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    Goaltender Cory Schneider #35 of the Vancouver Canucks makes a stick save in this file photo.

Photograph by: Andy Marlin, Getty Images

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Roberto Luongo’s miserable record in Minnesota is unfortunate for both him and Cory Schneider.

It’s destined to get too much focus as the rationale behind giving Schneider the start against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday. There’s good reason for it, because Luongo’s stat line in the Xcel Energy Center is as subtle as a train wreck.

As if a 3-9-2 career record, with a 3.56 goals-against average and a .873 save percentage weren’t hard enough to ignore, Luongo has been hooked in three straight games, during which he gave up 16 goals in what amounts to seven periods.

It’s gruesome stuff, no doubt. But it’s not the only reason Schneider is once again starting.

“There’s absolutely no reason for him not to play with the way he’s been playing,” Canucks assistant coach Rick Bowness said. “Obviously, we have a tonne of confidence in him. He’s on top of his game. The more he plays, the better it is in the long run.”

How much did Luongo’s record influence the Canucks decision?

“Not a whole lot, honestly,” Bowness said. “He hasn’t been great, but Lui is a great goaltender. Eventually, you overcome all those obstacles, you really do. It’s just the way the schedule unfolded that this was a good game for Schneids to play.”

There’s been a lot of those in the past three weeks. This will be Schneider’s seventh start in 13 games and for all of them a healthy Luongo has been his backup.

Few outside the Canucks organization could have foreseen a run like this, mostly because in years past it’s typically taken the backup a season to get seven starts, not one lunar cycle. But Schneider isn’t your typical backup.

“It’s great to play, feel comfortable and get my timing down,” Schneider said. “I don’t expect to play this much that often, but when I do, I want to get results.”

Schneider is young, talented and improving rapidly. His .929 save percentage is third in the league among goalies who have played at least 10 games. His 2.21 GAA ranks eighth.

At 8-1-2, his only regulation loss came Thursday in New York and that may have been his best game of the season. If he keeps it up, the Canucks will be in a position to give him more than the 20-25 starts this season. If he’s as good as he’s been, they won’t have a choice.

If anyone is looking for weaknesses in Schneider’s game, they’ve come to the right place.

Minnesota, with alarming regularity, has been exposing soft spots in Canucks goalies for years. Part of the reason is it’s tough to play here, at least it’s been that way for Vancouver. Luongo has had some help from teammates en route to numbers which are as poor as his are in the State of Hockey.

The Wild, like its fans, get amped for Vancouver games because the Canucks remain one of Minnesota’s No. 1 rivals. It’s an interesting factoid which goes all the way back to the 2003 playoffs.

How heated can it get in Minny? Ask Rick Rypien, who lost it in October, jumping into the stands to grab a fan who appeared to be doing nothing more than clapping.

“That’s part of being a goalie, you can’t be fazed by the arena or the atmosphere or the ice,” Schneider said. “You have to bear down.”

Vancouver Province

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This was a great game, very fun to watch.

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I see, a workhorse is what it is to me lol