Nabby downplays win over Luongo

Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jan 11, 2008 | by David Pollak

SAN JOSE -- They stood about 180 feet apart, but symbolically they were toe-to-toe, mask-to-mask.

Beyond the usual two points, Thursday night's Sharks game was about the goalies, arguably the top two in the Western Conference through the first half of the NHL season.

Vancouver's Roberto Luongo at one end of the ice, the Sharks' Evgeni Nabokov at the other.

On this night, Nabokov and the Sharks came out ahead, using the patient style of hockey they play on the road to beat the Canucks 3- 1 on goals by Craig Rivet, Jeremy Roenick and Milan Michalek.

The victory completed a season sweep of Vancouver. It also was San Jose's second consecutive victory at HP Pavilion.

Goalies play down any suggestion that they are competing against one another -- "I just prepare to play the Vancouver Canucks, because I'm not playing Luongo or Marty Brodeur or whoever else," Nabokov said after winning his league-leading 24th game.

Luongo has the NHL's second-best goals-against average (1.96) and third-best save percentage (.930).

"Everyone knows he's one of the elite goaltenders in the league and you're not going to beat him if he sees the puck," said Rivet, who used a screen set by center Joe Thornton to give the Sharks a 1- 0 lead with about six minutes left in the first period.

Rivet's shot came on what was developing as a 4-on-1 rush deep in the Canucks zone. As players converged on the Canucks net, Rivet fired and beat Luongo between the pads.

The Sharks talked before the game about what it would take to beat Luongo. Besides creating traffic in front of him, the plan was to fire as many shots as possible, then hope for rebounds.

That's exactly how they built a 2-0 lead in the second period. With Canucks defenseman Lukas Krajicek in the penalty box for hooking, Rivet fired a shot into a crowd in front of Luongo. The puck bounced to Roenick, who zipped it past the Vancouver goalie before he could get back into position.

The Sharks increased the lead to 3-0 early in the third period on their second power-play tally.