Niemi stopped 17 of 24 shots and was pulled midway through the third period of Tuesday's 7-1 loss to the Wild.

EDGE Analysis

Niemi was making his first start since Nov. 23, so there might have been an element of rust, but losses like this are rarely the fault of the goalie and this was no different. The team wasn't prepared for the final game of its three-game road trip, and it showed in the number of scoring chances the skaters allowed. "It could have been way worse than 1-0 after the first period," Shea Weber told Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette. "(Niemi) kept it tight. We were giving up Grade A chances, it's not like we were giving up shots from the outside. The shots we were giving up were right in the slot, breakaways, chances that aren't okay." The Wild scored on all four of their power plays and added a shortie, just because they could.