying a day late. Then a fire alarm went off in their hotel which caused some players to get little rest. They looked tired out there on the ice and it showed.
Try this duel again when both teams are fresh and I doubt we'll see the same result again.
8 months ago
It'll be 6-0 Canucks next time. Brodeur is a has-been while Luongo's star is shining brightest in the NHL. I'm particularly glad that the NHL Governors' changed the rules so we'll see every team every year. It high time that the East finally begins to realize that the Western Conference has a tougher travel schedule, but is still a better Conference all-around. Either the schedule had to change or the playoff structure. Only Ottawa has proven themselves to be a truly great team in the East.
8 months ago
haha... don't get me wrong. I think Brodeur and the Devils are great, and I didn't realize there was all that other nonsense going on behind the scenes. I just thought that it was an interesting situation, and maybe showed a bit of foreshadowing, because there's no doubt in my mind that Luongo's talent and athleticism are going to take him to the Hall of Fame as well.
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