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As the Florida Panthers were eliminated from further post season competition by the New York Islanders in 2OT tonight. The cruelty or destiny (depending on your philosophical outlook) of fate with regards to Roberto Luongo choking in the big games yet again reared it's ugly head. With less than a minute to go in regulation, in very Roberto like fashion, he managed to stop the initial shot but then somehow managed to leave the puck lying all by itself next to a prone Luongo who of course had no clue as to its location. John Tavares neatly tucks it into the net and once again, opportunity squandered. Then in OT, Tavares comes in, takes a shot which Luongo stops by using the butterfly and then more or less just stays on his knees while Tavares picks up the re-bound and skates around the net to deposit the puck into a yawning cage. By the time Luongo reacts, any chance he may have had of making the stop was a distant memory.
Now this isn't to lay blame at poor old Roberto's feet but damn, every time I see him playing in a crunch game, I shudder. Has been that way his whole career it seems. He didn't seem all that solid even when they took the Olympic Gold in between the pipes. The guy seems snake bit when it really matters most.

Sir Purrcival wrote:As the Florida Panthers were eliminated from further post season competition by the New York Islanders in 2OT tonight. The cruelty or destiny (depending on your philosophical outlook) of fate with regards to Roberto Luongo choking in the big games yet again reared it's ugly head. With less than a minute to go in regulation, in very Roberto like fashion, he managed to stop the initial shot but then somehow managed to leave the puck lying all by itself next to a prone Luongo who of course had no clue as to its location. John Tavares neatly tucks it into the net and once again, opportunity squandered. Then in OT, Tavares comes in, takes a shot which Luongo stops by using the butterfly and then more or less just stays on his knees while Tavares picks up the re-bound and skates around the net to deposit the puck into a yawning cage. By the time Luongo reacts, any chance he may have had of making the stop was a distant memory.
Now this isn't to lay blame at poor old Roberto's feet but damn, every time I see him playing in a crunch game, I shudder. Has been that way his whole career it seems. He didn't seem all that solid even when they took the Olympic Gold in between the pipes. The guy seems snake bit when it really matters most.

I watched the whole game and I expect the whole time that luongo would let in tying and winning goals that he should have stopped.

Poor Lu. Campbell and Ekblad both looked gassed at the end and they both end up in the same side of the ice chasing Tavares leaving the other side completely open. Kudos to Tavares on the wrap around. It was perfectly executed. He got around the net so fast to tuck it in.

I wasn't at all surprised. Luongo lost all 3 OT games (2 of them in double OT). There was talk he was suffering from dehydration/fatigue all the way through the series.

I guess FLA should have gone for a younger starting goalie, if they're going to play like that defensively.