SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks opened their
six-game homestand with a literal bang when Jody Shelley landed a
board-rattling, crowd-inciting hit on the enforcer's first shift
with his new club.
The Sharks might be tougher with their menacing new addition,
but Joe Pavelski and Jeremy Roenick haven't lost the skill that put
San Jose among the NHL's elite.
Pavelski tied it and Roenick scored the winner in a five-round
shootout, while Evgeni Nabokov stopped four of Chicago's five
attempts to seal the Sharks' 10th consecutive win over the
Blackhawks, 3-2 Saturday.
With Pavelski's gutsy third-round goal and Roenick's cool
winner, the Sharks got both a rare shootout victory and their third
straight home win, finally boosting their record at the Shark Tank
above .500 (12-11-1-3). San Jose is just 6-12 in shootouts since
the league instituted them two seasons ago, and incredibly hadn't
won a shootout at home since October 2005.
The extra point in the standings pleased Pavelski, but he felt
happier about the Sharks' resilience against an opponent they
couldn't quite shake.
"We might have started out a little excited at home, which we
can't do, because the better teams will put you away," Pavelski
said. "It's important to get it going at home, and hopefully we
can keep this up while we're staying around for a while."
Nabokov made 19 saves and stopped Cameron Barker to end the
Sharks' fourth victory in five games. Jonathan Cheechoo and
Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored regulation goals, while Craig Rivet and
Joe Thornton had two assists apiece for the Sharks, who haven't
lost to the Blackhawks since Oct. 7, 2005.
Shelley's big hit enlivened the game's first 17 seconds and led
to a fight between Doug Murray and Chicago's Adam Burish. Four days
after the Sharks acquired Shelley from Columbus for a draft pick in
2009, one of the NHL's top fighters made his mark with just nine
shifts.
"That was a fun start," Shelley said. "I was jacked up to be
out there with Joe and Jeremy right off the bat. We decided to plan
to get it deep, and all of a sudden we're in a skirmish. You don't
want to wade into anything. You want to get right into it."
Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith scored in regulation for Chicago,
which had several chances to win despite getting thoroughly outshot
in the second stop of a season-high seven-game road trip. While San
Jose tied a franchise record with six shots in overtime, Chicago
rookie Patrick Kane had the best scoring chance when he turned the
corner on Vlasic -- but Nabokov stopped him.
Nikolai Khabibulin's 37 saves were largely responsible for
earning the point for a shootout loss, but Kane saw bigger
achievements.
"It's not about that," said Kane, who scored the Blackhawks'
only shootout goal. "It's about how we played, and that's
obviously a positive look at things. It would have been nice to get
two in the shootout. We just had a couple of bad breaks on the
breakaways, and what can you do about that?"
The Blackhawks got a stellar performance from Khabibulin, who's
winless in 10 straight appearances since Dec. 26. Khabibulin has
been in a slump for more than a month, losing playing time to
backup Patrick Lalime, but coach Denis Savard has put Khabibulin in
his lineup in all three games since the All-Star break.
"His performance was incredible," Savard said. "I believe in
him, and he's a battler. You don't win a (Stanley) Cup (by) not
competing and not being as good as he is."
The Blackhawks went ahead with 70 seconds left in the first
period when Sharp tipped home Barker's shot for his 23rd goal. The
Sharks tied it during a two-man advantage early in the second, with
Cheechoo pounding home a pass from Thornton for his 11th goal in a
season that's been disappointing so far for the 2006 Richard Trophy
winner.
Vlasic put the Sharks ahead early in the third period with his
first goal of the season on another pass from Thornton. Though
Vlasic has developed steadily into one of the NHL's most promising
young defensemen, he hadn't found the net since last Feb. 28
against Nashville.
Keith tied it less than 2 minutes later with a long shot through
traffic -- but seconds before the goal, Chicago got away with an
offside puck when Keith bobbled a pass at the blue line. Replays
showed the puck barely sliding out of the San Jose zone.
Game notes
Chicago D Brent Sopel got a 10-minute misconduct penalty
moments after Cheechoo's goal for firing the puck up the ice in
frustration -- and nearly hitting a referee with the shot. ...
Chicago won three shootouts in seven days last month.