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Nabokov posts second shutout in four days as Sharks blank Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Evgeni Nabokov didn't need to work too hard for his 37th career shutout Thursday night.

Nabokov made 15 saves to record his second shutout in four days against Phoenix to lead the San Jose Sharks past the Coyotes 6-0.

"He didn't have to make many saves tonight but the ones he made, he got good clean looks at the shot," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "The guys did a good job up front."

Joe Pavelski scored a pair of power-play goals, Patrick Rissmiller had a goal and an assist and Jeremy Roenick, Devin Setoguchi and Steve Bernier also scored for the Sharks who have won four straight.

"We've won four straight but we've played really well nine straight games now," Wilson said. "It's the details and sometimes you need to be a little lucky."

Phoenix lost its third in a row, all against San Jose, and has been outscored 15-1 over that span. The Coyotes also fell to a Western Conference-worst 2-7-0 at home.

"We need our offensive guys to make plays and that's not happening right now and hasn't happened for more than 2 1/2 games," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "To be successful you've got to be somewhat creative and we haven't done that whatsoever in two games."

After the game, the Coyotes held a five-minute players' only meeting.

"The last three games have been unacceptable," Coyotes captain Shane Doan said. "I just kind of discussed how we need 20 guys. We need every single guy. That's the way the team is built. If we don't have that, starting with myself, it's not going to work."

Nabokov's shutout was his third this season and the 37th of his career.

"You've got to play pretty strong hockey to compete against a team of that level and we didn't play that way today," Gretzky said. "We didn't get a big save when we needed it, we didn't kill a penalty when we needed to and we didn't score on the power play when we needed to."

Roenick gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead 4:21 into the game when he gathered the puck near center ice, skated to the middle of the left faceoff circle and fired a wrist shot off the crossbar.

Rissmiller made it 2-0 at 11:23 of the period when he took a pass from Patrick Marleau from the left side and beat Alex Auld with a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.

Pavelski extended the Sharks' lead to 3-0 with a power-play goal at 8:23 of the second, forcing a wraparound shot past Auld's extended right skate.

Pavelski's goal ended the night for Auld, who allowed the three goals on 18 shots before he was replaced by Mikael Tellqvist.

"Anytime you can get all four lines rolling you're going to win a lot of hockey games that way," Pavelski said.

Pavelski added his second goal with 17:48 remaining and Setoguchi made it 5-0 just 68 seconds later off a crisp cross-crease pass from Joe Thornton.

"Seto's a natural goal scorer and Joe's the best passer in the league," Wilson said. "Seto knows where to go to score and Joe knows how to find him."

Bernier capped the scoring with 6:01 left.

Notes: Marleau's first assist was his 500th career point. He added another assist on Pavelski's second goal and a third on Bernier's score. ... Roenick's 501st goal moved him within one of Joe Mullen for second place on the American-born goal-scoring list. ... With defenseman Nick Boynton suspended, the Coyotes recalled Brendan Bell from San Antonio of the American Hockey League for the first time this season. To make room for Bell, Phoenix pushed LW Josh Gratton through waivers and assigned him to San Antonio. Bell had led San Antonio defenseman with four goals and was second with 12 points. ... Auld has allowed seven goals on 46 shots in his past two starts, both against San Jose.

Updated November 16, 2007

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