If the Isles can hold Florida without a goal for most of the first period, they will establish a team record for the longest shutout streak.
The current record is 199:14, which included the only set of three consecutive shutouts in Islander history.
The streak began after a Steve Konowalchuk goal with 9:37 remaining in a 5-2 loss in Washington on 3/31/1998.
The Isles then blanked Tampa (4-0), the Rangers (3-0 in the famed "Goalie Fight" game), and Tampa again (3-0) on April 1, April 4 and April 6.
The streak ended with a Brendan Morrison goal, ironically with 9:37 elapsed, in a 3-2 win over New Jersey on April 8th.
The Isles have now gone 181:11 without allowing a goal, which is 18:03 short of the record (and the second-longest streak in franchise history), passing a February, 1994 streak of 162:00.
Jaroslav Halak's personal shutout streak now stands at 143:27.
Halak has had consecutive shutouts three previous times in his career, and all involved longer scoreless streaks:
164:38 -- for St. Louis in January 2012 (includes SOs vs Dallas and Edmonton)
160:08 -- for St. Louis in October 2010 (including SOs vs Pittsburgh and Nashville)
156:30 -- for Montreal in April 2010 (including SOs vs Philadelphia and Buffalo)
Halak stands 21:11 short of his career best. (It's possible that he has had a streak that involved only one shutout that would make this list but the 164:38 is a personal best).
The Islander franchise record shutout streak by a single goalie is 178:29, set by Chico Resch in December 1975 (including shutouts of Buffalo and Minnesota)
Ron Hextall had a 176:46 streak in February 1994 (including shutouts of Ottawa and Washington)
Wade Flaherty had a 169:38 streak in April 1998 (including 2 shutouts of Tampa Bay and part of the Ranger shutout)
Halak is 35:02 shy of Resch's record, that has stood for 39 years.
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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