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Roenick inches towards No. 500 as Sharks blank Predators

Oct 21, 2007 - 6:21 AM By Michael Duca PA Sportsticker Contributing Writer

SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Jeremy Roenick continues his march toward the 500-goal plateau.

Roenick scored his 498th career goal and Evgeni Nabokov made 22 saves en route to his 35th career shutout as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Nashville Predators, 3-0, on Saturday night.

Patrick Marleau and Milan Michalek also tallied for the Sharks, who have knocked the Predators out of the playoffs each of the past two seasons.

San Jose broke into the scoring column at 4:52 of the second period, when Roenick's shot beat goaltender Chris Mason low to the stick side. On an extended 5-on-3 advantage, Joe Thornton snapped a pass from the left faceoff circle to Craig Rivet in the high slot, and the defenseman found Roenick open at the right point.

The assist by Rivet was his team-leading sixth of the season.

Roenick's 498th career tally ties him with Glenn Anderson for 40th place on the all-time list. He is two goals away from becoming the third American-born player to reach to 500-goal mark.

"I'll take the win," Roenick said. "The win is more important. We've been struggling, it was big to get a win in this building."

The Sharks doubled to their advantage with 6:21 remaining in the contest, when they caught the Predators on a line change.

Rookie Torrey Mitchell made a nice pass to Marleau, who walked in on Mason and launched a wrist shot high to the netminder's stick side. The shot handcuffed Mason and glanced off his elbow and into the net, giving San Jose a 2-0 lead.

"It's pretty nice to see it trickle in up and over a goalie like that," Marleau said. "I'll take a break (like that)."

Wilson has been critical of his team's effort thus far this season.

"I'm happy with the result, and I'm happy with the way three-quarters of the guys played, but some players' efforts have to improve a lot," he said, referring to Michalek. "I'll be blunt. He stunk in the first period, but played well on the line with Joe (Thornton)."

Michalek added an empty-net tally with seven seconds left to provide the final margin, breaking in on a 2-on-none with Thornton.

Nabokov posted his first shutout since blanking the Edmonton Oilers on March 11.

Nashville, which has lost five straight contests, outshot San Jose, 22-20, but Nabokov was the difference, turning aside 10 shots in the first period, four in the second and eight in the third.

"It's definitely not a start to the season you want to have," Mason said. "But we really have to understand it's early right now and you don't want to fall too far behind."

The Sharks came out strong, spending much of the first five minutes in the Predators' zone after a pair of early penalties. Typical of this season's team, the Sharks' only shot in that stretch came during the 10 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage they held.

In the first period, Nashville put a lot of pressure on Nabokov, whose .888 save percentage entering Saturday's contest ranked 27th in the league.