• For photo gallery of Sunday’s game action, click here.

• For photo gallery of Canucks fans both here and in San Jose on Sunday, click here.

VANCOUVER — Alain Vigneault was always quick to defend his teammates as a rough and tough defenceman in the late 1970s and early ’80s. You don’t get the nickname Bam Bam because of your goal-scoring prowess.

Here we are 30-odd years later and nothing’s changed. Only now, he’s doing it for his players.

In the moments following the Vancouver Canucks’ 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks in Game 3 of the Western Conference final on Friday, the first question posed to the head coach was — and we’re paraphrasing here — whether he was considering starting backup Cory Schneider in goal for Game 4.

Let’s just say, lucky for the San Jose media member there was a table, rows of chairs, cameras rolling and about 100 witnesses present.

So you had to know the sharp-witted head coach wouldn’t resist an opportunity to even the score. Before excusing himself from questioning shortly after the Canucks’ 4-2 victory two days later — a game in which Roberto Luongo stopped 33 shots — Vigneault closed his comments by wondering why no one asked about his goalie.

On Monday, he had an opportunity to expound on his quick quip.

“I get tons of questions when some people question a goal he might have let in,” said Vigneault, following the Canucks’ optional skate at Rogers Arena on Monday. “I was curious the way he played such a great game and nobody asked.”

Such is life when you’re Roberto Luongo. Rightly or wrongly, when you’re good, it’s expected. When you’re not, it’s a story.

You need not look any further than Tampa Bay’s come-from-behind 5-3 win over Boston on Saturday to see the 32-year-old Montreal native is easily the most scrutinized of the four remaining goaltenders in the post-season. In that game alone, the Lightning’s Dwayne Roloson was pulled after allowing three goals on nine shots while the Bruins’ Tim Thomas allowed four goals in the final two periods, yet neither were subject to the same criticism of their fraternity brother from the West.

Heck, only 200 feet away, Sharks goalie Antti Niemi gave up four goals on 13 shots in Sunday’s loss, but he too seemed to get a free pass.

“I play in Vancouver and they don’t, what you going to do?” said Luongo with a shrug of his shoulders. “Whether that’s fair or not, that’s not up for me to decide. I just go out there and try to do my best every night for myself and teammates. Really, I don’t really pay attention to that. I’m more or less in my bubble. I hear bits and pieces here and there, but I try to just worry about myself, otherwise it could affect my game if I do.”

In case you forgot, which is totally excusable seeing it’s been almost six weeks since the regular season’s conclusion, Luongo led the NHL in wins with 38, was second in goals-against (2.11) and fourth in save percentage (.928). Over his final 26 games, he didn’t allow more than three goals once.

On Monday, he awoke leading the post-season in wins (11) and shutouts (2) while sitting second among the four goalies remaining in goals-against average (2.37). More importantly, he’s one win away from the Stanley Cup final.

“It’s easy, especially in the playoffs, when guys are playing well, you don’t really talk about that, but rather the guys that are not playing well,” said Henrik Sedin, who knows of what he speaks. Last series it was the Canucks captain who was being crucified in the media and public light for his lack of production, but as of Monday the 30-year-old led the league in playoff scoring.

Luongo was recently featured in Sports Illustrated in a story entitled “The Good, the Bad and Roberto Luongo,” in which the writer makes the point that one of the goalie’s greatest attributes is his ability to overcome his flaws. It was only a couple of weeks ago, he was letting in goals from almost impossible angles.

The Sharks, thinking they’d found a weakness, opened the series by firing shots from everywhere. Luongo simply responded by dropping into a butterfly stance and by doing so has taken away the bottom of the net, greatly reducing the likelihood of a bad bounce into his net.

“Being a goaltender is a tough job on its own and there’s a lot of expectations on Roberto,” said defenceman Kevin Bieksa. “He’s been solid for us all year long, all playoffs long and usually he gets a lot of unfair criticism, but he means a lot in this room and he knows he’s valuable to his teammates.”

It’s easy to take Roberto Luongo for granted. Five more wins and no one will need to stick up for him ever again.

iwalker@vancouversun.com

On Twitter: Twitter.com/WalkerBigTalker