NHL Playoffs: Niemi is slow to close the window and it costs him a S.O.

It is tough to criticize Antti Niemi's play during this play-off season.  He is quickly showing that he is an elite NHL goalie and the Sharks made quite a steal to get him.  His game performance last night against the Stanley Cup champs has been close to equal of Jonathan Quick who has also ramped it to a new notch come post-season.

But even the best goalies make mistakes that we can all learn from and Niemi gets burnt being a little lax driving back to his post after the puck deflects to the nearside corner and below the goal line.  The gap between his body and the post is open too long and the daylight is spilling through.  This gives the LA Kings player, Dustin Brown, a great opportunity to score a "cheap" goal by bouncing it off or through Niemi.  For an attacking forward who is near or below the goal line, throwing the puck near the goalie and through the blue paint is a very low risk, potentially high yielding play.  As I ask my goalies rhetorically, "why wouldn't a player try that play?  What is the worse that could happen, other than a turnover very deep in the defending team's zone."

To that end, goalies should be very quick to seal that body-post gap whenever the puck gets low.  There is no benefit to the goalie to watch and wait to see what will develop before going to the post.  In practice and in drills, many goalies think their job is finished when they make the great controlled save and redirect a potential rebound into the corner.  There is no sense of urgency to get back to the post to track the puck into the corner, and that lackadaisical attitude will cost goals, BAD goals in a game.  Move to that post as quickly as if it was a dangerous rebound.  Then lock up that post before that puck even hits the ground or the stick of the opposition player and then plan your next move from there.

Technically there was problems, as Niemi decides to drive his skate into the post for his reverse-VH.  This causes him to delay sealing the post tight and cracks of daylight emerge for a puck to squeak through.  The reverse-VH seems to be the pitstop choice for some goalies who want to take a passive pose and see what they should do next and Niemi's skate to the post not only causes gaps, it gives a nice fat target for someone to hit from below the goal line.  It may have been the lazy move with lazy execution here that cost Niemi his shutout.