Goalies in every sport (that has one) might as well be the most important player on your team at face value. While you may not agree, it’s a given fact that you cannot lose a game if you do not let up a goal. In hockey specifically, goaltenders have such a small margin for error with how small the puck is compared to the goal.

While some of the best NHL goalies boast low goals against, only a few can consistently shut out the other team game by game. Keep reading to learn more about the top NHL goalies with the longest consecutive shutout streaks, including what teams they played for, when the streak started and how long it lasted.

#3 – Chabot, Hainsworth, Worters, Gardiner, Durnan – 4-game shutout streak(s)

There is a tie for third place between five different goalies to start our list; Lorne Chabot of New York Rangers (1927-1928), George Hainsworth of Montreal Canadiens (1928-1929), Roy Worters of the New York Americans (1930-1931) and Charlie Gardiner of the Chicago Blackhawks (1930-1931). Each of these players had different seasons, with a four-game shutout streak occurring somewhere in the mix, meaning all these goalies let up zero goals for four games straight.

As you can see, all of these records are old-time, and each stayed as a record holder for almost an entire century. That is until 2003 when Brian Boucher stole the record by one game.

#2 – Brian Boucher – 5-game shutout streak

Brian Boucher, goaltender for the Phoenix Coyotes, during the 2003-2004 season, would go five games straight without being scored on, breaking all previous four-game shutout streaks from the 1930s by just one game! Overall, looking through these statistics showcases how hard it is to not get scored on in the game of hockey, as in sports like soccer, the longest shutout streak is around eight games straight (90 minutes each game of course).

Surprisingly, this would be the only goalie shutout record broken and maintained in the NHL to this day, a record set exactly 20 years ago. We’ll give Brian Boucher credit where it’s due, as a one-game shutout improvement is massive on the statistics spectrum, especially considering it hadn’t been done before.

#1 – Alec Connell – 6-game shutout streak

If you admire hockey goaltenders, you most likely have heard of Alec Connel of the Ottawa Senators. Connell, even before his six-game shutout streak back in 1927, had three separate times where he recorded three consecutive shutout streaks, so he was no stranger to the game of playing goalkeeper. In his 1928 season for the Senators, Connell would set an unbreakable future record for generations to come, stopping any goals from being scored on him for six matches straight.

In the world of hockey, that’s a lot of time without letting up a goal, enough to win six matches straight as well. Either way, Alec Connell easily takes the cake for the king of shutouts when it comes to NHL goalies.