Luongo turning back the clock as he anchors Panthers' surge
The Florida Panthers are riding hot streaks from two of their most talented forwards, but the stellar play of their elder statesman has been the most impressive element of their late-season rise.
Roberto Luongo has been rock-solid in goal both before and after returning from injury less than two weeks ago, and while the 38-year-old has been limited to only 22 games, he's playing at a level he hasn't reached since he authored one of his best campaigns more than a decade ago.
Sure, there have been other factors that help explain why the Panthers are on a six-game win streak and have been one of the league's best teams over the last five or six weeks.
Aleksander Barkov has five goals in the last four games and seven in his last nine, and Evgenii Dadonov has scored a handful of goals in the last five contests and nine in the last 11.
But Luongo, who turns 39 in just over four weeks' time, has been channeling his prime both before and after getting hurt, and his level of play at his advanced age has been the biggest - and perhaps most unlikely - reason the Panthers are now pushing for a playoff spot.
The veteran netminder started strong with a .928 save percentage in his first 15 games, and since coming back on Feb. 22, he's put up a .935 mark in seven games and has allowed just over two goals per contest while earning wins in five of Florida's six consecutive victories.
His performance so far in 2017-18 brings back memories of the 2003-04 season, when he posted a career-best .931 save percentage in 73 contests for the Panthers and finished third in Vezina Trophy voting for the first of three times in his career.
Yes, the sample size is much smaller this time around, but Luongo's efforts have helped Florida climb within a single point of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with three games in hand on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Luongo has been plagued by injuries in the latter part of his career, but he's proving now that he's still capable of high-level play when healthy. It's no fluke that the Panthers' recent roll has coincided with one of his own.