Week 23 Torontosaurus Rex .. Leafs/Pens Tie Dubious NHL Record
The Torontosaurus Rex for Week 23 is fitting and also notoriously absent from the only Leafs extra time loss in the last seven overtime/shootout games. In that loss, the Maple Leafs and Penguins tied a dubious NHL record, one night after the Leafs/Rangers surpassed 100 overtime games in the NHL this season.
(Gus Katsaros) — Only a mention in Week 22, he parlayed that into impressive performances in consecutive starts – winning both – for the first time since January 29, completing a four-game run. Jonas Gustavsson.
He bounced back from allowing two early stinkers Saturday night against the Rangers for a 36-save effort in a 3-2 overtime win. The “Monster’s” 1.50 GAA and .949 save percentage solidified being named Torontosaurus Rex.
Oh, maybe a little bit to do with being the first Leafs goalie to win seven straight since Ed Belfour, and tied him with Gord McRae and Al Rollins most by a Leaf rookie. Courtesy of the Toronto Star’s Kevin McGran twitter.
He’s one win shy of tying Turk Broda, George Hainesworth (8) and then the longest win streak (9); Felix Potvin, Jacques Plante, John Roach
Since going 0-9 in overtime (with the Monster going 0-8), the Leafs have rattled off four straight overtime wins (4-0) with Gustavsson in goal for three of four, including the two wins in Week 23. Phil Kessel, Mikhail Grabovski each scored a game-winner and Nik Kulemin, potted two after a wraparound beat Henrik Lundqvist on Saturday night.
The Leafs have won six of their last seven extra time games including two shootouts. The only loss (attributed to J.S. Giguere) came at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
The 5-4 shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, however, tied a notorious post lockout NHL record.
Record
The single season high for shootouts was 164 set in 2006-07. The shootout between the Leafs and Penguins was the 164th of 2009-10, in 1127 games played and 103 remaining as of March 28, 2010.
After the Leafs game, I sent a tweet indicating this was the record breaking 165th shootout, but after weekly reconciliation of data found it was 164th, tying the most shootouts in a single season. A record is likely to be set during Week 24, and it would become the most shootouts in an NHL regular season.
Shootouts have generated more impact this season than any other.
On a related note, the overtime game between the Leafs and NY Rangers on Saturday night was the NHL’s 100th in 2009-10, by two minutes.
Game 1117 listed in the NHL schedule saw Columbus lose 4-3 in OT to the NY Islanders Saturday night, where the game ended at 9:35 EDT.
That was officially the 99th overtime game in the NHL.
With a look below, if the current pace of overtimes in the NHL persists and it ends up at 109, that would make the year with the highest amount of shootouts would have the least amount of overtime games, post-lockout.
The table below lists the historical shootout and overtime records since the lockout.
| Year | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2009-10(proj) |
| Teams | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Games | 1230 | 1230 | 1230 | 1230 | 1127 | 1230 |
| OT | 136 | 117 | 116 | 117 | 100 | 109 |
| SO | 145 | 164 | 156 | 156 | 164 | 180 |
| %SO | 11.79 | 13.333 | 12.68 | 12.68 | 14.64 | 14.64 |
| %OT | 11.06 | 9.51 | 9.43 | 9.51 | 8.78 | 8.78 |
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