Chicago Blackhawks Knee-Jerk Reaction II: Do We Have an Answer?

After the Chicago Blackhawks lost their season opener in a shoot-out Friday, questions were raised about goalie Cristobal Huet's validity as the Hawks' number one goalie.

If Huet's poor performance gave analysts and fans something to ask about, back-up Antti Niemi's performance on Saturday opened the conversation.

Niemi stopped all 23 shots he faced from Florida as the Hawks defeated the Panthers 4-0 in their second game of the season.

What makes the play between the pipes important for Chicago this year is the rapid ascent of the Blackhawks up the ladder in the Western Conference. Indeed, after not making the playoffs for almost an entire decade, the Hawks advanced to the Conference Finals last year.

But, as any successful team does, the Hawks made some changes this summer. The most public change was the addition of Marian Hossa and subtraction of Martin Havlat, but the Blackhawks also lost last year's goalie, Nikolai Khabibulin, to free agency as well.

Khabibulin took the starting job away from last summer's free agent addition, Huet, despite being offered to anyone in the world for nothing during preseason. The issue with Huet, as described in the article after the first game, is that he's historically been vulnerable to high shots; Florida scored all three of their regulation goals and both shoot-out goals by going top shelf.

The Blackhawks will have a potent offense this year, even without Hossa until November. In Europe, the Hawks had four players score three points in their first two games.

But the obvious statement of the year is that, in order to win, the Hawks will need whomever is playing goalie to give up fewer goals than the score. Huet was not able to do that on Friday, but Niemi was solid on Saturday.

This might become an interesting competition to watch for the entire NHL as the season progresses.