Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Leaky Lu



"We're going to come out Monday and play the hardest game we've played all year and bring us back here [for Game 7]."

This quote is from Roberto Luongo after losing Game 5. This fell far from the truth on Monday night. Not only did Luongo not play the hardest he played all year, he might have had the worst night of his career, giving up 7 goals and reluctantly leaving the net at the end of the third period for an extra attacker. However, I'm not convinced it's all his fault.

The game was wide-open. Lu wasn't the only goalie to give up a lot of goals. Across the ice, Khabibulin gave up 5. Was this like the two worst goaltenders in the league? No. Was it Pathetic Defense Night at the United Center? No. When teams get desperate, like both teams were, you risk a little more on defense in order to gain some offense. Both teams did this, and we got the results we could have expected to see. Sadly, Lu has taken it all out on himself.

Where was the rest of the team? Like a pitcher needs run-support, a goalie needs goal-support. Three names: Mats Sundin, Daniel Sedin, and Henrik Sedin. Where were they? I guess Mats and Daniel had some goals during games 5 and 6, but nowhere near the level expected of them. If you're a team leader, you need to show up on the score sheet in crucial games in a big way.

Finally,--and this is my favorite point--Willie Mitchell NEVER should have opened his fat yap. Listen to Kane himself in the interview I posted at the end of this post, Kane was fueled by Mitchell's comments and scored a total of 6 goals in this series, which includes a hat trick last night. I really encourage you to watch the interview, because Kane has some great thing to say.

So one more time, Willie Mitchell, shut up.

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