Khabibulin returns to his stingiest form

LIGHTNING 2, DUCKS 0: The goaltender has 24 saves to lead Tampa Bay in its playoff pursuit.

[AP photo] Nikolai Khabibulin makes a toe save on a shot on goal.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 26, 2003

TAMPA -- If Nikolai Khabibulin had his way, he never would be the center of attention.

Even after Tuesday night's 2-0 victory over the Mighty Ducks at the St. Pete Times Forum, the Lightning goalie talked more of his teammates than himself.

Asked if he felt he was working out of a maddening seasonlong slump, he framed his answer around the team's fight for its first playoff berth since 1996.

"I feel a little bit better," Khabibulin said. "But all I really care about right now, whatever the score is, is to try to get two points. We need some wins, and that's all I'm thinking about."

Tampa Bay, 4-1-0 in its past five, is seventh in the East, one point ahead of the Bruins, who hold the conference's final playoff spot, and five points ahead of the ninth-place Canadiens.

With 67 points, two fewer than last season's total, the Lightning is one point behind the first-place Capitals in the Southeast.

Despite Khabibulin's wishes, there was no diminishing his contribution. He got sharper as the game progressed and was better controlling rebounds, something he said he worked on the past few practices.

[Times photo: Dirk Shadd] Lightning left wing Vinny Prospal watches out for the puck in the first period.

"It all comes down to goaltending," coach John Tortorella said. "He's a key man. I think he's building himself back up, trying to get back to the level he's played at. When he gets there, he will be a very important part of it."

Khabibulin made 24 saves and is unbeaten in four starts (3-0-1) with a 1.22 goals-against average and .948 save percentage. That is light years away from his previous nine starts in which he went 0-6-3 with a frightening 3.82 goals-against average and .864 save percentage.

Khabibulin was right about one thing; he had lots of help getting his third shutout and 31st total.

Dave Andreychuk scored the winner 10:21 into the first period off a terrific setup by Vinny Lecavalier, whose pass was perfect despite being held by Anaheim defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski.

Right wing Nikita Alexeev deflated the Ducks with a goal with 47.9 seconds left in the second. Left wing Fredrik Modin had six of Tampa Bay's 26 shots. And the line of Andreychuk, center Tim Taylor and right wing Chris Dingman did excellent work holding Anaheim's No.1 line of center Adam Oates, Paul Kariya and Petr Sykora to six shots.

It was the kind of game the Lightning needed after Sunday's 4-1 loss to the Sabres in which Tampa Bay came out flat, fell behind 2-0 in the first and never recovered.

"It was a good answer," Tortorella said. "Our level of resiliency has been much stronger this year than last. I think that's due to a little bit of maturity, a little bit of confidence."

Much of that confidence is built off goaltending, and Khabibulin showed he was ready 1:06 into the game when he made a tough stick stop on Alexei Smirnov in front of the net.

He stopped Kariya's blast from the bottom of the faceoff circle with 1:56 left in the second to preserve a 1-0 lead and set up Alexeev's insurance goal.

"He was pretty good," Kariya said. "There were times when the pucks were bouncing, and we missed good opportunities because of it. But when he had to make a save, he was there."

"We in the locker room believe in him," said Andreychuk, whose 16th goal was his first in eight games and moved him into 12th all-time with 609. "He works hard in practice and is mentally strong. We're going to need both of our goalies, but tonight was a perfect example of how he kept them off the board."

For Khabibulin, it was a perfect example of how he feeds off teammates.

"I was seeing the puck pretty well," he said. "At the same time the guys were doing the little things in front of me, keeping the shots outside and keeping out the rebounds. I thought we had a very good defensive game as a team."

And Khabibulin had a very good game as a goalie.