Canucks' early goals don't rattle Niemi

Blackhawks goalie Antti Niemi admitted he didn't sleep well after Saturday's 5-1 loss to Vancouver.

"It's not the best situation when you get pulled in the game before," Niemi said of being replaced by Cristobal Huet in the third period of Game 1.

And it looked like it might be more of the same old, same old for Niemi and Co. after the Canucks came out swarming early Monday night, scoring twice in the opening five minutes and eliciting a collective "Uh oh" from the packed house at the United Center.

Good thing the 26-year-old Finn was one of the few in the house not feeling rattled.

"For sure it's not easy when you get scored on early," Niemi said. "But you just want to see the puck the rest of the way and forget about the goals."

And that's just what he did, shutting the door the rest of the way and finishing with 24 stops while his teammates slowly battled back before pulling away late to tie the Western Conference semifinal series at 1-1.

"It feels great," said Niemi, though you would never know from his expression.

"Antti was big in the net for us all night," said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville, who almost sounded taken aback Sunday afternoon when asked if Niemi would be back in goal for Game 2.

"He played solid. He was sticking with it," added defenseman Duncan Keith.

Probably the save of the night by Niemi came early on with the Canucks holding a 1-0 lead. Niemi slid to his left and made a pad save on Kevin Bieksa's close-range shot and then got a little help from a friendly post on Bieksa's second attempt.

"He's been great all year," said defenseman Brian Campbell. "I don't think enough people give him credit. He's been one of the most consistent players we've had."

Monday's victory continued a trend for Niemi of not putting together back-to-back clunkers, and he admitted patience has been a huge factor.

"I don't know why it is," Niemi said "You don't want to get too rattled about losing one game; you want to keep your focus the same. You want to be patient and not worry about things you can't affect too much."

Mission accomplished, and that's probably a real good thing for the Hawks.

"It's a huge win for us," Niemi said, "because if we had lost today ... things wouldn't be good for us at all."