Bobrovsky’s shutout streak nearing team record

The highlight of the Blue Jackets’ season — so far, anyway — is the 16-game winning streak from late November to early January.

Now there’s another streak to chart.

Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has had three consecutive shutouts, leaving him less than one perfect period from the longest shutout streak in the NHL this season and the longest shutout streak in Blue Jackets history.

The Jackets play the Buffalo Sabres on Friday at Nationwide Arena.

“I would say my teammates have helped me unbelievably,” Bobrovsky said after a 33-save shutout Tuesday in a 2-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. “They made the blocked shots. They were great again. They had tight coverage in our zone, so thanks to them for that.”

Per the NHL and the Elias Sports Bureau, Bobrovsky’s active shutout streak is 180 minutes, leaving him 3:16 short of the longest in the league this season (Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk) and 19:28 short of matching the franchise record (Steve Mason, 2008-09).

As for the modern NHL record? That’s still a long way off.

Bobrovsky would need to be perfect for 2½ more games to approach the mark set in 2003-04 by Arizona’s Brian Boucher (332:01).

But if the Blue Jackets keep playing so well defensively, who knows?

“I don’t think we’ve given up a lot of chances during these games,” coach John Tortorella said. “But there’s been some really good chances where we’ve had breakdowns, and Bob’s made key saves. The timing of his saves has been very important for us.”

Tuesday’s win came after a 20-save shutout Sunday at New Jersey (2-0) and a 38-save shutout March 2 against Minnesota (1-0). Yes, he has stopped 91 consecutive shots.

The last goal Bobrovsky allowed was on Feb. 28, a power-play goal scored by Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk at 3:53 of overtime. That means it has been 243 minutes, 54 seconds since Bobrovsky has allowed a regulation or even-strength goal.

The NHL and Elias clarified to The Dispatch how goaltending shutout streaks are calculated. Bobrovsky has been in net, technically, for 179:29 over the past three games, leaving the ice twice for an extra skater while the Blue Jackets maintained possession during a delayed penalty.

For the purposes of historical comparison — the league, in its early years, did not chart goalie-playing minutes by any measure less than whole minutes — a goaltender is given credit for the team’s playing time between goals, even if his playing time is less than the full length of the game.

Slap shot

The Blue Jackets were off Wednesday. They return to practice at 11 a.m. today at the Ice Haus.