Thursday night’s win over the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center in Denver marked Antti Niemi’s fifth straight start in goal.
On a team that boasts not one but two starting goaltenders in Niemi and Kari Lehtonen, we don’t get the feeling coach Lindy Ruff is about to come out and declare that Niemi has won the starting job indefinitely and that Lehtonen will back him up. But he acknowledges that the arrangement allows the Stars to play the hot hand, and right now, that’s Niemi.
"I like what he's done so far," Ruff told the team’s official website before the 4-3 OT win. "I thought he gave us a heck of a game in Winnipeg. It's come to the point now where the guy who is playing the best—if we're not fatiguing him—will play.”
Niemi is now 20-9-5 on the year. Lehtonen is 13-5-0, but he’s gone winless and allowed 14 goals in his last four starts.
"I think we have to live in the present," Ruff said. "Both goalies are good goaltenders, they've both been No. 1 goaltenders, but I think we've got to treat it that if one guy grabs the ball and runs with it, it's good for the team. The other guy is going to have to compete and make it tough for me to take him out again."
