Smith, Niemi or Lehtonen tonight?

[dev4life]

Who is the better start?

[TheTampaBayManiac]

To get this out of the way, not Niemi. He's playing the Wings, the Sharks are shakey, not Niemi.

In my opinion, I'd go with Smitty. Playing the Wild, and Smith is still looking as strong as ever.

I would say Lehtonen, who's playing the young Oilers, but tonight is his first game back, which probably shouldn't be a big deal, but honestly I'd feel more safe with Smith.

[dejeanneret]

Tough call for me. Assuming all three of these guys start, I think Smith is a lock for you but I'm on the fence about Niemi or Lehtonen. The points in the post above me are all well-taken, but there are three reasons that make me lean towards Niemi:

1) Niemi has been playing out of his mind virtually all season long and, in my mind at least, has earned match-up proof status until he shows otherwise;
2) The Wings are playing their second of a back-to-back tonight (tough loss to the Kings last night, they admittedly looked quite good during the first two periods that I caught); and
3) I typically like to give a goalie at least 1 game post-injury to show that he's back and fully recovered from injury.

For those reasons, I'd go Smith and Niemi. Certainly wouldn't fault you if you felt more comfortable with Lehtonen though -- he's also been spectacular in the games he's played this season.

Good luck!

EDIT: Man, just re-read and it seems like you might only need one goalie tonight. In that case, I'd go Smith. I'm gonna go get another cup 'o joe now so hopefully I can wake the hell up!

[dev4life]

haha thanks guys! I was leaning toward Lehtonen just cause he has been good against the Oilers and they are at home but the injury does concern me so maybe Smith is the safer play against an anemic Wild offense.