What It Means:

He was the first goalie off the ice at the morning skate, which indicates the Stars will start him instead of Kari Lehtonen. Lehtonen played well in the first two games of the Stars' Round 1 playoff series, but he allowed four goals on 24 shots in Monday's loss to the Wild.

Niemi finished the year with a 25-13-7 record, to go with a .905 save percentage and 2.67 goals against average. Tonight against Minnesota, our models give Niemi a 51.0 percent chance of getting the win, while projecting him to make 25.52 saves on 28.05 shot attempts.