Luongo leads Panthers past Canucks in his return

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Roberto Luongo made his long-awaited return to Rogers Arena and made 32 saves for Florida as the Panthers handed the Canucks a 3-1 defeat. The result snapped Vancouver’s two-game winning streak.

Luongo was playing his first game back in Vancouver since being traded to the Panthers at last season’s trade deadline. The win was his first against the Canucks, meaning he has now beaten every team in the league. It was also the 389th victory of his career, which pulls him into a tie with Dominik Hasek for 11th place on the NHL’s all-time list.

The Canucks got on the board first, as Henrik Sedin set-up his brother Daniel in the high slot for his ninth goal of the season at 3:39 of the first period.

Florida took the game over following the goal. Jonathan Huberdeau tied the game just under six minutes later as his rebound was knocked in by Vancouver defenseman Alex Edler.

The Panthers went ahead 7:10 into the second period, as Aleksander Barkov deflected an Aaron Ekblad point shot past Ryan Miller to make it 2-1. Huberdeau drew an assist on the goal.

Huberdeau rounded out the scoring late in the second as he was sent in on a partial breakaway and beat Miller with a shot off the crossbar and in.

Luongo was honoured by the Canucks with a video tribute during the first commercial break. Luongo did not watch the video, but saluted the crowd for their support. He says he didn’t want to be overwhelmed by the video.

“I didn’t want to get too emotional and then have to fight it once the play started. The crowd reaction was great, I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Luongo was named the first star of the game and did appear on the ice to award a lucky fan with his stick, as was his tradition during his time with the Canucks.

The Canucks will wrap-up their five-game homestand on Saturday when they host the Calgary Flames.

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