Bobby Lu, Lowest Career Playoff GAA


Roberto Luongo is currently in the midst of only the second playoff season of his career. Including 2007 he has now played in fifteen career playoff games, not a substantial amount, but a fair sized sample from which to gauge his performance. Luongo’s career playoff Goals Against Average is a miniscule 1.64. This number is the the best of any modern tender since 1945. All-time, Luongo is only bettered by Alec Connell, Charlie Gardiner and Lorne Chabot all of whom retired in the mid 1930’s.
The only other modern era goalies who have bettered a 2.00 GAA in 15 or more playoff games are Ilya Bryzgalov (16 gp, 1.68), Patrick Lalime (41 gp, 1.77), Turk Broda (46gp, 1.84), Gerry McNeil (35 gp, 1.89) and Martin Brodeur (172 gp, 1.96)….quite an eclectic group indeed. Bryzgalov had a somewhat surprising run taking over for JS Giguere in 2006 and played five games in winning the ’07 Cup. Patrick Lalime led Ottawa to a final appearance yet owns a mere 21-20 W/L record. Turk Broda was an all-time legend and won five Cups with the Leafs. Gerry McNeil won the 1953 Cup with the Canadiens yet is perhaps better known as the goalie who allowed Bill Barilko’s OT Cup winner the year before. Then there’s Marty Brodeur, still at the top of his game and possesser of three Stanley Cups.
Where will Roberto Luongo end up amongst this group of six? Perhaps he will join the legends Broda and Brodeur with multiple Cups. He could end up a perennial playoff underachiever like Lalime or he could sneak away with one Cup yet not quite reach the upper echelon status like Bryzgalov and McNeil.
Right about now, I’d say Canuck fans would be extremely pleased if he were to only achieve the latter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ron Hextall and the stolen Conn Smythe Trophy

Image
Ron Hextall did not deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1987....there, I said it. I recently caught game seven of the '87 finals on ESPN Classic, where the Oilers beat the Flyers 3-1. Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to the disdain and boos of the Northlands Coliseum. Hextall was (and remains) the fourth player to win the trophy in a losing cause. Even as a teenager following these playoffs as they happened, I thought this was an injustice. Upon further inspection, I believe he only won because he was a rookie, and was the "sexy" pick as opposed to the proper pick. When looking at his numbers, it's hard to figure why he won. Hextall finished with 15 wins, 11 losses and a GAA of 2.77. Oilers, Grant Fuhr went 14 and 5 with an average of 2.46. I realize that stats cannot tell the whole story, but even if we dig further the award doesn't seem justified. His .908 Save Pct was the same as Fuhr's and tied for third behind Ken Wregget and Kelly Hrudey. Also,...
Read more

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un...
Read more

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal ...
Read more