[quote name="roshinaya"]while niemi did have a stellar performance, he needs to show that he can keep it up consistently. so far he's always delivered a stinker after a great game like last night. if he can do that he should shut up all the niemi critics.[/quote]
Valid point... I can bring up the statistics to back that up, but I honestly don't want to search for them. I think it was something like, after a shutout Niemi has given up 4 goals or more 4 or 5 times.
Not sure what the stat is for giving up one goal, but the inconsistency is there.
That said, I don't expect Niemi to play like that all the time. He shouldn't need to, all he needs to do is put together a good performance on a consistent basis, and from time to time, pull out a great one like he did.
For the most part, Niemi has been fairly consistent, but it can improve... given the fact that he is a rookie tender, with basically no expectations heading into the year, he is given some leeway here.... for the most part, with Niemi in net, we SHOULD win this series even if he lays a stinker at some point.