Sharks' goalie stops Avalanche for the third straight game, 1-0

Evgeni Nabokov has San Jose one win from the conference finals.
DENVER (AP) -- Colorado's high-priced All-Stars haven't stood a chance against San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov.
Nabokov stifled the Avalanche for the third straight game Monday night, stopping 33 shots to lift the Sharks to a 1-0 victory and within a game of their first trip to the conference finals.
"When Nabby had to, he made the great saves," said Scott Hannan, who had an assist on San Jose's only goal. "That is what he's been doing all year."
Nabokov was solid during the regular season, finishing with 31 wins and a team-record nine shutouts. He's been even better in the playoffs, going 7-1 with two shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.30.
Against Colorado, which features high-scoring forwards Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk, he has allowed three goals in three games to put the Sharks in position for a possible sweep Wednesday night in Denver.
Not bad for someone who was 8-8 with a 2.59 GAA his first two trips to the playoffs.
Great saves
"Nabokov made some huge saves. He was spectacular," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "I could hear from our coaches' office between periods, somebody promised Nabby, 'Just keep playing like that, we're going to get you a goal and we'll get out of here.' "
Vincent Damphousse got it with 11:01 remaining, but not exactly the way the Sharks had it drawn up.
After being stuffed by goalie David Aebischer on his first attempt, Damphousse ended up with the puck behind the line next to the goal. Instead of sending the puck around the boards or back out front, he flipped a shot off Aebischer's back and inside the left post to score in his third straight game.
"It was kind of a broken up play," Damphousse said. "We know that Aebischer comes out to challenge the puck, so I shot and banked it off Aebischer's back, because I knew that he was out."
Damphousse's goal has the Avalanche on the verge of being swept for the first time since Hartford did it in a best-of-5 series in 1986, when the franchise was still in Quebec.
Offense struggles
Colorado was at least better defensively, holding San Jose to 17 shots, but continued to struggle finding the net against the stingy Sharks. The Avalanche have just three goals in the series after scoring 19 in five games against Dallas in the first round.
And the odds aren't in their favor. Only two times in NHL history have teams come back to win a series after trailing 3-0, and it hasn't happened since the New York Islanders did it against Pittsburgh in 1975.
"We have to play much better than we have and get a couple of breaks if we're going to turn this around," said Forsberg, who had a 13-game playoff points streak end. "It's not many teams that have done it, but we have a pretty good team here and we've just got to get it together."
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