Twenty-one years ago on a trip to Edmonton, a then-young Denver writer was having breakfast with Colorado Rockies coach Bert Marshall, the former Islanders defenseman, during a layover in the Calgary airport. (This was so long ago, NHL teams flew on regular commercial flights, and reporters took the same flights.) As Marshall read the sports page of one of the Calgary newspapers, a story belittling the Rockies angered their first-year coach. In a fiery filibuster, Marshall went on and on, saying the Calgary writer was -- among other things -- a jerk and a moron.

A few weeks later, the Rockies were back in Calgary, riding a bus from the airport to a downtown hotel. (This was so long ago, NHL beat writers routinely rode the team buses.) Marshall, who stepped down as head coach after only 24 games that season and became an assistant to Marshall Johnston, was reading a story by the same Calgary writer in the same sports section, and without turning around, he mused on the bus that he always had liked that guy. The Calgary writer was very astute, Marshall said, and he sure could turn a phrase.

The then-young Denver writer, sitting behind Marshall, mischievously challenged the Rockies' coach. Wait a minute! Hadn't Marshall just a couple of weeks earlier said what a jerk the Calgary writer was?

Marshall pivoted in his seat and nodded at the then-young writer.

"Kid," he said, "one thing I've learned: In this business, you've got to have a short memory."

Over two decades later, when Marshall is a Carolina Hurricanes scout and the writer no longer is young, the punch-line often is more pertinent than ever -- at least in the playoffs. The postseason is a body of work and scores don't carry over. Yes, there is an element of needing to learn about opponents and make adjustments as series continue, but the ability to forget in other ways is even more important.

You've got to have a short memory. Lose a game? Forget it, turn the page, look ahead, realize that grudges might be heated up over the course of two weeks of contempt-breeding familiarity, but also do more than just give lip service to the concept of one game at a time and the scoreboard starting from scratch each night.

In other words, the important issue isn't who says all that, um, cliché-ridden junk; it's who actually believes it.

That's especially true for goaltenders, the men involved in the craft that involves instinct, intuition, instant reaction and reflexes -- but also all that time to wait, reflect and perhaps even worry. It is a mind game, too, because doubt -- even a shred of it -- is a drain on the reflexes, as much of an enemy as a Brett Hull, Al MacInnis or Joe Sakic shot.

As the Colorado (that's the Avalanche, because the hockey Rockies are only a memory and a $240 jersey on eBay) vs. San Jose series is set for Game 3 tonight in the Shark Tank, with the series even after a split in Denver, the mind games are myriad.

One is a rather transparent attempt by Colorado coach Bob Hartley to transform the Avalanche's 8-2 rout of the Sharks in Game 2 in Denver on Saturday into a debilitating and lingering problem for San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Hartley coached in the American Hockey League against Nabokov and the Kentucky Thoroughblades when the young Kazak goalie was new to the North American pro game, and struggled in the transition; but also was on the Colorado bench when Nabokov's first NHL start two years ago was a spectacular, 65-minute shutout of the Avalanche in a scoreless tie.

Hartley has seen Nabokov at his North American nadir and at his best, and the Avalanche coach is trying to force Nabokov to flash back to those confusing days in Lexington, when he knew few words of English (or the Kentucky dialect), was seeing tons of shots a night, letting in too many goals, and wondering if he soon would be back in Kamenogorsk, his hometown.

On the theory that word gets around and tossing a thought out to the scribes can't hurt, Hartley lofted the preposterous thought after Game 2 that the Sharks might bench Nabokov for Game 3.

"You could tell right at the start that he didn't have his usual focus," Hartley said. "Any good goalie is allowed to have a bad game. Hey, Nabokov is a good young goalie, and the pressure of playoffs sometimes can play games in a kid's head ... It's going to be interesting to see how Nabokov will respond, but let's face it, they have an excellent backup in (Miikka) Kiprusoff, so I won't be surprised to see Kiprusoff."

Yeah, right.

Nabokov was terrible in Game 2, an Avalanche romp fueled by the return of Rob Blake to the lineup after he missed Game 1 with what the team said was "a leg injury." (Avalanche officials by now are so accustomed to media cynicism about their injury pronouncements, the team even cheerfully uses the phrase "with what the Avalanche says..." in its press-box injury updates.)

He stayed in through eight goals, or until Patrick Roy might have been tempted to skate down to the other end -- not to challenge Nabokov to a fight, but to tell him: "Hey, kid, how could they do that to you? You should go over and tell them you have played your last game for the San Jose Sharks!"

The choice, though, was Nabokov's. He insisted on staying in until Darryl Sutter sent out Kiprusoff in the third period. And there's every reason to conclude that Nabokov will have the mental resiliency and spunk to rebound, play well the rest of the series and not be the difference-maker in the series -- in the negative sense. Unless, of course, his memory is too long, which in goaltending sometimes can mean even back as far as one game.

"Nabby is the least of our problems," Sutter said. "He'll bounce right back."

Roy's mental toughness is undisputed. He has proven it over and over, as recently as a year ago, when he was being cited as the Avalanche's potential Achilles' heel during the first-round series against Vancouver, then lambasted during the second-round series against the Kings before he came on to win the Conn Smythe Trophy for a third time and hold the Stanley Cup overhead during his fourth championship celebration.

Now Nabokov, who has stamped himself as one of the top young goalies in the game, has a chance to show he's capable of short-term memory ... or complete forgetfulness.

If Nabokov is up to the task, and he will be, feeling here is that he will be, the series will turn on other issues. After the two teams scored 19 goals in the first two games, this will tighten up considerably -- as the Los Angeles-Colorado series did after the Kings and Avs had 14 goals in the first two games.

It will turn on who will show up on the ice, perhaps even literally.

The health of Blake and Peter Forsberg might be the most critical factors of all.

Blake scored Colorado's first two goals Saturday and was the best player on the ice, hands down. The Avalanche had only one day's rest after allowing the Kings to take them to seven games -- and that was their own darned fault, so it falls flat as an excuse for the Sharks' 6-3 Game 1 romp. But Blake missed that game, and there is every indication that he still is hurting.

In fact, during the delay that led to a video review and the confirmation of Colorado's fourth goal in Game 2, Blake charged to the dressing room. The Avalanche said his absence the rest of the game was just "precautionary."

(Yeah, right.)

If Blake misses any more games, or is so hurting that his contributions are diminished, the Avalanche are in a world of hurt. (The Sharks, by the way, don't need to read this to know all of that.) Forsberg was vintage Foppa in Game 2, scoring one highlight-tape goal when he got Nabokov going the wrong way, passing to himself off the back of the net, then reached out and stuffed the puck inside the post. Yet Forsberg still is slightly rusty, and also banged up after taking so much punishment in the Los Angeles series.

The Sharks, meanwhile, are wondering when Owen Nolan will step up. The first-round shock wasn't that the Sharks dispatched the Coyotes in five games, but that they didn't it without either Nolan or Teemu Selanne scoring a goal. Selanne broke out with two goals in Game 1 against Colorado, but Nolan still has one fewer 2002 playoff goals than Bryan Marchment and the same number as Jaromir Jagr, Mike Modano and Eddie Shack. If Nolan awakens against his former team, keeping his poise and actually pitching in with some critical goals, the Sharks will be a lot closer to knocking off the defending champions.

Terry Frei of The Denver Post is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.