Giguere Shuts Down San Jose

There was anger. Plenty of it. Embarrassment followed.

The number of days Mighty Duck goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere had to reflect on his costly third-period meltdown against the Edmonton Oilers stretched to 10 before the veteran had to chance to make amends.

Atonement followed.

In one of his best performances of the season and certainly his most important, Giguere stopped 34 shots for his second shutout of the season in leading the Ducks to a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night at HP Pavilion.

The victory was also important for the Ducks (25-18-10), who pulled to within four points of Colorado, which lost to Detroit to fall into eighth place in the Western Conference.

But the win was really about Giguere, who was making his first start after his debacle against the Oilers when he twice went after Ryan Smyth and lost his cool to put the Ducks at a disadvantage and help Edmonton break a third-period tie in a critical home game.

“I’m real happy with the way I came out tonight,” Giguere said. “I thought I owed one to my teammates with the way things went in my last game against Edmonton.”

Todd Fedoruk’s second-period goal stood up thanks to Giguere, and Teemu Selanne provided some insurance with a late empty-net goal.

Giguere stood strongest during the first half of the game when the Sharks had the majority of scoring chances while the Ducks made repeated trips to the penalty box. The Ducks managed to kill all eight of San Jose’s power plays.

“Any time your goaltender can throw up a game like that, it’s a shame if you don’t get points,” Carlyle said. “I didn’t think we were that good, but he was very good.

“He came back with fire in his eyes, and that’s what you expect out of an athlete.”

The decisive goal was set up with simple hard work in the offensive zone, something the Ducks did little of until that point.

Selanne and Andy McDonald managed to keep the puck deep enough to allow Jason Marshall to jump up in to the play. Marshall shot wide of the net, but Fedoruk pounced on the carom behind the net and threw the puck at goalie Evgeni Nabokov’s left leg, hoping it might go in.

It did.

The goal not only put the Ducks on the scoreboard but put a charge into their sluggish bodies. For the final 25 minutes, they continued to put pressure on Nabokov but the goaltender stood just as tall as his counterpart.

Center Samuel Pahlsson took the puck away from Patrick Marleau and set Keith Carney up for a breakaway but Nabokov was there to stop the defenseman. Giguere responded by turning away Joe Thornton as he led a two-on-one rush near the end of the second.

The goalies were just as strong in the third. Selanne, Marshall and Chris Kunitz all had clear shots at Nabokov during one flurry but couldn’t find the net. Giguere countered by making one of his biggest saves midway through on the Sharks’ Steve Bernier.