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Nabokov strong as Sharks win 10th straight

Mar 12, 2008 - 4:08 AM NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Milan Michalek scored the decisive goal and Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves as the San Jose Sharks continued their red-hot play with a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.

Joe Pavelski also tallied for San Jose, which extended its franchise-record winning streak to 10 games.

With the victory, the Sharks (41-21-8) - who own the longest winning streak in the league this season - moved one point ahead of the idle Dallas Stars (42-25-5) for first place in the Pacific Division.

Captain Jason Arnott scored the lone goal and Dan Ellis stopped 40 shots for Nashville (35-28-8), which remained two points behind idle Vancouver (35-24-10) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"It's been a critical stretch run for us for a long time," Ellis said. "It's especially critical because we have fallen a little behind, and we need to put a streak together so we aren't relying on others to lose in order for us to make the playoffs."

The Sharks dominated play, outshooting the Predators, 42-27.

"We put it to them pretty well, but their goalie had an outstanding night," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "When you outshoot a team in their building like that, it really says a lot about our team."

Pavelski opened the scoring late in the second period and Michalek provided an important insurance goal 37 seconds into the third. The Czech notched his 22nd of the season by gathering his own rebound and beating Ellis between the pads with a wrist shot for a 2-0 lead.

That turned out to be the difference as Arnott scored his 25th goal at 5:29 of the third. The All-Star's wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle during a power play beat Nabokov to the glove side.

That was all Nabokov would allow, as he made several stops late to preserve the one-goal lead, including a point-blank stop on Arnott in the final seconds.

"I tried to come out and challenge him to cut the angle, hoping that he was not going to pick the corner like he did on his goal," Nabokov said. "We have learned how to win these close games."

The Predators had a 6-on-4 late, as they pulled Ellis with two minutes to go while on the power play, but could not get the equalizer.

"We wanted to get control and we wanted to get good traffic," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We did that, but Nabokov made about five 10-bell saves there in the last two minutes."

San Jose jumped out on top in the second as Pavelski tallied on the man advantage with 4:28 left in the period.

His initial shot from the left side of the crease was stopped, and he was knocked down by Jerred Smithson. While laying on the ice, Pavelski managed to poke the puck across the goal line for his 16th of the season and a 1-0 edge.

The goal originally was waved off, but the play was reversed following a video review.

"I got a good whack at it right away, then their guy came in and pushed me," Pavelski said. "I had all of the confidence in the world because I knew right away it was in, and I didn't hear any whistle."