Backtalk Backlash

Roberto Luongo has always been your typical Canadian hockey player who always says the right thing with a smile on his face no matter what. Swedish players tend to be the same as Canadians in terms on steady personalities and always saying the right things. The Sedin twins are no exception to this stereotype as they have always taken the, at times, ridiculous criticisms they receive in good stride. All of that changed however in this year's Stanley Cup finals and if game 6 is any indication then they may live to regret it.

Roberto Luongo verbally toasted Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas twice in a 24 hour span after his game 5 shutout of the Bruins. He questioned Thomas' goaltending style and said that he would have stopped the shot that Maxim Lapierre took to give Vancouver the one nothing lead and then basically accused Thomas of not being a good sport and not complimenting him after he'd been “pumping [Thomas'] tires” from the beginning of the series. Roberto Luongo has never been much of a talker when it comes to another teams players so this was very out of character for him and karma may have caught up to Luongo for opening his mouth a little too early. He was lit up for 3 weak goals in a 3 minute span before being pulled in favour of Corey Schneider. Luongo was obviously feeling good about himself and wanted to deliver an “in your face” message to the world after hearing nothing but negative things coming his way from the media and fans and nothing more then gushing over Tom Thomas. He was sick of it and if he wasn't feeling the love from other people so he was going to give it to himself. Game 6 served as a slap upside the head that the job isn't over and that Thomas has clearly outplayed him in these Stanley Cup finals. Luongo needs to have the game of his life to offset Thomas if the Canucks are going to take game 7 and the Stanley Cup.

The Sedin Twins, Henrik in particular, barking back at Mike Milbury through the media for calling them “Thelma and Louise” was also quite interesting. Daniel basically called Milbury a child for name calling and Henrik made light (not that there wasn't already a pretty big light) on Mad Mike's tenure as GM of the New York Islanders and how that franchise still hasn't recovered from it. While I found the comments to be highly amusing, it's also an indication that the Sedin's have been totally knocked off of their regular game and that they're way out of their comfort zone in these finals. The Bruins have bullied, bruised, and battered the Sedins during their 3 home games in this series and if they manage to do it again in Vancouver during game 7, then it wouldn't be a surprise if we see the Bruins hoisting the Stanley Cup on Wednesday.

Update:

Well, I think that we saw how this all worked out! It'll be interesting to see what happens with Luongo longterm in Vancouver