Have you ever been watching a hockey game and heard the term “shutout” used? This hockey terminology is quite common in the game yet many fans do not know what it means.
A shutout in hockey is a goaltending statistic that is given to a goalie if he or she does not concede a single goal throughout the game.
In any game in which a team does not score a single goal, the goaltender they were facing will be credited with a shutout.
Frequently Asked Questions About Shutouts In Hockey
Now that you know what a shutout is it’s time to answer some of the frequent questions hockey players and fans tend to have regarding shutouts in hockey.
How Common Are Shutouts In Hockey?
Shutouts are relatively rare in hockey and are something that is always celebrated to some degree when they occur. When it comes to active NHL goaltenders the average goaltender tends to get a shutout in about 8% of their games.
This means a shutout happens for most goalies fewer than once every ten games. Since goalies don’t play all 82 games each year you can expect each goalie to only get a few shutouts throughout the season.
Braden Holtby has the highest shutout percentage in the NHL as he earns a shutout in 10.7 percent of the games he participates in.
Who Has The Most Shutouts In Hockey?
The record for the most shutouts in hockey history belongs to none other than Martin Brodeur. Brodeur is believed by many to be the best goaltender of all time, meaning him holding this record isn’t too surprising.
Brodeur was able to amass a total of 125 shutouts throughout his entire NHL career. Brodeur’s record is twenty-two games ahead of the next closest goaltender meaning that this record is likely to hold up for a long time.
What Is The Most Saves During A Shutout?
In a 1994 playoff game between the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils Dominik Hasek set the record for the most saves made without letting in a goal.
Hasek’s shutout was sealed when the Sabres scored to mark a one nothing win over the devils in overtime.
By the time overtime was completed Hasek had made a total of seventy saves throughout the game. From our research, this seems to be far and away the most saves a goaltender has made while maintaining a shutout.
The closest mark we could find was Ben Scrivens 58 save performance which is the record for most saves during a shutout in the regular season.
What Is the Longest Shutout Streak?
When measuring the longest shutout streak in the NHL the statisticians prefer to use time as opposed to games. This way when a game goes to overtime that portion of the shutout will be included in the streak.
The longest shutout streak of all time belongs to Alec Connell who managed to maintain a shutout for 460:49 of ice time. That is for hundred and sixty minutes or about seven hours and fourty minutes.
This means that this shutout streak was held over quite a few separate games.