Working for the opposing Florida Panthers didn't stop Roberto Luongo from saying how happy he is to see Vancouver near the top of the NHL ahead of a 4-0 Canucks win.

VANCOUVER - During his eight years in a Vancouver Canucks jersey, Roberto Luongo's relationship with the team's fans had plenty of highs — and also some lows. 

He got the Canucks to within one game of winning the Stanley Cup in 2011 and was the stopper for Team Canada's gold-medal win in Vancouver in 2010. When he was traded back to the Florida Panthers on March 4, 2014, Luongo held the Canucks' franchise records for wins (252) and shutouts (38).

At age 27, in his first season as a Canuck in 2006-07, Luongo also set franchise records for games played (76), wins (47) and saves (1,998). He finished as runner-up for the Hart Trophy (won by Sidney Crosby) and was edged out by Martin Brodeur for the Vezina, with the GMs' first-place votes going 16-14 in Brodeur's favor.

And while Luongo sometimes had a tense relationship with the media during his early years on the West Coast, his standoffishness obscured a heart of gold and a self-deprecating sense of humor that eventually went viral through a once-anonymous X (formerly Twitter) account.

By the time Luongo stepped onto the ice at Rogers Arena on Thursday to be named the eighth member of the Canucks' Ring of Honour, no one was surprised to hear him deliver a speech that was both humorous and thoughtful. And on a night that was supposed to be all about him, his first words were to the fans that were once again serenading him with familiar "Louuuuu!" chants.

He didn't make it about himself – he made it about them.

"I'm so happy for you guys. Hockey is fun again in Vancouver," he began. "This is the way it's supposed to be. The city is buzzing; the team's playing well. I'm happy for you guys. You've waited a long time for this. Maybe not so much tonight, but good luck."

Now serving as the special advisor to Florida Panthers GM Bill Zito and running the Panthers' goaltending excellence department, Luongo couldn't be blamed for divided loyalties. After all, Thursday night's visitors are the ones who have been issuing his paychecks for the last nine-plus years. 

But after picking up a 5-3 road win in Sunrise back on Oct. 21, in their fifth game of the season, the Canucks completed the season-series sweep against the 2023 Stanley Cup finalists in decisive fashion on Thursday, fittingly following up Luongo's ceremony with a 4-0 shutout win.

Thatcher Demko, who turned 28 on Dec. 8, stopped all 36 shots he faced for his league-leading 15th win of the season. His third shutout of the year also tied him for the league lead in that category with Tristan Jarry of the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

With goalie workloads now distributed more evenly than they were during Luongo's peak years, Demko will never chase those single-season games-played or total-saves records. But if the Canucks keep doing what they're doing, he could have a chance to reach nine shutouts this season.

After closing out their most recent homestand with four straight wins while outscoring their opponents 14-4, the Canucks continue to pile up the points with strong play at both ends of the ice. On Thursday, the spotlight was on the defense, which kept the Panthers off the scoresheet for the second-straight game of their current Western swing.

Vancouver sits third in the league in goals against, allowing just 2.47 goals per game. The two teams in front of them? Their Pacific Division rivals – the Vegas Golden Knights lead the way at 2.40, and the Los Angeles Kings are right behind at 2.42.

Thursday night, the Canucks logged what proved to be their game-winning goal just 4:03 into the first period. Much-discussed winger Andrei Kuzmenko scored for the second-straight game, this time burying a breakaway after Conor Garland won a hard-working board battle just inside the offensive blue line.

Dakota Joshua then padded the lead by scoring his fifth and sixth goals of the season — the latter coming into a gaping net after a shocking giveaway by Sergei Bobrovsky.

After the game, Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet suggested that Garland's tenacity may have led to Bobrovsky's brain cramp.

"He kind of put pressure on Bobrovsky, and I think that kind of made him throw the puck away," Tocchet said. "I think Gars kind of spooked him a little bit, and good for Dakota for being in the right spot."

And while four of Vancouver's star players remain in the top 10 in NHL scoring for either points or goals, it was a quiet night for them offensively. Brock Boeser tallied his 22nd goal of the year on a second-period 5-on-3, which finished out the scoring. That keeps him second in the Rocket Richard race, one goal behind Auston Matthews. An assist for J.T. Miller keeps him second behind Nikita Kucherov with 43 points, and Elias Pettersson's assist ties him with William Nylander for eighth place with 38 points. 

Quinn Hughes was held off the scoresheet on Thursday but remains the NHL's top-scoring defenseman with 39 points, two up on Cale Makar. 

Sounding a lot like John Hynes after the Minnesota Wild were shut out by the Canucks one week earlier, Florida coach Paul Maurice characterized Thursday's loss as "different" from their loss in Seattle by the same 4-0 score on Tuesday.

"It was a 1-0 game in Seattle for a long time," Maurice said. "We were pretty good there."

Against Vancouver, "We did some unusually foolish things that we just don't do," he said. "We just weren't right tonight, and I think you have those games. 

"I don't think it's related to the Seattle game. Prior to that, we'd won three in a row. We weren't very good here tonight, but in a highly unusual way. I'll take solace in that fact, when we look at it. We don't do a lot of the things that we did tonight."

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov shrugged off the notion that Luongo's long ceremony might have caused the Panthers to come out flat.

"It's the same for both teams, and celebrating Lou is never a bad thing," Barkov said. "I think we've celebrated him tons of times, and he deserves everything. 

"He was an icon here and same thing in South Florida. He changed the hockey culture there, and I was really fortunate to be able to play with him. I'm so happy for him, what he's getting."

Luongo was the first player in Panthers franchise history to have his number retired in a ceremony on March 7, 2020. In Vancouver, there was tremendous debate leading up to Thursday's event about whether he also deserved a jersey retirement from the Canucks, rather than the Ring of Honour treatment.

Six Canucks have had their numbers retired, most recently Luongo's former teammates, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, in February 2020. In November 2022, the Canucks held a special retirement ceremony for another teammate from that era, Kevin Bieksa, but stopped short of putting him into the Ring of Honour.

The Panthers will now try to get their offense powered back up and salvage what's left of their road trip with dates in Edmonton on Saturday and Calgary next Monday.

As for the Canucks, they'll embark on a four-in-six trip through the Central Division, which starts with a matinee in Minnesota on Saturday.