PITTSBURGH -- What should have been the best Vancouver Canuck road trip in two years ended alarmingly Saturday -- not with a lost game, but a lost superstar.

Previous

Next

Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo removes his face mask after they defeated the New York Rangers in their NHL hockey game in New York, November 19, 2008.

Photograph by : REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine

ARTICLE TOOLS

• Printer friendly
• E-mail

Font:

• *
• *
• *
• *

Vancouver impressively beat the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 here, but lost goalie and franchise cornerstone Roberto Luongo with what appeared to be a serious injury to his left groin.

Canuck coach Alain Vigneault said the severity of the injury won't be known until Luongo undergoes an MRI exam Sunday in Vancouver, but it did not look like Luongo will be able to play anytime soon.

"It's very disappointing, frustrating," Luongo said. "We've been playing great as a team and I've been really happy with the way my game has been in the last few weeks. It's really disappointing to have something like this happen.

"The schedule has been pretty brutal here the last week or so. I don't know if that had something to do with it or not. Tough to say."

Luongo went down in the butterfly position and was kicking out his left pad when a Penguin point shot ricocheted back to the goalie's right early in the first period. As Luongo tried to adjust, he doubled up in pain and was unable to move for several minutes, lying face down.

"There was pretty much a lot of pain there," Luongo said. "Right away, I knew it wasn't good."
Players from both teams tapped sticks on the ice when Luongo was finally helped off the playing surface at 4:54 of the first period and several hundred Pittsburgh fans in the corner where Luongo exited stood and applauded -- and indication of Luongo's magnitude and importance, not just to the Canucks but the National Hockey League.

Luongo said he has never had a groin injury.
A long-term absence could be devastating to the Canucks. Cory Schneider, the excellent goaltending prospect, is expected to be called up from the American League Manitoba Moose on Sunday and back up netminder Curtis Sanford for Monday's home game against the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

The Canucks are at the 23-man roster limit, so someone will need to be added to the injured list or sent to the minors to make room for Schneider. The team was awaiting a reevaluation of Luongo before placing him on injured reserve.

Sanford, whose 3-2 win Thursday in Minnesota was his first game in a month, replaced Luongo Saturday and made 17 saves as the Canucks played brilliantly defensively, holding the high-powered Penguins to just 19 shots and handing Pittsburgh their first regulation loss in nine games.

Pavol Demitra scored twice, one of them into an empty net, and Daniel Sedin once for the Canucks, who ended their difficult four-game road trip 3-0-1. Mike Zigomanis scored for the Penguins.

On the trip, the Canucks beat the best team in the Eastern Conference (New York Rangers, 6-3), their toughest Northwest Division rival (Minnesota Wild, 3-2) and the hottest team in the NHL (Penguins). The Canucks lost the trip-opener 2-1 in a shootout to the New York Islanders on Monday.

It's the most impressive trip since a 3-0-1 Eastern Conference journey two years ago when the Canucks swept Canada, winning in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

Losing Luongo, however, makes it impossible to celebrate.
The Canucks were 1-2-1 during a four-game injury absence by Luongo last December. It seems unlikely he'll return from injury as quickly this time.