They didn't take ownership of the second period but their goaltender took ownership of his performance.

While the Vancouver Canucks managed to rally and earn a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday at Rogers Arena, the point that needs to be driven home is goaltending won't always be there. Cory Schneider had an off night Friday in a 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars and Luongo allowed three goals for the first time this season Sunday.

Two sub-par performances, two losses and one summation from the coach.

"Don't you love it that both goaltenders are so accountable and so competitive," said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. "That's going to happen. As a group, I'd like to believe that when our goaltenders are having a fair or an average night that we can still get it done. We battled hard."

That they did. 

After being limited to four shots in the second period, the Canucks fired 14 in the third and forced overtime when Mason Raymond scored with 1:47 remaining in regulation time. It came after the Canucks failed to convert a 5-on-3 advantage for 41 seconds, but when T.J. Oshie and Andy McDonald scored in the shootout, there was enough angst to go around. Yet it was somewhat surprising that Luongo accepted a large amount of the blame.

Granted, he didn't look good in the shootout and called it "silly," but a third-period goal originally credited to Vladimir Sobotka to give the Blues a 3-2 lead, actually went in off Patrik Berglund. Luongo could have cut himself some slack.

"I saw it coming to the net and I went to make a save and once Berglund got in front, it went off him and over my shoulder," said Luongo, who finished with 20 saves. "It was a bad angle, but if anything, I need to be better on the first two goals than the last one. The first two, I've got to make better plays technically on them."

The first goal erased Ryan Kesler's first goal of the season on the power play. After Luongo made a pad save on a David Backes shot, Oshie roofed the rebound. The sequence started when a Zack Kassian pass went off the skate of Kesler at the Canucks' blueline and caused the turnover.

"I was caught a bit off balance on the first one and I don't fall over like that," reasoned Luongo. "I was trying to get some depth and moving when he shot and I should have been deeper."

That seems harsh but Luongo also said he got caught up and made a mistake when Vladimir Tarasenko let a shot go from the slot that went off the post that the goalie was moving away from. He tried to scramble back but McDonald found the short side from a sharp angle to make it 2-2 after Henrik Sedin had scored his first of the season.

After McDonald scored, it appeared the Canucks were going to get an opportunity to get back on the power play when Backes took a direct route to accept a second-period pass and ran Luongo over like he was working the sled in a football drill. No penalty was called.

"It happens," shrugged Luongo. "A fast game and sometimes you get the call and sometimes not. You just move on."

The Canucks knew what they were getting into Sunday. The Blues had the top-ranked power play that had connected in eight-straight games and were icing the second-ranked offence. And it's always about defence as long as Ken Hitchcock is directing traffic behind the bench and commanding his players to clog up the neutral zone.

"That's wasn't one for the crowd I don't think," said Henrik Sedin. "It was like a chess game out there. Not a whole lot of inches to make plays and we worked them down low because that's how they play. But these are games that you've got to win. In the second, they took away our options and then we made some adjustments. The third period was our best by far."

Yet not good enough. In another litmus test against superior competition and with Chicago, Dallas, Nashville and Detroit the stops on a four-game road trip that opens Tuesday at the United Center, the Canucks are going to learn more about themselves. David Booth is expected to play at some point on the trip after recovering from a groin injury and who knows what the goalie rotation will be. Luongo was good in Chicago last season, Schneider has always been good in Dallas and the same can be said for Luongo in Detroit.

What has to be better is not blowing leads, finding some lasting chemistry with the lines and Kassian finding his offence again after going seven games without a goal. The trickle-down effect of not generating offence in the second period Sunday had Kassian being replaced by Dale Weise on the second line and then lining up with Jordan Schroeder and Chris Higgins as the Canucks attempted to penetrate the neutral zone. By the third period, the second line had Raymond and Jannik Hansen between Kesler.

Maybe Raymond put it best about the uneven performance.

"You're not going to win games paying 40 minutes," he said. "I know what this group can do."

bkzuma@theprovince.com

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