How to decide whether to bench? (Niemi)

[ntrspctv]

This week so far I have these stats:3 w 75s 0so 1.622gaa .9375sv%

I have lundqvist (dtd right now), niemi and emery.

vs my opponents 1 45 0 2.516 .9000

he has pavelec and nabokov


niemi has been crapping the bed lately, letting in tons of goals in last 6 games (4/4/3/3/3) with only one win.

he faces off against an edmonton team coming off 3 straight wins.

should I bench niemi or play him, hoping that he'll have a solid game?

opponent has 7 more opportunities this week to play (pavelc/nabokov, though a day off or two will happen)

[Shoeless]

Little late here but my rule of thumb is that I will freely start decent goalies up to Wed or Thursday when you know the start is going to happen - trouble comes on weekends when your guys get injured or sick or the backup comes in and steals a game from you while the other guy's goalies are starting back to backs. 50% accumulating stats even though SO is a wanker so it's good enough for me.

I look at those numbers another way as well - 75 saves with a good gaa and sv% is harder to pull down the qualitatives with an off game - as opposed to 45 saves with the same GAA and SV% - I would have started Niemi today for sure.

[ntrspctv]

good way of thinking.

RNH was out with flu last night so that tipped the balance for me. thought it was a mistake when sharks were down 3-1 but they came back and won it in shootouts, so glad I started!