After 2 months off, Luongo to return tonight in Calgary
The wait is over for the Florida Panthers: Roberto Luongo is ready to play again.
After serving as the backup goalie on Wednesday in Vancouver, Luongo is poised to start tonight in Calgary, Panthers coach Bob Boughner said during a Friday teleconference. Luongo has not played since Dec. 4 due to a groin injury that sidelined him for more than two months.
Luongo returned to full practice on Feb. 8 and was activated off injured reserve on Wednesday.
Although he was active for the game against Vancouver, Luongo served as James Reimer’s backup. Boughner said it was partly to get Luongo back in his gameday routine slowly.
“His goal was to play [Saturday] against Calgary and he wanted to just get back into a bit of a routine where he’s taking shots in the morning, grab a little rest in the afternoon and warming up,” Boughner said. “I think he’s gradu- ally been building up to this game. Louie’s been around for a long time, I don’t see him getting out of
the box with emotions or anything.”
Luongo, 38, has battled a trio of injuries in the last year. A hip injury forced him to miss the final six weeks of the 2017 season. A right hand injury shelved him for two weeks earlier this season. And the groin injury sidelined him for 27 games.
This season, Luongo has been solid in limited action. In just 15 games, he has a .928 save percentage and 2.61 goals against average. The save percentage would be the lowest of his career since 2010-11, when he finished third in the Vezina Trophy voting.
“I think he wants to play a safe first period and we want to make sure that we play good around him,” Boughner said. “He doesn’t have to go win us a game in the first period. You’ve got to sort of ease him in, I would like, in a perfect world.”
Reimer and third-string goaltender Harri Sateri were solid in Luongo’s absence, combining for a .917 save percentage and 2.79 GAA. Both led the team on extended winning streaks. Both were named one of the NHL’s stars of the week.
Reimer started the last two victories in Edmonton and Vancouver, allowing eight goals on 69 shots. Sateri was sent back down to AHL affiliate Springfield.
Contender or pretender?
Just as the Panthers (25-23-6, 56 points) seem to be hitting their stride by winning six of their last seven games, some of the teams’ they’re chasing have faltered, catapulting Florida back into the playoff race.
Columbus has lost five of its last seven games. The Islanders have lost four of six. The Rangers have lost six of eight, and publicly announced they would be sellers at the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
The Panthers entered Friday seven points back of Carolina with four fewer games played. The Hurricanes are on pace for 89 points. The Panthers are on pace for 85.
“Us as coaches, obviously, you love it when you look up and you get some help from night to night or a team you’re chasing loses,” Boughner said. “We know exactly what we think we have to get on the way in to make it. But it’s not something we address with the players and really talk about it, no.”
The Panthers have benefitted from a soft schedule recently, but it will stiffen quickly. In the last seven games, Florida faced zero current playoff teams. In the next seven games, Florida will face seven current playoff teams.
It begins with a tough back-to-back in Calgary (30-20-8, 68 points) and Winnipeg (33-15-9, 75 points) on Friday and Saturday nights. The Panthers still have to play Boston — perhaps the NHL’s hottest team — four times in their final 15 games.
But after their current road trip, the Panthers will play 12 consecutive games in Florida, including 11 at home at the BB&T Center.
“We know our schedule, obviously, for the rest of this month it’s heavy, it’s tough, it’s against some real good teams,” Boughner said. “But we feel that if we can get through this month and stay in the race that you look at our March schedule. It’s there for us if we can find a way to get through this month and stay with it.”