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The Dallas Stars' Jason Spezza, centre, tries to get a shot past Vancouver Canucks goalie Eddie Lack as Kevin Bieksa defends in Vancouver on Saturday.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press

A week before Christmas, Eddie Lack was on bended knee in a mostly empty Vancouver Canucks locker room. He had a harmonica in hand, hamming it up in a holiday spot for CTV. "Does this thing have the mumps?" Lack wryly joked.

Moments later, Lack, the affable backup goaltender in his second NHL season, gamely slung on a red accordion and unfurled a few screeches from the instrument. Nearby, veteran starter Ryan Miller was in an interview and glanced over, his face corkscrewed with a smirk and a "what the …?" look.

It was vintage Eddie Lack, a 27-year-old Swede whose lively personality in a button-down league has received as much attention as his goaltending. Now, however, his work on the ice becomes central as the Vancouver Canucks attempt to bolt down a postseason berth.

Miller went down with a knee injury in late February, with seven weeks left in the season. The Canucks were in a precarious playoff position, and a team in such a spot that loses its starting netminder usually wobbles and slides out of contention. The Canucks instead have won almost two-thirds of their games since Miller was hurt and Lack has been an essential stabilizing force.

It's a big contrast from a year ago, near the end of Lack's rookie season, when he was shoved into the starting role after Roberto Luongo was suddenly traded. The trade was precipitated by coach John Tortorella playing Lack in net in the Heritage Classic instead of Luongo, who had savoured the spotlight start for months.

Lack considered Luongo one of his idols when he arrived in North America. There were chants of "We want Lu! We want Lu!" from the Heritage Classic crowd. It was not a fun afternoon for Lack. The game was near the beginning of a string of 19 starts in a row, and Lack's play had been strong – until it wasn't. As March wore on, he played with barely any rest, Tortorella manically refusing to give him a game off. Lack faded, his weakening play compounded a back injury and the team's general implosion.

This season, Lack's numbers have improved as he has assumed the starter's gig. He's the same goalie, 6-foot-4 and agile, but last summer he bolstered his body, moving his trainer to his cabin in Sweden, working from morning to night. It created a foundation of durability that produces night-to-night success.

The Canucks are an average team, one that oscillates from impressive to ugly. But through the ebbs and flows, Lack has been steady. Last Thursday at home, in a bad 4-1 loss to Colorado, Lack was arguably the best Canuck on the ice. On Saturday, another loss, 4-3 to Dallas, Lack was good but missed the big save he could have made in overtime.

The Canucks' playoff position seems assured, barring a collapse, but the stakes will be raised this week on the final road trip of the year, a tough four-game slog through St. Louis, Nashville, Chicago and Winnipeg.

Though 27, Lack is only a year removed from his rookie campaign; he remains an emerging goaltender. He has played just 76 NHL games, but his style is savvy enough that the Canucks' top goal scorer, Radim Vrbata with 30 this year, hasn't quite figured him out in practice.

"When you practise with some goalies, after a while you know where their weak spot is, or what to do against them," Vrbata said. "But with him, it's almost a full season" – Vrbata paused, tilted his head and pursed his lips, a scorer mulling a puzzle he hasn't figured out – "it's tough to crack him. It's hard for me to say what makes him good because I don't even know how to beat him – yet."

Lack's story in hockey is one of resilience. He grew up in a small city an hour northeast of Stockholm. His dad was his goalie coach until his early teens, the early 2000s, when Sweden's hockey system began to pour resources into goaltending. Lack is one of many who benefited and eventually reached the NHL.

He was spotted at 16 by a Canucks scout, but was never drafted and came up through Swedish leagues before Vancouver signed him at 2010. After three seasons in the minors – the third mostly lost to hip surgery – he rose to back up Luongo in 2013-14. Last summer, the Canucks new management was unwilling to bank on Lack and signed Miller.

Lack didn't see much ice time behind Miller and, during the season, there was talk about how well Swede Jacob Markstrom was playing for the Canucks' American Hockey League farm team. In 2009-10, Lack had backed up Markstrom for Brynas in Sweden's top league.

The uncertainty of Lack's standing has been wiped away by his recent play. Even a careful reconsideration of his difficult March a year ago shows it was hardly all his fault: He was so-so, but not bad at even-strength. When shorthanded, the Canucks were destroyed – a team failing.

Thinking back to last year is one of the few times the tone of Lack's voice dips to something akin to sombre. He paused, last week, for several seconds before answering, first smiling.

"Good, good," he said of his current state. "I'm pretty much done talking about last year. I know why it's a big thing. I'm feeling good right now."

Lack is still quick with a joke. When former AHL roommate and current first-line Canucks defenceman Chris Tanev scored a big contract last week, Lack quipped, "It feels like just yesterday, we were sitting in Winnipeg, Tanev in his Grinch pyjamas."

But as business has become serious, his interviews have become static, like most athletes, obvious talk of not getting too high, too low. "We've got to keep pounding away," Lack said, "and doing our thing and winning."

For the seeming ups and downs, Canucks forward Jannik Hansen instead sees reliable season-to-season work from Lack. "He's the same guy that's been here for the last three, four years," Hansen observed. "Calm, big goalie, athletic."

Hansen, a Dane who perhaps feels a natural rivalry with a Swede, is something of a comic, like Lack. Asked who is the funnier of the two, Hansen turns to some subterfuge.

"It's a facade he puts on for you guys," Hansen said. "I'm trying to start that rumour that he's not the same guy when camera turns off. He's miserable. You can run with that."

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