Khabibulin Knew What to Look For

Welcome to Nikolai Khabibulin’s nightmare.

The Phoenix goaltender hadn’t seen many shots from the Mighty Ducks Wednesday at the Pond--certainly not enough to maintain his rhythm--when he found himself watching winger Teemu Selanne dashing in on the right side late in the second period and winding up for a shot just above the right circle.

Khabibulin knew what was coming. He knew Selanne, had played with Selanne last season in Winnipeg before Selanne was traded to the Ducks. Selanne knew Khabibulin and his foibles too.

“They both have an edge. There are no secrets,” Selanne said in assessing whether the shooter or the goalie has an advantage when former teammates confront each other. “The guy who is doing his job better is going to win the battle.”

Selanne did his job better than Khabibulin in that instance, which is why the Ducks defeated the Coyotes, 4-2, to win the first playoff game in their brief history. And in winning the game, they may have won a psychological battle too.

Selanne’s shot, only the 15th the Ducks had taken, struck Khabibulin’s outstretched right leg and caromed into the net at 14:15 of the second period to give the Ducks a 3-1 lead. It was a blistering shot, but Khabibulin wasn’t screened and a save might have changed the flow of the game.

“I was trying to wait for him and see what he was going to do,” Khabibulin said. “I think I didn’t wait enough.”

Of course, every goal is magnified in the playoffs, but this one provided the Ducks an immeasurable lift because it came relatively easily and unexpectedly.

Before the game, Duck Coach Ron Wilson had predicted the Ducks would have to work hard for every goal against Khabibulin, a 24-year-old Russian who had started the Coyotes’ last 42 games and been the backbone of their second-half surge.

“Our success on him is we’ve scored in close. We haven’t scored from a distance,” Wilson said. “We have to get in tight and get some traffic. He’s very hot most of the time but once in a while he comes up cold. You just don’t know what’s going to happen.

“When we’ve had people moving we’ve scored on him. Like Guy [Hebert, the Ducks’ goalie], when he sees the shot, he’s going to stop it. You don’t beat him with clean shots. We’ve scored two-on-ones but everything else has been scrambly situations. We’ve got to find a way to get in front of the net.”

Selanne was around the net on the Ducks’ first goal, a quick wrist shot during a five-on-three advantage. But their second goal was another shot from long range, by Paul Kariya at 16:04 of the second period.

As Wilson noted, Khabibulin is hot most of the time, but the times he’s cold have kept him from becoming an elite NHL goalie. He was 30-33-6 this season with a 2.83 goals-against average and seven shutouts, including shutouts of Florida, Tampa Bay and Chicago in succession in early March. He was also pulled from games at Dallas and Vancouver in mid-March.

“I felt pretty good when I played a lot of games. I felt more confident,” he said. “I think now the playoffs is a whole new season. You just forget about what was done in the season or what you didn’t do well.”

He has the fundamental skills to be a fine goalie. “He’s so quick and can read the play so well. Many times you get a good pass and he can read it and follow it,” Selanne said. “He has fast hands and moves well. And he’s a hungry goalie.”

Until he can reach a level of consistent excellence, however, he won’t be happy. If there were a drill that could sharpen his consistency, as there are drills for goalies to improve their lateral movement or to better play their angles, he would gladly do them.

“Every goalie would like to have [consistency],” he said. “You have to work in your head. I just try to think about the game. The night before I go somewhere to put away extra pressure.”

Goaltenders are a notoriously odd bunch, prone to snarling at teammates on game days, kissing their goalposts and whacking their sticks on the legs of anyone venturing into the crease. But by all accounts, Khabibulin is a normal guy, lacking in quirks or superstitions.

Said Coyote right wing Mike Gartner: “Niky’s a guy who is extremely calm and collected. I’ve never seen a goalie bounce back like he has from bad games, and he hasn’t had that many. It’s a great mental approach for a goalie to have.”

Other than willingly stepping in front of pucks shot at 100 mph, Khabibulin seems to be an ordinary guy. But on Wednesday, the circumstances demanded that he be extraordinary. He wasn’t.

“It’s just the first game,” he said with a shrug. “It doesn’t mean anything. The winner is four games.”