Minnesota Wild goaltender Jamie McLennan registered the first shutout in franchise history in its eighth game in a scoreless draw with Florida Oct. 22 in St. Paul. It took four games for the Atlanta Thrashers to register their first franchise shutout, blanking the Islanders 2-0 on Oct. 14, 1999. The Thrashers became only the second team in the post-expansion era to register their first win by a shutout. The first team to do it was the Florida Panthers who blanked the Lightning 2-0 in Tampa Bay for their first career win in just their third game on Oct. 9, 1993.
PENALTY BOX
Blackhawks winger Bob Probert (right) is six penalty minutes away from sole possession of fifth place on the NHL’s all-time penalty-minute leaders list. With a modest season in the penalty box, by his standards, Probert may even be fourth all-time by season’s end. Below are the NHL’s all-time penalty-minute leaders:
PLAYER SEASONS GAMES MINUTES MINS./GAME
Tiger Williams 14 962 3,966 4.12
Dale Hunter 20 1,407 3,565 2.53
Marty McSorley 17 961 3,381 3.52
Tim Hunter 17 815 3,146 3.86
Chris Nilan 13 688 3,043 4.42
Bob Probert* 16 807 3,038 3.76
Rick Tocchet* 17 1,081 2,879 2.66
* active through Sunday
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The San Jose Sharks are part of the NHL’s strongest division, the Pacific. Through Sunday, just five points separated first from fifth place in the division and currently all teams would qualify for the playoffs. Should all five divisional rivals qualify for post-season play, it will represent the first time since the current playoff format was introduced during the 1993-94 season that an entire division made the playoffs. It is conceivable that all Pacific division teams could finish with a better than .500 record. The last time all teams in a division were over .500 was in the Patrick Division of 1987-88 when seven points separated the first-place Islanders from the last-place Penguins.
