|
|
|
|
|
Nabokov saves Sharks
By Jeremy Harness January 23, 2010 |
||
|
|
|||
|
SAN JOSE - Look away from the final score for a moment. The Sharks really had no business beating the Buffalo Sabres at the HP Pavilion Saturday night. Despite out-hitting Buffalo, the Sharks were nearly doubled up in the number of shots taken on goal, when oftentimes it’s the other way around. What got San Jose the 5-2 win before 17,562 was their scrappiness throughout the game and, despite a hiccup early in the third period, the brilliance of Evgeni Nabokov between the red pipes. The Sharks needed that toughness early in the second period, when they fended off a 5-on-3 Buffalo advantage, which was one of six penalties the team had to kill. Those penalties allowed the Sabres to pile up the shots in the hopes of wearing Nabokov down, but the goalie was solid throughout the game and, really, was the sole reason the Sharks even had a chance to win. He really had to work for this win, which sealed the fifth 30-win season of his career, which is the second-highest total for NHL active goalkeepers. “We talk about it all the time, (but) he gives us chance to win every night, and that’s exactly what he did (Saturday),” Manny Malhotra said of Nabokov. “I don’t know what the shots were in the first (period), but they definitely out-shot us pretty bad. “Had it not been for him, it could’ve been pretty lopsided.” Especially at the start, when it was all Buffalo, and the Sharks were struggling to keep up with the speeding Sabres. Left winger Tim Connolly put his team in the lead at the 7:19 of the first period by going top shelf on Nabokov, capping off a series of nice passing around the goal. “We weren’t the better team, and we were getting outworked,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “I don’t think we worked hard enough in the first period. Not one bit. We were beat to loose pucks, we were out-battled, out-faceoffed.” Besides Nabokov, defense was the Sharks’ saving grace down the stretch Saturday, and early in the second period, a defensive play woke up the uncharacteristically-anemic offense and allowed San Jose to tie the game. Malhotra stole the puck from Buffalo’s Steve Montador in the Sabres’ zone and then flipped a great pass for Joe Pavelski, who went top shelf on Ryan Miller at the 2:07 mark. “We weren’t really skating up until that point,” Pavelski said. “We get a quick goal, and we got going after that.” The Sharks, despite being doubled up in shots on goal, took the lead at the 14-minute mark when Joe Thornton fed Dany Heatley in front of the net for his 30th goal of the year. However, the Sharks gave it right back in the first minute of the third period when Nabokov let a lazy shot by winger Jason Pominville from the side of the net go right between his legs, allowing the Sabres to tie the game. The Sharks grabbed the lead for good at 6:31 when Pavelski nabbed his second goal, fighting off two Buffalo defenders, including Miller, to poke a loose puck into the net. Jed Ortmeyer provided all the insurance the Sharks needed later in the period, scoring two straight goals, including an empty-netter in the game’s final minute. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||