Practicing five-on-five play, updated look at goalie situation ?

[IE]

Capsule version of what?s been going on at Sharks Ice the past two days:

MONDAY ? About 30 minutes or so of going over the video nightmare that was the 4-0 loss to Calgary, then off-ice workouts only.

?It wasn?t a long meeting but it was to the point,? Dan Boyle said. ?Video is always good to help learn why things go the way they do.?

Todd McLellan indicated he decided to keep his team off the ice because it had just finished four games in six nights, plus travel.

TODAY ? A 75-minute session on the ice with an emphasis on what the coaching staff calls ?compete drills? with the hacking and hitting that suggests. Nearly all the time was spent in five-on-five situations, not fine-tuning the NHL?s second best power play with its 31.4 percent success rate.

?We have to fix some things fast,? McLellan said. ?We need to get better in some areas and we addressed them today. The problem is that , especially when you play out here, you have to take advantage of your practice time. You lose some practices because of travel and there?s proabby more days off here because of the travel. Today we basically worked on a single part of our game and that was it.

?We battled,? he added. ?We battled hard.?

They also battled without Scott Nichol, who remained off the ice Tuesday as he recovers from what appeared to be a foot injury suffered when he blocked a Jay Bouwmeester shot with his skate during the second period of Sunday?s 4-0 loss to Calgary.


yes, the coaching staff is very much aware which of its two goalies has gotten off to the better start, and, yes, that?s a factor in deciding which one will play each night.

?Right now it?s who we feel comfortable with on that given day,? McLellan said. ?I think when you look at Antti?s game, he?s working real hard to polish it up. Nitty, let?s face facts, has been better than Antti has so we lean that way a little right now.?

All that, of course, is a snapshot of where things stand now and could change.

?They?ll both compete for ice time and we have no clear-cut No. 1,? McLellan stressed.

Is that maybe an unintended hint that Niittymaki will get the start against New Jersey? I?d take it that way. But McLellan?s current policy is not to disclose his choice before game day.

 

[IE]

Sharks still unresolved on starting goaltender


At each stop on the Sharks' just-completed trip, coach Todd McLellan was asked how he planned to use his two new goalies. At each stop, he began his answer the same way: "I have no plan."

In reality, what McLellan doesn't have is a master plan spelling out how many games Antti Niemi or Antero Niittymaki will play this season.

But almost three weeks in, McLellan acknowledged Tuesday that Niittymaki has been the better goaltender, and, for now at least, that will be a factor in deciding who will start games going forward, beginning tonight at HP Pavilion against the New Jersey Devils.

"Right now, it's who we feel comfortable with on that given day," McLellan said Tuesday. "Nitty, let's face facts, has been better than Antti has, so we lean that way a little right now."

But McLellan stopped short of identifying Niittymaki as tonight's starter, stressing that both goalies will continue to compete for ice time, and he said there is still no clear-cut pecking order.

"We'll go with whoever we feel gives us the best opportunity to win on that night," McLellan said. "Two nights later, it might be another guy."

After deciding to cut ties with longtime starter Evgeni Nabokov, the Sharks signed the 30-year-old Niittymaki to a two-year, $4 million contract July 1 and expected to use him in tandem with Thomas Greiss.

But when Niemi, 27, became available later in the summer, general manager Doug Wilson signed him to a one-year, $2
million deal, figuring he could not pass up the chance to land the Chicago Blackhawks goalie who not only eliminated the Sharks from the playoffs, but also went on to win the Stanley Cup as a rookie.

Niemi has the more impressive NHL r?sum?, but Niittymaki has put up the better numbers so far, going 2-0-1 with a 1.80 goals against average and a .932 saves percentage. Niemi is 1-3-0 with a 4.49 GAA and an .854 saves percentage.

But McLellan isn't going strictly by statistics.

In a 4-0 loss to Calgary on Sunday, for example, team breakdowns contributed to three Calgary goals on the first five shots against Niemi.

"We have to pull him, because we're trying to spark the team, so sometimes numbers get skewed a little bit," McLellan said. "Not all the time, but some of the time."

McLellan has said all along he does not want to simply rotate the two goalies. Instead, he wants to see how Niemi and Niittymaki perform in different situations -- maybe in back-to-back games, perhaps over a stretch of three or four in a row.

Tuesday, he added another consideration: the type of game the opposition plays.

"Are they a crash-the-crease type team," he said, "or are they more of a finesse-type team?"

Teammates are quick to say that they have confidence in Niemi and Niittymaki, blaming themselves for the Calgary debacle.

"We have the same trust in both goalies," defenseman Niclas Wallin said. "We know Niemi's a good goalie, and we just need to play better in front of him."

Niemi, who has struggled in some games with rebound control, said he has played through difficult periods before.

"It's happened for every goalie," Niemi said. "For sure the whole team can play better, but I think you've got to play good games and make big saves to help the team win, so it goes both ways."

Both he and Niittymaki say they are fine with a system in which McLellan lets them know the day before each game which one will be starting.

"I don't need to know who's playing two weeks from now," Niittymaki said.

And Niittymaki, who played in 210 NHL games with Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, put his competition for playing time with Niemi in a broader context.

"I've been on a losing team and playing every game, and it's not fun," Niittymaki said. "But I've been on winning teams sitting on the bench, and it's way more fun coming to the rink. At the end of the day, you want to be on a good team, no matter what."