Penguins goalie loses glove, makes barehanded save anyway

The NHL gives goaltenders a lot of equipment to protect themselves from flying pucks. Penguins netminder Antti Niemi lost his glove during a preseason game Friday, yet it didn’t stop him from making a save on a shot with his bare hand.

This doesn’t seem like the best idea in a preseason game. You could’ve just given up the goal and not risked wrecking your hand, Antti. Luckily, he told reporters after the game that he was fine.

“It wasn’t bad,” Niemi said. “The hand was moving at the same pace (as the puck), kind of. So it wasn’t bad.”

NHL rules require that play is stopped if a goaltender loses their helmet, but Niemi said Friday that officials told him the league won’t stop play this season if a goalie lose his glove or blocker. So when those difficult situations happen, goalies will have to decide between trying to make the save with a bare hand, or doing something else. Muscle memory probably kicks in there a bit.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan didn’t love seeing Niemi, the team’s backup goalie, make a barehanded save, but added that he appreciated what it said about his competitiveness.

“That could potentially be dangerous, but I think that’s once again just an indication of his compete,” Sullivan said.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an NHL goalie having to resort to using his bare hand to make a save, and it surely won’t be the last time. Hopefully when the next moment happens, Shea Weber isn’t rearing back from the blue line to rip off a screamin’ line drive. It would probably be best to just give up the goal then.