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Niemi and Sharks visit Blackhawks

Mar 14, 2011 - 3:04 PM (Sports Network) - Antti Niemi played savior for the Blackhawks last year in helping the club capture the Stanley Cup. Tonight, the Sharks goaltender is likely to get a chance at dealing his former club's playoff chances a bit of a blow.

Pacific Division-leading San Jose takes aim at a regular-season series sweep of Chicago, which will be looking to avoid a season-worst fourth straight loss tonight at the United Center.

The Blackhawks took three of four from the Sharks last year in the regular season before sweeping the top seed in the Western Conference finals. Niemi played a big part in that sweep, posting a 1.67 goals-against average in winning all four games of the series.

Chicago was then unable to keep the restricted free agent in the offseason due to salary cap concerns, opting not to sign Niemi after he was awarded $2.75 million in arbitration, and the Sharks swooped in with a one-year contract. The 27-year-old Niemi began the season splitting time with Antero Niittymaki, but a pair of injuries to the latter has led to Niemi starting 24 straight games.

Niemi has gone 26-16-5 with a 2.39 GAA in 48 starts and on March 1 signed a four-year, $15.2 million extension with the Sharks.

His efforts this year versus the Blackhawks may have had something to do with that. He has won all three of the meetings so far this season with a 1.96 GAA and made 26 saves in his first trip back to the United Center on Dec. 30 in a 5-3 victory.

The Sharks last swept a season series with the 'Hawks back in 2007-08 and have won two straight and eight of their last 10 in Chicago.

Niemi tied Chris Terreri (1995-96) for the Sharks' second longest consecutive games started streak on Saturday in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Rangers. He made 20 saves and stopped 4-of-6 skaters in the tiebreaker.

Ryane Clowe and Ben Eager scored in regulation and Dan Boyle, playing for the first time in seven games due to an upper-body injury, assisted on both tallies, but San Jose still dropped its second straight in a shootout to go 3-1-2 on a homestand.

"Two nights in a row where we only come away with one," Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. "I said it the other day, it's a hard thing at this time of the year to play a hard-fought team game and then have it settled with individuals."

San Jose is still 9-1-2 in its past 12 games and 18-3-3 in the last 24 to give the club a three-point edge over Los Angeles and Phoenix for the Pacific Division lead.

Clowe has scored four goals in his last three games and matched his career high of 22 goals scored in 2008-09. He'll try to lift San Jose to a fifth straight road win tonight.

Chicago has lost three straight for the first time since Dec. 28-Jan. 2 and will try to avoid dropping four consecutive games for the first time since a five-game slide from March 13-20, 2009.

The Blackhawks' last two losses have both come past regulation, including yesterday's 4-3 overtime setback to the Capitals. Captain Jonathan Toews forced overtime on a power-play goal with 38.5 seconds left in regulation, but Washington's Mike Knuble beat Corey Crawford from in close with 1:09 left in the extra frame.

"These games aren't going to get any easier," said Toews, who has 12 goals and 31 points in his last 20 games. "We're good enough to give ourselves a chance at two points every night, so it's all on us."

Crawford ended with 38 saves and both Nick Leddy and Tomas Kopecky scored for Chicago, which is tied with Dallas for sixth in the West. The Blackhawks, who are 10-2-4 in their last 16 games, are one point behind the Coyotes and Kings in the standings, but just two up on the ninth-place Predators.

Toews is now one goal shy of his second career 30-goal season and Crawford made his 14th straight start on Sunday. He faced the Sharks for the first time in his career on Dec. 11, a 2-1 overtime loss.

Marty Turco, who hasn't started for Chicago since Feb. 11, has yielded eight goals on 52 shots in the other two setbacks and has lost four of his last five overall versus San Jose with a 3.03 GAA.

The Blackhawks have won four straight at home.