Despite losing to Minnesota on Saturday, Washington Capitals rookie goalie Zach Fucale skated off the ice with an NHL record on his resume.
Playing in his third game, Fucale broke the NHL record for longest career-opening shutout sequence. Fucale didn’t allow a goal in his first 138:07, breaking the record set in 2011 by Minnesota’s Matt Hackett (102:48).
Afterward, Fucale told reporters he wasn’t aware he broke the record until the game was done.
“That’s incredible,” he said. “I did not know that. That’s wild.”
Fucale, 26, has spent most of his season with Washington’s minor-league team in Hershey, with Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek as the Capitals’ top two goalies.