THN Archive: Roberto Luongo stopped a ton of shots during first tour with Panthers
No goaltender has made more saves in consecutive seasons than Luongo did during the 2003-04 and 2005-06 campaigns that bookended the lockout
Back in 2004, the NHL was just starting to get to know Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo.
The future Hall of Famer was just in his fourth season with the Panthers.
While the team was struggling, young Roberto was thriving.
During that 2003-04 season, Luongo made his first of five trips to the NHL All-Star Game, he received votes for the Hart Trophy, given annually to the league’s most valuable player, and was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top goaltender.
Luongo was beginning to establish himself as not only one of the top young goalie in the league but also one prone to making highlight reel saves on a regular basis.
He also was gaining a reputation as the hardest working goalie in the game, simply due to the sheer volume of shots on goal he was facing.
Luogno made a ridiculous 2,303 saves during the 03-04 season, a career high and the third-most by a goaltender in a season in NHL history.
The following season, which was the post-lockout 05-06 campaign, was the only other year Luongo registered more than 2,000 saves. He stopped 2,275 shots that year, the fourth-most in any NHL season.
The Hockey News highlighted Luongo and the “Lots of Shots” being sent his way during its 2004 Goalie Special, Volume 57, Issue 27 that was released on March 9, 2004.
THN Archive is an exclusive vault of 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until today. Visit THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com.
LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA
