CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Their bandwagon may be a little lighter, but the San Jose Sharks are alive again in the Western Conference finals.
Evgeni Nabokov made 34 saves for his third playoff shutout and Alex Korolyuk collected two goals and an assist as the Sharks blanked the Calgary Flames , 3-0, in Game Three of the best-of-seven series.
San Jose never led in dropping the first two games at home. But the Sharks never trailed as the series shifted to the "sea of red" the Pengrowth Saddledome has become during the Flames' unlikely playoff run.
"We didn't have anything to prove at this point," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "Obviously, the pressure's kind of off us in the sense of who's going to win the series. Everybody's kind of shoveled dirt on us. At that point, there's nothing to lose, just go play."
Nabokov had a lot to do with the outcome, turning aside 10 shots in each of the first two periods and 14 in the third.
"You try to go out every night and you try to give your team a chance to win," Nabokov said. "I think that's a goalie's job. What else can the goalie do?"
Just over 7 1/2 minutes into the second, Korolyuk carried into the Calgary zone and pulled up at the top of the right faceoff circle. He passed to Vincent Damphousse , who trailed the play, veered to the edge of the right circle and backhanded a shot past screened goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff .
"I didn't see the opening, there was a lot of bodies," Damphousse said. "I was trying to go far side because I was going across and I was hoping (Kiprusoff) was following me when he went into his butterfly."
It was Damphousse's sixth playoff goal, all in the last nine games.
"He's a calming influence," Wilson said. "He's saying the right things on the bench. He's echoing what the coaches are saying. That's always nice."
Nabokov nursed the lead deep into the third period, when Korolyuk got a pass from Wayne Primeau at his own blue line and broke in alone on Kiprusoff. He shifted to his backhand and shoveled a shot just out of reach of the goalie's glove to give San Jose some breathing room with 1:50 left.
Calgary coach Darryl Sutter pulled Kiprusoff for an extra attacker, but the move backfired when Korolyuk completed his second multi-goal game of this year's playoffs with 44 seconds remaining.
The Flames, who fell to 3-4 at home in the postseason, host Game Four on Sunday afternoon.
"There were some scoring chances, but personally and as a group, we've got to find ways to make it harder on Nabokov than we did tonight," Calgary captain Jarome Iginla said. "First two games, we were more in his face, more driving the net harder."
Craig Conroy had the Flames' best chances in the second period, testing Nabokov with a rebound during a power play with five minutes left and again three minutes later with a shot from the right side.
Early in the third period, Calgary's Chris Clark took out two defenders, freeing Conroy to cut across the slot. But Nabokov got the tip of his right pad on the shot. He also got his paddle on a rebound by Martin Gelinas with 5 1/2 minutes remaining and turned aside a blast by Iginla with 2:45 left.
"We knew we needed some solid goaltending," Wilson said. "You got to give our defense credit, too. They weren't getting any rebounds. That's kind of a typical road game for us - bend but don't break, pressure when you can."
"I had a great chance in the third to tie it up," Conroy said. "I felt like I fanned on the shot a little bit, I wanted to go higher blocker side. ... I'm disappointed. That could have made it 1-1 and who knows."