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Goaltending gems in
Ottawa Nabokov outduels Hasek 1/12/06 - by Mike Lee
Opposing one of the greatest
goaltenders in NHL history, Sharks netminder Evgni Nabokov outplayed the master
on Thursday night. Nabokov also made 40 saves and earned his first shutout of
the season, all en route to a win over one of the strongest teams in the NHL.
Patrick Marleau and Nils Ekman provided more than enough scoring punch to beat
the host Ottawa Senators 2-0 at Corel Centre, the Sharks fifth win in a row.
Dominik Hasek stopped 34 of 36 shots, some with spectacular saves, but
it was Nabokov who kept the puck out of his own net all night. Coming off a
strong performance in Boston on Tuesday, Nabokov stoned the best offense in the
league, and shut down the third best power play to earn his 27th career
shutout.
"It feels great, but it feels even better that we got the
win, we got the two points we need and we're ready to move up," Nabokov said.
San Jose repelled a fiery Ottawa push out of the gate and actually
out-shot the Senators 13-8 in the opening period. The Senators have two of the
league's top five scorers in Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley, but San Jose
put the clamps on the high octane tandem all night.
Hasek came up big
at the end of the opening period by stoning Ekman while the Sharks were on a
two man advantage.
The Shark stayed consistent on defense and
capitalized when the Senators made a couple of rare mistakes. The first came
midway through the 2nd period when Marleau intercepted a long pass by
Alfredsson at the Sharks blueline, before racing up ice and beating Hasek with
a backhanded move. Alfredsson tried to cut off Marleau's angle, but the Sharks
captain used his speed to beat the Swede up the ice.
"He did it before
on the same shift so I was just lucky to read it and I don't think he got
everything he wanted to on it and I was able to intercept it," Marleau said.
Ottawa almost scored a fortuitous goal early in the 3rd period after a
deflection bounced off Senators winger Chris Neil, who was standing at the top
of the Sharks crease. The puck landed to the left of Nabokov, who stopped it
right on the goal line with a lunge of the glove.
On the ensuing
faceoff, Ottawa would get caught in the Sharks zone as Jonathan Cheechoo pushed
a loose puck up the ice to center Joe Thornton. With Ekman picking up steam on
the right wing, Thornton began a series of four passes between the two, that
ended with Ekman stuffing the final pass into an open net after Hasek committed
to Thornton on the left post.
"That's how it usually works in hockey, they almost
score and we come back and bury that second goal," Thornton said. "It was kind
of a backbreaker for them, so it was a big goal for us."
Thornton
missed on a pair of scoring chances with a shot that rang off the crossbar
early on, and a second shot that bounced off the post in the final period.
"Our problem is that if we don't score five or six goals, we lose the
game," Hasek said. "We have to find a way to win these games. I think they
worked a little bit harder than we did. It's very important to find a way to
win the close games. In the playoffs, that's what it's going to be."
Hasek may have overlooked his opponent at the other end of the ice, as well as
the defensive scheme the Sharks employed to shut down one of the better
offenses in the league.
"You look up and see 40 shots against, but I
don't really remember too many of them being grade-A chances," San Jose coach
Ron Wilson said. "The shots were from the outside, the defense did a great job
and our forwards competed like heck."
Notes:
The game
was the last at Corel Centre. The arena will be renamed Scotia Bank Centre on
Saturday.
Senators center Jason Spezza was out of the lineup, still
recovering from a chest injury which has sidelined him for 10 of the last 11
games.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
OTT |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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2nd period - 1, San
Jose, Marleau 18, 8:17. |
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3rd period - 2, San
Jose, Ekman 9 (J.Thornton, Cheechoo), 2:45. |
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1st period - Bochenski,
OTT (hooking), 6:29; bench, OTT, served by Fisher (too many men), 7:11; Smith,
SJS (goaltender interference), 11:41; McLaren, SJS (holding), 14:05; Gorges,
SJS (interference), 19:57. |
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2nd period - Alfredsson,
OTT (hooking), 5:19; Varada, OTT (hooking), 10:25; Schaefer, OTT
(high-sticking), 12:14; Gorges, SJS (high-sticking), 15:28. |
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3rd period - bench, SJS,
served by Stevenson (too many men), 11:40; Murray, SJS (delay of game), 14:51;
Smolinski, OTT (tripping), 19:27. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Nabokov |
40 |
40 |
OTT - Hasek |
36 |
34 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
13 |
14 |
9 |
36 |
OTT |
8 |
17 |
15 |
40 |
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Referees: Stephane Auger, Greg
Kimmerly. Linesmen: Michel Cormier, Derek Nansen. |
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