Will Game 6 be another Niemi night?
Lost amid the Blackhawks' incredible offensive production in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals has been the utter lack of goaltending at both ends of the ice.
After all, you don't figure to give up 19 goals in five games and have a 3-2 series lead, but that's where the Hawks are as they prep for Wednesday's Game 6 in Philadelphia.
So this might be a good time for Antti Niemi to put together a special performance.
Niemi has had a solid postseason and been the best goalie in each series the Hawks have played, with the possible exception of facing Nashville's Pekka Rinne in the opening round, which seems like a lifetime ago right about now.
But in this series, Niemi hasn't done much, outside of the second and third periods in Game 2 when he was outstanding against a ferocious Flyers barrage.
In Philly for Game 6, Niemi might want to make an appearance if the Hawks are to win a road game and avoid a Game 7, where a bad bounce can mean the difference between spraying champagne and drowning your sorrows in beer.
"We would like to finish there," Niemi said. "You don't want to go to that last game if you don't have to."
It's not as though he's affected by the pressure, because Niemi doesn't generally seem affected by anything, be it earthquakes, plagues or horrible defensive breakdowns.
"I've always been like that," Niemi says. "If you're going to play this position you have to have a short memory because you're going to give up goals no matter what you do.
"That's hockey. There's not a lot of games with zero goals, so there's going to be some that get past you. You just have to make sure you give up not as many as the other goalie."
Niemi is so blissfully calm at all times on and off the ice that sometimes his teammates would enjoy seeing him scream or bust a stick over the crossbar, just for the entertainment value.
"It might be fun to see him snap sometime, but that's not him," said Adam Burish. "He has a real calming effect on the team even when things aren't going well because there's no panic.
"He's not going to go to pieces after a tough goal, and we all know that. He bounces right back. We don't have to worry about him. He's just the same all the time. It's a very good feeling."
From the start of this series, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette has tried to get to Niemi, saying, "We feel like there's some weaknesses we can exploit there.
"It's tough, the pressure of sports. (Goalie) is a tough position, and all of a sudden it gets harder to breathe. Things start slipping away. I still think there's room for improvement for us on our attack and trying to exploit some other areas."
Early in the series, Laviolette tried to put the city of Chicago on Niemi's back, hoping he would carry that along with him for a week or two.
"He's a rookie goaltender playing in the Stanley Cup Finals," he said. "Our team is capable of scoring a lot of goals, putting a lot of pressure on him.
"And he's representing a city that hasn't won a Cup in 50 years. We have to give him a crack of doubt. We can do that."
The Flyers can score, there's no doubt about that, and Niemi can be had in net, but there's no getting to him mentally. Besides, unless informed he doesn't know what Laviolette says each day, and when told he doesn't care.
"I only play one position and I can only do my job," Niemi said. "I don't know when the last championship was and most of the guys aren't old enough to know any of that stuff.
"We just want to win the games. We don't have any (responsibility) for what happened here when we weren't here. We can only do the job right now."
Niemi has handled it all up to now, and while he hasn't been great in this series, he has a chance to be great in Game 6.
If he is the Hawks will be the champs.
If he isn't and the Hawks have to go to Game 7, there's one thing you don't have to fear.
Antti Niemi won't crumble under the pressure. Fact is, he doesn't even know what pressure is.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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