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Saves of the Night: Kari Lehtonen (January 17)

Kari Lehtonen, Jack Johnson

Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen (32), of Finland, blocks a penalty shot from Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jack Johnson (3) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Jan. 17, 2011, in Dallas. Dallas won 2-1. (AP Photo/Tim Sharp)

AP

Aside from the occasional night off – or the even less common instance when a save or goal isn’t deemed worthy – the gang at PHT will decide which tally or stop is the best of any given night. Once those two winners are determined, we’ll share our reasoning (and most importantly, the video clip for each) in posts for your viewing pleasure.

Monday night featured another Save of the Night photo finish, as it was a tough call to decide if Antti Niemi’s two saves against the Phoenix Coyotes were more impressive than Kari Lehtonen’s work against the Los Angeles Kings.

Though Niemi made more saves overall of the San Jose Sharks last night, Lehtonen came up big when the Dallas Stars needed him the most: in the final minute of the third period. His biggest stop came when he thwarted Jack Johnson (arguably the Kings’ best shootout option) on a penalty shot that came about on a somewhat controversial call, but he also made some saves in the final seconds.

You can see the penalty shot stop in the first video and the final saves in the second one.

Penalty shot save:
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The other saves:
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