Flames break another modern NHL record with latest shutout
The Calgary Flames are coming for all the shutout records, apparently.
Calgary logged their seventh shutout Sunday, with backup goalie Dan Vladar making 27 stops in a 4-0 win against the Boston Bruins on Sunday — his second goose egg of the season.
Total up starter Jacob Markstrom’s NHL-leading five blankings, and that gives the Flames a record-setting seven shutouts through 19 games.
Calgary Flames become the first NHL team since offensive forward passes were allowed in 1929 to record 7 shutouts within the first 19 games of a season. pic.twitter.com/wmN82EMjFj
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) November 22, 2021
What’s made it work so well?
“You’ve got to ask the goalie coach and our d-men,” said Vladar, who was acquired from the Bruins in the offseason and is the first Flames goalie to shut out the Bruins since Miikka Kiprusoff on Dec. 17, 2005.
“The shutout, if you would have told me that yesterday, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Hard to imagine anyone would believe the Flames would be up to seven, too.
It’s the highest mark through 19 games since the NHL first permitted forward passing inside all three zones in 1929-30.
In all, only the 1928-29 Montreal Canadiens, with eight, and 1925-26 Ottawa Senators, at nine, have more shutouts prior to the 20th game of the season than the Flames.
This, just two days after the Flames matched an 83-year-old shutout mark, matching the 1938-39 Bruins with six shutouts through the opening 17 games.
Markstrom, the 10th goaltender in NHL history to reach five shutouts in a season in 13 appearances or fewer, is third in the NHL in save percentage among goalies with a minimum of four games at .942. His 1.71 goals-against average also slots third.
He’s behind Vladar, who leads the NHL with a 1.57 goals-against average and .946 save percentage.
Seven of Calgary’s 11 wins have come via shutout this season. Only the Carolina Hurricanes, at 32, have allowed fewer than the Flames’ 36 goals against. The Hurricanes have played three fewer games.
The NHL record for shutouts in a season belongs to those 1928-29 Canadiens, with 22 in 44 games played. The 1969-70 Chicago Blackhawks and 2011-12 St. Louis Blues hold the modern shutout record at 15.
The Flames are on pace for 30.
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