NHL: Ryan Kesler was named Thursday the Vancouver Canucks' most valuable player, winning the Cyclone Taylor Award so named because Most-Valuable-Player-Not-Named-Roberto-Luongo wouldn't fit on the trophy's nameplate.

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Photograph by : Jenelle Schneider

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By Luongo's standard, this has been a quiet year, mostly because the goalie disappeared for two months of the National Hockey League season to heal an injured groin.

Hardly anyone noticed Thursday that he carried into the Canucks' 1-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings a 31-13-7 record or .676 winning percentage, which over a full season represents a 111-point campaign.

Maybe you also didn't know that without Luongo, the Canucks are 12-14-3, which pro-rates to a 76-point season and a couple of ping pong balls in the draft lottery.

Kesler has had a magnificent year. He impacts all facets of the Canucks' play and has made those around him better. But Vancouver is far better equipped to play without him than without Luongo.

Thursday's win moved the Canucks at least temporarily into first place in the Northwest Division and gave Luongo a career-best eight shutouts this season, which is pretty good considering he has played only two-thirds of it.

"Honestly, I don't know what to say," Luongo said when asked to assess his performance this season. "I just come and try to play every night. I don't look at numbers, don't look at anything. I'm pretty hard on myself as it is, so you guys can write whatever you want.

"You guys do a pretty good job of analyzing everything, so I'll just let you guys keep doing your job."

The week began with a Calgary columnist analyzing that fans and management in Vancouver were fed up waiting for Luongo to display top form.

During the Canucks' three-game losing streak that preceded this opinion, Luongo allowed 13 goals on 82 shots for a save percentage of .841. The team was lousy in front of him, but Luongo seemed incapable of stanching the flow against him and instead bobbed along with teammates.

As newspaper articles go, the attack on him seemed a tad yellowish, yet suspiciously drew no rebuttal from the allegedly unhappy management in question. Canuck GM Mike Gillis said only it was up to Luongo to prove critics wrong.

So Luongo went out Tuesday and played perhaps his best game in two years, making 46 saves in the 4-1 victory against the Flames. He followed that up by stopping all 20 shots against the Kings.

By the way, in 20 starts preceding the three-game dive, Luongo had allowed two or fewer goals 15 times. His goals-against average for the season is 2.41 with a save rate of .918.

"He's been our best player," forward Ryan Johnson said. "I don't mean to slight Kes, but Roberto has been so valuable to us. Kes has, too, in a different manner. He's not trying to be a great goaltender, he's trying to be the best goaltender and I love being around people who are like that."

Kesler scored against the Kings, so the Canucks most valuable players were excellent.

"He missed a lot of time with a groin injury, which is obviously tough for a goaltender," defenceman Mattias Ohlund said of Luongo. "Coming back was tough for him and then we had that month of January when the whole team struggled.

"Just look at the last couple of games. He stole a game against Calgary and tonight he gets the shutout. He's a special goaltender and there are not very many of them. As a defenceman, he gives you a lot of confidence and calm."

He also, obviously, gives the Canucks their best hope of winning in the playoffs.

This hasn't been Luongo's best season, but his standard is through the stratosphere and god knows where the Canucks would be without him.

As a team, the Canucks were far tighter against the Kings, who were a far less driven opponent than the Flames. Vancouver, for instance, did not surrender a third-period shot to Los Angeles until the eight-minute mark.

Still, Luongo made a terrific reactionary arm save on Alex Frolov on a shot from the slot with seven minutes remaining.

He made a lot more of those types of stops against the Flames. When the Canucks are smart up ice, don't give up the pick and easy chances, and force opponents to generate shots in a half-court game, Luongo is close to unbeatable when he's in form.

He can track the puck, anticipate where shots will come from and keeps everything in front of him.

"Goaltending is the most important thing," defenceman Kevin Bieksa said. "When we have him going and we play well defensively, we're pretty tough to beat. I think he's finding his groove at the most important time of the year."

imacintyre@vancouversun.com