"Nabokov with a circus save! It is one of the greatest saves you'll ever see!!"
Those were the words of San Jose Sharks play by play man Randy Hahn as he called a brilliant glove save by Nabokov a few seasons back in overtime of a game against the Nashville Predators.
The No. 1 net-minder for the Sharks has been the back bone of this team for the overwhelming majority of the past decade. While both Miikka Kiprusoff and Vesa Toskala took playing time away from Nabokov during a couple different seasons, Nabokov was thought highly enough to be retained as the starter.
And it is safe to say that, love him or hate him, Nabokov is the key to playoff success once again in 2010. As the entire hockey world knows, goaltender is the most important position in the sport, almost as important as quarterback is in the NFL. Having a goalie at the top of his game is extremely beneficial come playoffs because a team can ride a hot goaltender all the way to a Stanley Cup.
San Jose did nearly just that back in 2003-'04 when Nabokov had what is still to this day his career year in net. Nabokov finished the regular season with a .921 save percentage and n ...
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Article written by Andy Bensch
San Jose Sharks: Evgeni Nabokov Reminding Fans Of The 2003-’04 Run
January 4th, 2010 by Andy Bensch Leave a reply »
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