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Worldly

Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin earns spot on the World All-Stars.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 17, 2002

[Times photo: Dirk Shadd] Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin is "pretty happy" to be named an All-Star for the third time.

Ask Nikolai Khabibulin about how well he is playing and the usual response is a shrug and something about how he was sure he would return to elite form.

But ask the Lightning goaltender about being named to the World All-Star team, a distinction that became official Wednesday, and his guard comes down. There is no shrug, at least not one that could be seen over the telephone, and there even is a small laugh when he begins to speak.

"Well, I was pretty happy," he said. "I haven't played in a couple of years and to make it to the All-Star Game is a pretty good accomplishment. There are so many players in the National Hockey League and only a few get selected, and I think it just feels a little better."

It will be Khabibulin's third All-Star Game. He is the Lightning's seventh All-Star and its first goaltender.

"It will be wonderful," general manager Rick Dudley said of seeing Khabibulin in the Feb. 2 game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. "He's a class act."

It is difficult to imagine things could have gone better for the 29-year-old Russian, whose nearly two-season holdout prompted the Coyotes, for whom he played the first five seasons, to trade him to Tampa Bay in March.

Going into Wednesday night's games, his .934 save percentage was tops among goaltenders playing at least 20 games. His 2.08 goals-against average and six shutouts were second.

Khabibulin's numbers are better than the .911 save percentage, 2.21 goals-against average and three shutouts posted by Detroit's Dominik Hasek, voted by the fans as the World team's starter.

His three-plus season, $14.75-million contract, the richest in Tampa Bay history, seems like a bargain.

"It doesn't surprise me he came back to an elite form," said Dudley, who stole Khabibulin and defenseman Stan Neckar from Phoenix for defenseman Paul Mara, right wing Mike Johnson, prospect Ruslan Zainullin and a draft choice.

"He's a very focused athlete and a very talented athlete. He's intelligent, in position and, technically, almost flawless. He's always in position."

Khabibulin, named an All-Star by the NHL's hockey operations department after finishing seventh in fan voting, said his success is a team effort.

"Every goalie plays as good as his team plays in front of him," he said. "The guys are playing very well in front of me and that has made my job a lot easier."

Khabibulin's job will be quite difficult at the defensively challenged All-Star Game. Last season's 14-12 North American victory humbled goaltenders from Roman Cechmanek to Patrick Roy.

Khabibulin, who has stopped 25 of 28 shots in two All-Star Games, said he is not worried.

"It's not a game where if you don't stop a certain shot you're going to look bad," he said. "I think for people just to come and see better players and see what they can do is more important than what the score is and who stops what and who scores. I think they would rather see a 15-14 game than a 2-1 game.

"It's one of those games you really don't have to show the results. You just try to do your best."

As for the rest of the season, Khabibulin said, "The sky's the limit."

LINE A HIT: The Lightning is searching for a second scoring line to complement that of Fredrik Modin, Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis.

If it continues to produce as it did against the Devils, the trio of Zdeno Ciger, Vincent Lecavalier and Juha Ylonen could be that No. 2 coach John Tortorella has been looking for.

With Ciger's first career hat trick and an assist, Lecavalier's four points (one goal, three assists) and Ylonen's two assists, the line was plus-7 with 10 points.

"That was a good line," Tortorella said. "It's funny how it goes. That line gets going, we're looking at two lines to get going, and Richards' line really struggles. I don't think that will happen too often."

WINNERS, AT LAST: Though the teams play again Monday at the Ice Palace, the Lightning has won its season series against the Devils for the first time in club history.

Tampa Bay is 2-0-1 against New Jersey, which holds a 29-7-5-1 advantage in the all-time series, and has held the Devils to an average of 1.67 goals this season.

"I think we've played well in spots against them and I think they've played very well against us, too," Tortorella said. "Our goaltending has been very important when we've played against them."

-- Staff writer Kevin Kelly contributed to this report.

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