Sports | Lightning

Back to The Wall

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published December 2, 2005

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[Getty Images]

Nikolai Khabibulin began the season slowly but is 5-4 in his past nine games with a .918 save percentage and 2.22 goals-against average.

The snap shot in front of the net was fast, but Nikolai Khabibulin's left leg was faster. The goaltender was just as quick to his knees on another save. And when the puck squirted sharply out of a scramble of players, Khabibulin's glove was on the spot.

The action-packed sequence during a recent Blackhawks practice caused Khabibulin's teammates to whoop and holler. Some on the bench leaned over and banged their sticks against the boards.

At the time, Khabibulin was still trying to put behind him a 3-9 start with his nowhere-to-go-but-up .843 save percentage. You would think the positive reinforcement would be welcome.

But later, munching on a sandwich in the locker room of The Edge ice center, Khabibulin was, well, Khabibulin.

"I'm always confident," he said with his characteristic shrug.

"Sometimes the confidence goes up and down a little bit on a short-term basis or game to game. But I know what I can do."

That Khabibulin struggled, that he admitted the pressure to impress his new team and its fans eroded his game, that he has played so much better the past month doesn't matter tonight.

What matters is Khabibulin, for the first time, faces his former teammates when Chicago plays the Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum.

And he finally gets to pick up his Stanley Cup ring.

Not even Khabibulin, whose last game in Tampa was Game 7 of the 2003-04 Cup final, can guess if the atmosphere will be poison or perfume.

Will fans cheer the player who finished a close second to Brad Richards in the voting for playoff MVP? Or will they boo the player who resurrected his career with the Lightning, then followed the money to sign a free-agent contract that made him the NHL's highest-paid goalie?

"I honestly don't know what to expect," Khabibulin said. "That is something I really cannot control.

"So whether I care or not doesn't really matter."

Mistaken identity

Khabibulin, 32, is looking a lot more like the goalie who dazzled during Tampa Bay's run for the Cup than the one who appeared dazed and confused at this season's start.

He is 5-4 in his past nine games with a .918 save percentage and 2.22 goals-against average.

It hasn't made much of a dent in his overall .877 save percentage, which entering Thursday was tied for 38th among 42 goalies with at least nine games. Or his 3.26 goals-against average, which was 31st.

But compared to what came before, especially the embarrassment of a Nov.4 game against the Dallas Stars in which he was pulled after allowing four goals on 18 shots, Khabibulin is golden.

The problem, he said, was pressure, not from reporters or fans, but internal. So focused was the Russian native on justifying his four-year, $27-million deal that this season pays $6.75-million, he began thinking instead of reacting. That made his glove hand a split-second slower, the gap between his leg pads a fraction wider.

It didn't help that Chicago's retooled lineup needed time to jell. Neither did the early season injuries, some youth on defense or being by far the league's most-penalized team.

Still, the fact remained: One of the world's best goalies was playing as if he was one step from the United League.

National writers called Khabibulin the season's worst free-agent signing. A Chicago Sun-Times column was brutally headlined, "Hawks Best Buy Smells Awful."

"When you try to do too much, you overplay things, you overreact," Khabibulin said. "Instead of letting the puck touch you, you try to do something that's not even there. Then pucks start to get through little holes that aren't supposed to be there."

The low point was against Dallas as he lasted just 15 minutes in his fifth straight loss. But Khabibulin also called it a turning point.

"After that game I kind of told myself to stop worrying about it because nothing worse can happen than just happened," he said. "Life goes on. I just said, "(Forget it), just go out and play."'

His current streak began two days later with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Coyotes.

"What was holding Nik down was himself," Blackhawks coach Trent Yawney said. "Now he's much more composed. He's still the same Nik. His work ethic and everything is there. He's just much looser."

Khabibulin said moving last month into a downtown condo after living since training camp in a hotel has helped, along with figuring out the ebb and flow of a huge city.

He said he can't determine when there isn't a rush hour, but he has gotten used to the gray skies.

"What was nice in Tampa was that if you hit a losing streak, the next day you get up and the sun shines," Khabibulin said. "It made you feel a little bit better. When it's gray, it's a little harder."

Ultimately, though, Khabibulin's resurgence is more about action than atmosphere.

"He's looked internally and simplified things," said former Lightning defenseman Jassen Cullimore, who also signed with Chicago. "He worked on fundamentals. That's what you do when things aren't going your way. You go back to the basics."

That is why Khabibulin's performance that day at practice was so telling.

"Since he's found his rhythm, he's been unbelievable and it's carried over into games," backup goalie Craig Anderson said. "I pick up on that. I say, "All right, he's working hard in practice and playing well in games.' I want to follow suit."

Money in the bank

There is a reason Khabibulin did not re-sign with the Lightning. Tampa Bay, struggling with a $39-million salary cap, couldn't come up with enough money.

Sure, Chicago, so bad for so long, was kind of attractive as it attempted to build with 12 free-agent acquisitions, including Cullimore, defensemen Adrian Aucoin and Jaroslav Spacek and forward Martin Lapointe.

And agent Jay Grossman pointed out Khabibulin "wasn't afraid of another challenge."

But the bottom line always was in sight.

"Nik missed two years of his career," Grossman said of the holdout that in March 2001 pushed the Coyotes to trade Khabibulin's rights to Tampa Bay. "At times he's made a stand for what he believes his value was, and that's been important to him.

"It hasn't always been easy, but his goal has always been to be the top goaltender in the league and be compensated appropriately."

Lightning coach John Tortorella sees it differently.

"We want guys who want to play here," he said. "Nik didn't want to play here."

Khabibulin said he always will appreciate the chance the Lightning gave him to rebuild his career. He called his Cup title "the best thing I've done so far." And this is someone with Olympic gold.

"I'm just looking forward to seeing all the guys and talking to them," he said.

As for Tampa Bay, Grossman said, "I'm sure there will be some guys gunning for him."

If there are, it hasn't been apparent.

Lightning center Vinny Lecavalier said there are no hard feelings when the "business of hockey" is involved. Goalie John Grahame said playing against former teammates is no big deal. And general manager Jay Feaster agreed it is business as usual.

"There's no question that we will always have a soft spot in our hearts for Nik Khabibulin," he said. "When we said before Game 7 that if we win today we walk together forever, we meant that.

"At the same time, we desperately need two points, and whether it's Nik in goal or somebody else, that's our approach. We need a win."

In other words, there will not be a video tribute.

Khabibulin won't take it personally.

"I don't think twice about what happens," he said. "Once I've made a decision, I have no regrets."

[Last modified December 2, 2005, 01:14:18]

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