If it's only a panic caused by such lag, then why haven't the price recovered so far?
It makes no sense to claim that the demand for Bitcoin is a function of MtGox health or competence. Either people want to hold bitcoins or they don't, and that has nothing to do with the efficiency of MtGox. (and if there are people whose decision to hold or sell bitcoins is influenced by MtGox health, then sorry, but these people should not have bought any bitcoin at all - and it's still not MtGox fault that they sold out, but their own)
It's not MtGox that makes the price, it's the people that buy and sell. That should not be hard to understand.