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Luongo, Canucks look to contine road success

Oct 22, 2007 - 1:43 PM Vancouver (4-4-0) at Carolina (4-1-3) 7:00 pm EDT

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Roberto Luongo may not be off to the kind of start he wanted, but the Vancouver Canucks have still looked good away from home.

Luongo will hope to lead the Canucks to their fourth consecutive road victory when the team squares off against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night at the RBC Center.

The 28-year-old Luongo, who got his first game off in Vancouver's 4-1 triumph over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, is 3-4-0 with a 3.15 goals-against average this season.

From his days with the Florida Panthers, Luongo does have some experience against the Hurricanes, but his success has been limited. A first-round draft pick (fourth overall) in the 1997 Draft, the netminder is 9-12-3-1 with a 2.59 GAA and .924 save percentage against the Eastern Conference opponent.

It will not be easy for Luongo as he faces one of the NHL's most explosive offenses. Justin Williams has tallied a point in six of the seven games this season, registering three goals and a team-leading eight points.

Eric Stahl leads Carolina with six goals, including two on the man advantage, as the club is ranked second in the league on the power play, converting 26.2 percent of the time.

Vancouver, which has won five straight over the Hurricanes and have not lost in Carolina since 1998, will counter with a pretty impressive set of weapons too. Markus Naslund scored his third goal of the season Sunday and the Sedin Twins, Daniel and Henrik, have combined for five goals and 17 points.

They will have to figure out a way to get the puck past Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward, who looks like he has returned to form after a disappointing 2006-7 campaign. Ward is 4-0-2 with a 1.97 GAA and .935 save percentage this season.