Lindy Ruff Defends Two-Goalie System

Ruff split goalkeeping duties between Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi all season long

If you were expecting the Dallas Stars to change their tune where the two-goalie system is concerned in the wake of their playoff loss to the St. Louis Blues and their one starting goalie, Brian Elliott, well, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Not at this point, anyway.

Stars coach Lindy Ruff made a point to say that the two-goalie system was not to blame for the team’s playoff exit last week when he was asked if the team plans on moving to a more traditional, one-starting-goalie rotation going forward.

"No. You can write any story you want, we used two guys the whole year,” Ruff said, per the Dallas Morning News. “They were comfortable with it. It might have been the reason we got to where we got to. It's not the reason we lost.”

Kari Lehtonen went 25-10-2 on the year, Antti Niemi 25-13-7. But both struggled at points in the playoffs. Niemi was pulled from the 6-1 loss to the Blues in Game 3 after allowing three goals on 12 shots. Lehtonen was pulled in Game 7 after allowing three goals on eight shots.

But Ruff believes the good outweighed the bad, overall.

"We finished second overall (in the standings), we had two goalies that won us 25 games, we had two goalies that I think were the backbone of where we got to," Ruff said. "These two guys did a real good job for us."

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