Niemi to start in goal for Blackhawks; struggling Huet to sit

To nobody's surprise, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville named Antti Niemi his starting goalie for tonight's game against the Vancouver Canucks at the United Center.

"He's earned the opportunity," Quenneville said. "I think he has played well and I think at one point in the year the competition from behind was something we were looking for."

Cristobal Huet has struggled badly in his last two starts, making it almost a no-brainer for Quenneville to turn to Niemi.

Huet has a .844 save percentage compared to Niemi's .912 percentage to go with his 3-0 record.

Quenneville didn't want to speculate on his goalie for Saturday's game against Nashville at the United Center.

"I don't want to go too far," Quenneville said. "We've got some home games here and a favorable schedule so we want to place our importance on the next game and get some momentum here. We had a nice little roll going and we want to recapture that."

Quenneville still considers Huet his No.1 goalie.

"Nothing has changed," Quenneville said.