ST. PAUL, Minnesota, 11 January 2004 — Netminder Brian Boucher set a modern-day NHL record by posting his fifth straight shutout as the Phoenix Coyotes blanked the Minnesota Wild 2-0 on Friday.
Boucher turned aside all seven Minnesota shots in the opening period and stopped eight more in the second. He made six more saves in the final frame to enter the record books, surpassing Hall of Famer Bill Durnan of the Montreal Canadiens.
Durnan, playing without a mask, as all goalies did in his day, racked up four straight shutouts in the winter of 1949.
Boucher has not allowed a goal in over 325 minutes, making 140 saves in that span. Ossi Vaananen and Fredrik Sjostrom scored for Phoenix, which extended its road unbeaten streak to nine games, equaling the franchise record. Boucher, the Coyotes’ number three netminder until recently, has been having trouble describing his record run, saying only that “you need luck on your side”.
He was drafted in the first round by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1995, then sent to Phoenix in a 2002 swap.
Ottawa’s Alex Connell registered six straight shutouts back in 1927-28, when forward passing was not permitted in the attacking zones.
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Tampa Bay Lightning got third-period goals from Cory Stillman, Dave Andreychuk and Fredrik Modin in a 4-1 upset of the New Jersey Devils. Andreychuk’s and Modin’s goals came just nine seconds apart, a club record. Scott Gomez got the Devils’ only goal just 1:28 into the game.
In Buffalo, the Ottawa Senators had their 11-game unbeaten streak snapped as they fell 3-2 to the Sabres on Rory Fitzpatrick’s power-play goal with 2:47 remaining in regulation. Ottawa got third-period goals from Martin Havlat and Todd White to draw level after Buffalo went up 2-0 on goals by J.P. Dumont and Daniel Briere.
In Washington, five-time NHL scoring champion Jaromir Jagr got a goal and assisted on two more as the Capitals thumped the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 to snap a seven-game winless streak. Jagr helped on goals by Alexander Semin and Robert Lang.
Jeff O’Neill got Carolina’s lone goal, denying Olaf Kolzig a shutout.
In Anaheim, the Vancouver Canucks got two goals from Markus Naslund and singles from Jarkko Ruutu, Mike Keane and Henrik Sedin in a 5-2 defeat of the Mighty Ducks.
It was Vancouver’s seventh straight win on the road, a club record.
Todd Simpson and Petr Sykora scored for Anaheim in the final period to deny Canucks netminder Dan Cloutier a shutout.
