Flyers attempt to panic Hawks rookie goaltender

In my opinion, criticism and punishment are necessary; this is a part of human experience. It also shows that you have begun to attract attention of others; this may not be a good thing

Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Querneville found himself seems to have a similar location here Tuesday afternoon when he was told that Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette had started a psychological attack on his goalie- Antti Niemi.Nine years ago, Quenneville took a talented St. Louis Blues team to the Western Conference. Final against the Colorado Avalanche only to have his goalie, Roman Turek, crumble under a withering stream of criticism, snide remarks and unflattering comparisons to Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy.

"Three teams out of four are getting great goaltending," then- Avalanche coach Bob Hartley said after the Avalanche won the first two games of the conference final, adding "one team (the Avs) is getting unbelievable goaltending.


"We've got to put more pressure on their goaltender. He's a rookie goaltender playing in the Stanley Cup Finals," Laviolette said. "We have to get on the board here tomorrow night and put a little bit of doubt there. Our team is capable of scoring a lot of goals, put a lot of pressure on him."

"It's a tough position, goaltending," Laviolette said. "He's representing a city that hasn't won a Cup in 50 years. We have to give him a crack of doubt. We can do that tomorrow night."

One thing about Antti you gotta -- I won't address the other part of the question -- I'll just address our goaltender and I think that one thing about Antti, you gotta appreciate the way he approaches games and the way he moves on in games and following shots," Quenneville said. "His demeanor is the way you would like it to be in any type of situation.

"Goaltenders are sometimes a little more high-strung. Antti is as laid-back as I've ever met or seen. I think his disposition enables him to move on to the next situation and the next challenge and the next puck. I think that makes him effective and he's a student of the game as well. He just seems to move on seamlessly and look for the next challenge."Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook and center John Madden laughed easily when told of Laviolette's comments. Seabrook looked at Madden and decided he'd defend his goalie."He's pretty calm, cool and collected. He doesn't let much bother him," Seabrook said. "At least, nothing that we can see. He's pretty quiet in the room. He does his own thing. He makes big saves. He's been huge for us all year and teams have tried to get at him and get traffic and bump him a little bit. He's answered the bell. I don't think he lets that stuff get to him. He just continues to play his game, which has been great for us."