Lightning

Khabibulin stands test of overtime

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© St. Petersburg Times
published April 21, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Even when it was over, even when history had been made and a little franchise had done something big, he stood guard.

Nikolai Khabibulin stood in front of the net, still fighting, still focused. The sweat poured out of his body, and his pads were wet and clinging and weighed about a thousand pounds. He looked like a boxer, his knees bent, his jaw set, those burning eyes of his staring from beneath the mask.

[Times photo: Dirk Shadd] Lightning goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin moves to make a save on Capitals center Jaromir Jagr during the second overtime.

It was done. The Lightning finally had won a playoff series, finally had closed the door on someone else's season, but Khabibulin did not know it yet. He had been shielded, and he hadn't seen Martin St. Louis' shot slip past Olaf Kolzig, and he did not yet know it was okay to relax, okay to celebrate.

And so, for a couple of seconds, maybe three, he stood there.

Want to know the darndest thing? Even though it no longer counted, you still couldn't see the goal behind him.

Do you want to know why the Lightning celebrated Sunday? Do you want to know why it reached the second round of the playoffs for the first time in its history? Do you want to know why people in Tampa Bay were talking about Devils on Easter?

Because Khabibulin was bulletproof.

Because he played 104 minutes.

Because he stopped 60 of 61 shots.

Khabibulin was blinding, brilliant, breathtaking and, because of it, the Lighting finally beat the Caps 2-1 in triple overtime. Yeah, yeah. Washington has a history of gagging in the playoffs, but if the Caps choked this time, let it be noted it was because Khabibulin had his hands around their throats.

This was the knock on him, remember? Great goaltender, his critics would say, when it doesn't count. But where is he in the playoffs, huh? Where is he when it matters? What has he ever won?

Well, this, for a start.

Who would have believed it? The goaltender who couldn't win the big game and the team that couldn't find one combined for a little bit of label changing. So what is a team supposed to do now? Cut down the net?

As for Khabibulin, he let a small smile creep across his hawklike face, but only a small one. He can be as difficult to read as to slip a puck past, but this one obviously had special meaning.

"I think it's hard to play better," Khabibulin said softly. "This is one of the best games I have played."

Jeff Reese, the Lightning's goaltending coach, went one better than that. "It's the best game I've ever seen any goaltender play," Reese said.

As staggering as 60 saves sounds, it was more impressive than that. These weren't just lazy ground balls to short. There were times the teams appeared to be playing half-court, and the Caps had some of the finest scorers in the world, fueled by desperation, shooting from point-blank range. And Khabibulin might as well have been plucking apples from a tree.

"They had 20, 25 quality, quality scoring chances," said defenseman Brad Lukowich. "There were five or six that I couldn't believe he stopped. Nik was amazing. I'd go sit down after a shift, and the guy next to me would say 'He's incredible.' Then someone in front of me would say, 'Did you see the last one?' And someone else would say, "He's unbelievable."'

It's that way when a goaltender is on his game, when he always seems a half-beat ahead of the play, when the puck seems as large as a Frisbee, when balance and control and focus are all on his side.

"He was our best player," St. Louis said. "He was our MVP. Without him, we aren't talking."

To be fair, Kolzig was pretty darned good himself. It was a heavyweight fight there for a while, real Ali and Frazier stuff. But Khabibulin was stronger, sharper, better. Remember Brooks Robinson? Well, if Robinson had married an octopus, then Khabibulin would have been their son.

"He's been playing well," Tim Taylor said, "but tonight, he stole the game for us."

This was the game the Lightning waited for from Khabibulin the entire series. It expects so much from him. For a team with shortcomings, the goaltender can be the great equalizer. When he plays poorly, the net looks 10 feet tall. When he plays well, it shrinks to the size of a postage stamp.

So it was against the Caps. The longer the game went, Khabibulin said, the more relaxed he felt. His teammates, too.

This is the feeling Khabibulin gives the Lightning when he plays like this. An opponent's goal is out of the question. Ask Dan Boyle, who says he never envisioned Khabibulin giving up the winning goal in overtime.

"I had the feeling he wasn't going to let anything in," Boyle said. "My heart never skipped a beat."

How long? How many overtimes would the teams have had to play before the Caps could have gotten a shot past Khabibulin? How many shots would it have taken? And would someone simply have had to drill the puck straight through his chest cavity to get it done?

Forget the old, ugly reputations. Forget Khabibulin's, and forget the Lightning's. They have discovered success, validation and hope in each other.

Put it this way. Khabibulin is the reason Tampa Bay won this game.

If it is going to beat the Devils, he'll be the reason for that, too.