Sharks open at home vs. Chicago

Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif.

Evgeni Nabokov views his 45-save masterpiece in Chicago the same way he does the seven-goal outburst the Blackhawks had in San Jose during the regular season.

Both are irrelevant once the Western Conference finals between the Sharks and Blackhawks begin Sunday in San Jose.

“As a player you just throw the good away, you throw the bad away, and you just face the present,” Nabokov said. “It’s what’s happening now. That’s what we try to concentrate on as a team.”

The Sharks sure hope that’s the case considering they lost three of the four head-to-head matchups between the teams, including a 7-2 blowout on home ice on Nov. 25.

“Simply put, we didn’t play very well against Chicago and we’ll have to play a lot better to win,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We need quicker starts against Chicago. We always seem to be behind the eight ball. For us to get into a track meet with this team won’t be very productive for us throughout the series.”

While the Blackhawks will use some things they learned from those games in this series, they don’t expect the results will give them any sort of edge now.

“It’s a different time of year,” captain Jonathan Toews said. “Teams play different. Anything can happen in a seven-game series in the playoffs.”

Chicago scored first in three of the four meetings, including the big win in November.

“They’re a fast team,” Nabakov said. “They’re a good short-handed team. We experienced that ourselves.”

The one Sharks win came when Nabokov stole the game with his sterling 45-save performance just before Christmas.