Hawks vow to give Niemi more help

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Sharks likely won't change their game plan for Blackhawks goalie Antti Niemi in Game 2 on Tuesday.

The story Sunday was Niemi with his 44 saves in the Hawks' 2-1 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals at HP Pavilion.

"There were sometimes we thought it was going in, but he did a good job," Sharks center Joe Pavelski said. "He's going to stop it for the most part. We just have to keep the shots coming."

Niemi bailed out his teammates in a game where they let San Jose have too many good scoring chances among its 45 shots on goal.

"We have to give him more help than we did tonight," Hawks winger Kris Versteeg said.

"He was huge for us," Jonathan Toews said.

"He had a big game and we needed that type of performance from him. We had a lot of shots too, but in terms of quality scoring chances they came up big. They had some power plays and worked it around pretty good and we didn't get that chance.

"He kept us in that game and we played very confident in front of him, knowing he was going to make those big stops. It makes a world of difference for you, especially when you're killing off, I don't know how many penalties today. I know there were three in the first period."

Officially speaking: The Hawks didn't have any power plays, while the Sharks got 5 from referees Paul Devorski and Brad Watson.

"I'm not complaining," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said, knowing it was probably best not to say anything after getting the victory.

Devorski and Watson also put the wrong guy in the penalty box with 56 seconds to play, sending Kris Versteeg off when it was Dave Bolland who tripped Devin Setoguchi.

"I had my stick around him and (Versteeg) had his stick in there," Bolland said.

"It was close."

It was a fortunate break for the final minute with the Sharks on a 6-on-4 power play with goalie Evgeni Nabokov pulled, because Bolland is one of the Hawks' best penalty killers.

"That's the breaks that happen within a game," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "What we couldn't do is lose our marbles on the bench and start yelling and screaming at the referee. We had to have some poise and set up a 6-on-4 situation. If they erred, they erred. We move on."

Tip-ins: The Hawks lost 57 percent of the faceoffs, but they did outhit the Sharks 32-30 led by Troy Brouwer's 7. - Sharks coach Todd McLellan dressed seven defensemen for only the second time in the playoffs.