Minnesota Wild 0, San Jose Sharks 4 FINAL

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) _ With another fine performance from their top goalie to their bottom line, even the San Jose Sharks felt they've got little room for improvement.

Alyn McCauley scored two goals and Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves in his fifth shutout of the season, leading the Sharks to a 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.

Checkers Wayne Primeau and Niko Dimitrakos scored first-period goals for the Sharks, who maintained their seven-point Pacific Division lead over Dallas.

Todd Harvey _ the third member of the Sharks' checking line _ and Tom Preissing had two assists apiece for the Sharks, who rebounded from a rare home loss to Phoenix by earning at least a point for the 18th time in 22 games overall.

As usual, the Sharks got off to a fast start _ but they kept it up throughout the game, leaving coach Ron Wilson with little to criticize after another home victory.

``I was sitting on the bench, and I couldn't believe how textbook it was,'' said Primeau, who centers the checking line. ``It just makes for an enjoyable evening.''

The Sharks are 3-0 against the Wild this season, confounding Minnesota's trap defense with a speedy, aggressive attack. San Jose has lost just two of its last 19 home games.

``We seemed to be hitting on all cylinders,'' Wilson said. ``If we did make a mistake, Nabby was huge. We dominated in just about every category.''

With sharp saves on his few tests, Nabokov earned the 22nd shutout of his career. The Sharks spent most of the night in Minnesota's zone, peppering Manny Fernandez with 37 shots as the Wild's franchise-record road winless streak stretched to 10 games.

Minnesota hasn't won on the road since Dec. 17 in Colorado. One night after giving up five third-period goals in a 6-2 loss at Anaheim, the Wild still seemed to be reeling.

``Obviously there's a carry-over, especially when there's back-to-back games and not that much time to regroup,'' left wing Andrew Brunette said. ``Last night, we weren't sharp. The first 10 minutes tonight, we weren't sharp, and that's going to kill you.''

Dimitrakos scored 3{ minutes after the opening faceoff, throwing an exceptional deke at Alexandre Daigle before drawing Fernandez to the ice for an easy score. Dimitrakos, a rookie forward, has three goals in his last eight games after scoring three in his first 29.

Primeau scored later in the period, expertly tipping Christian Ehrhoff's long shot out of the air for his fifth goal of the season _ and second in two games following a 28-game goal drought.

San Jose's checking line has five goals in the last four games.

McCauley turned it into a blowout with a rebound goal midway through the second period. McCauley matched his career high of 25 points, then surpassed it with a power-play goal in the third.

``We kept coming, and we did a better job of playing for 60 minutes tonight,'' McCauley said. ``We seemed to remedy a few things and get some chances that we didn't get recently.''

McCauley's goal also snapped the Sharks' 0-for-25 power-play drought.