Luongo doesn't suck against Minnesota

So Luongo will get the start tomorrow against Minnesota. Cue the 'Luongo sucks against Minnesota' posts. NO. In his career, Luongo has played 29 games against Minnesota. Believe it or not, he actually has a winning record against them. I present to you: What I did with my Monday afternoon. Enjoy.

So here's Luongo's career against Minnesota with the Canucks, viewed overall. If you've never run across a chart like this, here's a handy little guide: GP = Games Played, Record is broken down into Wins-Losses-OT/SO Losses, GA is Goals Against and GAA is Goals Against Average.

Career against Minnesota, Overall:

	GP	Record	Save %	GA	GAA
Career:	29	15-10-4	.887	79	2.72
Home:	18	12-3-3	.934	36	2
Away:	11	3-7-1	.840	40	3.64

Right away, you should notice his record at home is much better than his record in Minnesota. But his away record doesn't matter, because he's going to be playing at home, where he plays much better.

Career against Minnesota, Broken Down by Year:

Season	GP	Record	Save %	GA	GAA
2011/12	2	2-0-0	1.00	0	0
2010/11	3	2-1-0	.873	8	2.67
2009/10	5	3-2-0	.868	18	3.60
2008/09	4	3-0-1	.930	7	1.75
2007/08	7	2-4-1	.885	20	2.86
2006/07	8	3-3-2	.898	26	3.25

Basically the same thing, just broken down by year. He's played much better in recent years, but he's also played way less games.

Career against Minnesota, Home Games only

Season	GP	Record	Save %	GA	GAA
2011/12	2	2-0-0	1.00	0	0
2010/11	2	2-0-0	.972	2	1
2009/10	3	3-0-0	.920	6	2
2008/09	3	2-0-1	.916	6	2
2007/08	4	1-2-1	.885	10	2.50
2006/07	4	2-1-1	.909	12	3

Just to prove my point, he currently has an 8 game win streak going against the Wild at Rogers Arena, as well as a 2 game shutout streak at home. On top of that, over the last 3 seasons Luongo has only let in an average of 1 goal per game. This, not even counting his play this season, is enough to justify his starting tomorrow night. 

Career against Minnesota, Away Games only

Season	GP	Record	Save %	GA	GAA
2011/12	0	0-0-0	0	0	0
2010/11	1	0-1-0	.677	6	6
2009/10	2	0-2-0	.791	11	3.60
2008/09	1	1-0-0	.971	1	1
2007/08	3	1-2-0	.885	8	2.67
2006/07	4	1-2-1	.887	14	3.50

Now this, this is where the crap hits the fan. This is the blemish on his record. This is what the media and fans point to when arguing against his start. Last year, he didn't play a single game in Minnesota. The year before that, only one, and he let in six goals. Before that, only 2 starts which led to 6-2 and 5-2 losses. For whatever reason, he just can't keep his cool in Minnesota. But this isn't something recent, Luongo's Minnesota Curse goes back to his first days as a Canucks, so you can't point to these stats and say he's going under. Even when he was at his best, he just couldn't keep it together in the Excel Energy Center. But all of that is invalid, throw it out the window, because it doesn't matter. What matters is his home record, which is where he'll be playing tomorrow night.