from Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail,

Against L.A.Luongo failed to control rebounds that once upon a time he easily corralled. The Kings’ second goal, by Fredrik Modin, is one he should have had. But the strangest moment of the evening occurred when Anze Kopitar broke in on Luongo with Canucks defenceman Alex Edler hot on his tail. Kopitar tried several times to get a shot away but was thwarted by the trailing defenceman. At the end of the play, Luongo was 18 feet out of his net, on his knees, completely vulnerable….

I realize it may seem harsh to be dissecting Luongo’s game given that the Canucks won and that he played a pivotal, if split-second, role in allowing that to happen. But Luongo isn’t just any player on the ice. He is supposed to be a franchise player, the player who will need to be stellar if there is any hope of the Canucks going far in these playoffs. But he hasn’t been that for a while now and he certainly wasn’t that in the opener and, well, I guess we’ll see what happens from here on in.

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