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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- The San Jose Sharks made sure their
losing ways would not become a pattern.
Evgeni Nabokov stopped 24 shots for his second NHL shutout as
the Sharks beat the New York Islanders 4-0 Saturday night.
|  | | San Jose's Alexander Korolyuk loses his footing in the neutral zone, but managed to get a shot off later in the play. |
Todd Harvey, Marco Sturm, Bryan Marchment and Vincent Damphousse
scored for San Jose, which won for the eighth time in 11 games
(8-1-2). The Sharks were 7-0-2 until a 5-2 loss at Columbus on
Thursday.
"They didn't have many good chances tonight," Nabokov said of
the Islanders. "We tried to show some character after that loss to
Columbus. Everybody played well defensively."
Nabokov's only other shutout came in Denver last season as the
Sharks and Avalanche played a scoreless tie on Jan. 19.
The Sharks have not been beaten in five road meetings with the
Islanders (4-0-1) after losing their first five games at Nassau
Coliseum.
The Islanders last beat the Sharks at home on Feb. 17, 1996. New
York, blanked in its last two games, killed off a one-minute
two-man disadvantage in the first period, and that seemed to give
them a boost.
It was short-lived when Harvey scored the only goal San Jose
would need at 13:46 when his backhand from the right circle hit
defenseman Zdeno Chara's skate and got by goalie John
Vanbiesbrouck.
"We had the momentum, and then they get a fluke like that,"
forward Brad Isbister said. "It was a lucky bounce for them."
The Sharks made it 2-0 at 45 seconds of the second period when
Sturm raced in, swooped around defenseman Kenny Jonsson and beat
Vanbiesbrouck with a wrist shot between the pads.
The game was edgy from the start, and erupted at 3:11 when San
Jose forward Scott Thornton cross-checked and then sucker-punched
Islanders defenseman Kevin Haller. Thornton was assessed a
triple-minor but New York only managed two shots.
Defenseman Roman Hamrlik ended the power play early with a
slashing penalty and Marchment scored his first goal since March 9,
1999 on the subsequent 4-on-4 at 8:49.
Islanders coach Butch Goring said that he wasn't surprised
nobody went after Thornton at first -- although Chara did wrestle
with him later on.
"These things are going to happen spontaneously," Goring said.
"There are a lot of guys on this team who are not fighters. We
miss (defenseman Eric) Cairns and Webbie (forward Steve Webb)."
Damphousse added a power-play goal with 2:19 left.
Nabokov gave compliments the defensive efforts of his skaters,
especially killing off seven Islanders power plays.
"Penalty killing seems like it's so easy, but it's a lot of
hard work," Nabokov said. "But all our defensemen and forwards
did a great job tonight."
After a 10-minute players-only meeting, Jonsson -- the team
captain -- said that things are not so bad for the Islanders, who
have been blanked for 139:35 and fell to 6-6-2-1.
"We have to stick together," he said. "We have a good bunch
of guys here, and we're still at .500."
Game notes
Islanders D Garry Galley played his 1,108th NHL game,
moving him into a 75th-place tie on the NHL list with Goring. ...
Webb was lost to a concussion during the first period and Haller
skated one shift early in the third before also leaving with a
concussion. They will be re-evaluated Sunday. ... It was the first
time in 14 games this season that San Jose was involved in a
shutout. The Islanders have been in four, dropping three.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
San Jose Clubhouse
NY Islanders Clubhouse
RECAPS
Philadelphia 4
Ottawa 3
Nashville 2
Boston 2
Dallas 2
Montreal 0
San Jose 4
NY Islanders 0
Chicago 3
Toronto 3
Columbus 2
Phoenix 1
Buffalo 4
New Jersey 0
Pittsburgh 5
Edmonton 2
Calgary 4
Tampa Bay 3
Colorado 3
Anaheim 1
St. Louis 5
Vancouver 2
Detroit 2
Los Angeles 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Evgeni Nabokov preserves his shutout denying a Roman Hamrlik shot.
avi: 454 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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