Nabokov shines as Sharks blank Ducks

The San Jose Sharks have had trouble scoring goals lately, but with goaltender Evgeni Nabokov back in the lineup that might not be a problem.  San Jose only managed one goal against Anaheim Ducks netminder Jonas Hiller, but that was enough as Nabokov stopped all 34 shots he faced for his sixth shutout of the season and a 1-0 Sharks victory.  In his two games back from a seven game absence due to injury Nabokov has only allowed one goal.  More importantly, the Sharks have been able to keep pace with the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference despite their offensive woes and remain a single point behind the leaders.

Former Duck Travis Moen was the subject of a video highlight package in his return to Anaheim, and he added another clip to the reel by scoring the only goal of the game with just over a minute to play in the second period.  Jamie McGinn got the assist on the marker, which was Moen’s second since being acquired by the Sharks on March 4^th.  According to Moen, the night couldn’t have gone better:

"It's nice to win, coming back that was the main goal, get two points and have fun.  Looking back there were a lot of fun times.”

Nabokov was nonplussed about playing in the second of back-to-back games right off of his injury rehab:

"You are never fresh, you're always tired, but it's not different than any other game. It's the end of the season, not the beginning. Everyone else is tired. The effort was there tonight. It's always good when the effort is there. We killed penalties pretty well. It wasn't an easy game but it was a road win."

In the Ducks’ locker room, Teemu Selanne gave a positive take on the loss:

"I think we did everything right except we couldn't score any goals. Those guys have one of the best records in the league and we had no problem playing against them, so that is a good sign. We just have to stay confident. Wednesday against Nashville is another chance. We just have to keep pushing like this and we're going to score a couple of goals."

Goaltender Hiller, meanwhile, sounded somewhat deflated that he took a loss despite playing so well:

"Right now, every loss is bad for us. We didn't deserve to lose today. I thought we played pretty well. But if you don't score, it's tough to win. They had some chances, but I think defensively we played pretty solid and we had some chances in their end."

The Ducks are scrapping to make the playoffs—they’re currently in 12^th place in the tightly packed Western Conference postseason race but trail 8^th place Edmonton for the final spot by only three points.  They’ll host Nashville on Wednesday night and then have an excellent opportunity to gain some ground against lowly Phoenix in a ‘home and home’ series.  They’ll travel to Arizona to play the Coyotes on Thursday with the return engagement at the Honda Center on Sunday.  San Jose also gets a crack at the Coyotes, traveling to Phoenix for a game on Tuesday night.  They’ll return home for the next two against Nashville on Thursday and Dallas on Saturday.