The 2010-11 regular season comes to an end Sunday in St. Paul, Minn., a little more than 26 weeks after it began in Helsinki, Finland.
It’s been a season to remember for the Vancouver Canucks (first Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history), Corey Perry (first 50-goal season) and rookies like Michael Grabner, Logan Couture and Jeff Skinner (all 30-goal scorers in their first NHL season).
With the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the horizon, here’s a look at some of the numbers to remember from the regular season.
0 — Shots on goal by the Los Angeles Kings in the third period of their game at Vancouver on March 24. It was the only period all season in which a team failed to get a shot on goal. Vancouver out-shot L.A., 16-0, and beat the Kings 3-1.
1 — Game this season in which neither team had a power play. Los Angeles beat Dallas 3-1 last Saturday in a game that was played entirely at even strength. The last time it happened was exactly a year earlier — April 2, 2010, when Chicago beat New Jersey 2-1, in a shootout.
2 — Games played by the Ottawa Senators that went to a shootout after 65 minutes of scoreless hockey — half of the League total of 0-0 games that went to a shootout this season. The Senators lost 1-0 at home to Buffalo on Dec. 4, but beat the Maple Leafs 1-0 in Toronto on Feb. 19.
3 — Number of games won 7-0 by the New York Rangers this season. The Rangers beat Washington (Dec. 12), Toronto (Jan. 19) and Philadelphia (March 6), all at home. There were only two other 7-0 games in the NHL all season — a pair of wins by the Boston Bruins (Jan. 17 vs. Carolina and March 25 vs. Montreal).
4 — Games in which a team led by three goals and lost in regulation. Nashville, Florida, Phoenix and Boston all were unable to hold three-goal leads and went home without a point. Nine other teams blew a three-goal lead but lost in overtime or a shootout to go home with a point.
5 — Goals by Detroit’s Johan Franzen in the Wings’ 7-5 win at Ottawa on Feb. 2, the most by a player in a single game since Minnesota’s Marian Gaborik on Dec. 20, 2007. Ironically, Franzen then went 14 games without a goal and has scored just twice since his big night.
6 — Most goals in a period this season. Washington scored six times in the second period against Calgary on Oct. 30 in a 7-2 win, and Toronto had six goals in the second period of its 9-3 win at Atlanta on Jan. 7.
7 — Shorthanded goals by New York Islanders center Frans Nielsen, the most of any player in the League. Two of those goals came on penalty shots — Nielsen was the only player to score more than once on a penalty shot this season. Nielsen scored more goals shorthanded than the six he had at even strength and on the power play combined.
8 — Consecutive shootout goals by Los Angeles forward Jarret Stoll, including the deciding goal in L.A.’s playoff-clinching 3-2 win against Phoenix on Thursday. In all, Stoll is 9-for-10 in shootouts; his shooting percentage (90.0) would be the highest of any player with five or more shots since the shootout was introduced in 2005.
9 — Power plays without a goal by the Carolina Hurricanes against Columbus on March 12. Not only did the Hurricanes go 0-for-9, the biggest 0-fer of any team this season, but they allowed a shorthanded goal and lost the game 3-2.
10 — Goals scored by the St. Louis Blues at Detroit on March 30, the only time this season a team reached double figures. It was the first time the Wings had allowed 10 or more goals since Oct. 9, 1993.
11 — Shutouts by Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, the most by any goaltender in the NHL this season. Lundqvist has the most shutouts by a Rangers goaltender since John Ross Roach had 13 in 1928-29.
12 — Fewest shots in a game by any team. It happened four times — three by the Edmonton Oilers, who lost all three games. The Washington Capitals also managed just 12 shots against New Jersey on March 18, but left the Prudential Center with a 3-0 victory.
13 — Players who’ve had five points in a game this season — no one has had more than that. The last one was Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne, who at 40 became the oldest player to get 3 goals and 5 points in a game when he did it on March 28.
14 — Shots by Florida’s David Booth on Nov. 18 and Nashville’s Patric Hornqvist on Dec. 28, the most by any players in a single game this season. Amazingly, neither player scored.
15 — Combined goals by Tampa Bay Lightning (8) and Philadelphia Flyers (7) on Nov. 18 at the Wells Fargo Center, the most in a game this season. The 15 goals matched the most scored in any game since the start of the 2005-06 season.
17 — Games in which one team forced overtime by scoring the tying goal in the final 30 seconds of regulation, including one by Montreal’s Michael Cammalleri on Thursday. Nine of the 17 rallying teams won the game either in overtime or a shootout.
20 — Goals by Atlanta’s Dustin Byfuglien, who’s the only defenseman to reach the 20-goal mark this season. Byfuglien had a career-high in goals despite being switched from forward to the blue line after being acquired by Atlanta from Chicago last summer.
25 — Consecutive games with at least one point by Sidney Crosby, by far the longest scoring streak in the NHL this season. The second-longest streak was 12 games by Ilya Kovalchuk of the New Jersey Devils.
51 — Shots stopped by Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick in a 5-0 victory at Detroit on Dec. 13, the most shots faced by a goalie in a shutout this season. Quick stopped 26 shots in the second period, the most saves by a goaltender in any period.
55 — Shots by Florida in its home game against Atlanta on Nov. 3, the most by any team this season. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Chris Mason also set a season-high with 52 saves and the Thrashers won 4-3 despite being outshot 55-23.
123 — Minutes needed for the Florida Panthers to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on March 8 — the fastest game of the season. The Hawks and Panthers were three minutes faster than Detroit and Anaheim on Dec. 3, a game the visiting Wings won 4-0.
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