Isles, Anderson make NHL history

Thanks, Elias.

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ANDERSON STOPS 53 SHOTS IN 1-0 VICTORY
Craig Anderson needed every one of his 53 saves in the Panthers' 1-0 victory over the Islanders. It was the most saves any goaltender has made in a shutout since the NHL started tracking shots on goal as an official statistic in the 1955-1956 season. The previous high was 52, by Jacques Plante of the Canadiens (Nov. 13, 1995 (sic), 2-0 win vs. Black Hawks) and Curtis Joseph of the Oilers (Dec. 10, 1996, 0-0 tie vs. Red Wings).

Anderson stopped 29 shots in the second period alone. The only goaltender to make that many saves in one period without allowing a goal-again, since the start of the 1955-1956 season-was Allan Bester of the Maple Leafs. He turned aside all 32 shots by the Hartford Whalers before allowing four goals in the third period in a 5-3 loss on March 15, 1984.>>

We knew about Jacques Plante's effort during the telecast yesterday (the year was 1955), but all we knew for certain before we went off the air was that the Isles had broken the club record, which as I noted online last night, was 42 (Theodore in 2002).

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, the record is 70 shots without allowing a goal. Dominic Hasek shut out the Devils on April 27, 1994 for 125:43 before Dave Hannan won the game for Buffalo in the 4th OT. The goal tied that series at 3; the Devils would win game 7 and advance to play the Rangers.

Some might be curious how does this get on the air at all? During the 2nd intermission, yours truly put in a request with the guys in our truck to contact Elias, who serves as the official statistical bureau of the NHL (and basically everybody else). Late in the third period we got the information on the potential team record (the Isles have been shutout a little more than 100 times in their history) but it took longer for the NHL record to be verified.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.