In team sports, a shutout in association football) is a game in which one team
prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major
sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball.
Shutouts are usually seen as a result of effective defensive play even though a
weak opposing offense may be as much to blame. Some sports credit individual
players, particularly goalkeepers and starting pitchers, with shutouts and
keep track of them as statistics; others do not.
Baseball In Major League Baseball, a shutout
refers to the act by which a single pitcher pitches a complete game and does
not allow the opposing team to score a run. If two or more pitchers combine to
complete this act, no pitcher will be awarded a shutout, although the team
itself can be said to have "shut out" the opposing team. The only exception to
this is when a pitcher enters a game before the opposing team scores a run or
makes an out and then completes the game without allowing a run to score. That
pitcher is then awarded a shutout, although not a complete game.
The all-time career leader in shutouts is Walter Johnson, who pitched for the
Washington Senators from 1907–1927. He accumulated 110 shutouts, which is 20
more than second placed Grover Cleveland Alexander. The most shutouts recorded in
one season was 16, which was a feat accomplished by both Grover Alexander
and George Bradley. These records are considered among the most secure records
in baseball, as pitchers today rarely earn more than one or two shutouts per
season with a heavy emphasis on pitch count and relief pitching. Complete
games themselves have also become rare among starting pitchers. The current
active leader in shutouts is Tim Hudson of the San Francisco Giants. Entering
his fifteenth season, he has recorded 13 shutouts, which ties him for 463rd all
time. Only four pitchers whose entire careers were in the post-1920 live-ball
era threw as many as 60 career shutouts, with Warren Spahn leading those pitchers
with 63. Ice hockey
In ice hockey, a shutout is credited to a goaltender who successfully stops the
other team from scoring during the entire game. A shutout may be shared
between two goaltenders, but will not be listed in either of their individual
statistics. The record holder for most regular-season career shutouts in the
National Hockey League is Martin Brodeur with 125. The modern-day record for a
team being shut out in a season is held by the Columbus Blue Jackets at 16,
during the 2006–07 season. In the event a shutout happens while
using several goaltenders, the shutout will be credited to the team who shut
out the opponent; however, no single goaltender will be awarded the shutout.
This has happened several times in NHL history, including:
During the 1982–83 Washington Capitals season, the Washington Capitals and
their goalies Al Jensen and Pat Riggin shared a shutout.
December 8, 2001: the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim won 4–0 over the Minnesota Wild
with Jean-Sébastien Giguère and later Steve Shields in goal.
November 23, 2006: the Nashville Predators won 6–0 over the Vancouver
Canucks with Tomáš Vokoun, who left the game injured. He was replaced by Chris
Mason, who completed the game. December 12, 2007: the Ottawa Senators
won 6–0 over the Carolina Hurricanes with Ray Emery, who left the game
injured after making one save. He was replaced by Martin Gerber, who made the
other 31 saves. December 1, 2009: the Toronto Maple
Leafs won 3–0 over the Montreal Canadiens with Jonas Gustavsson, who
left the game after the first period because of heart problems. He was
replaced by Joey MacDonald, who played the last two periods.
December 6, 2011: Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks stopped all his shots
against the Colorado Avalanche before taking a shot to the neck; his
replacement, Cory Schneider, completed the team shutout.
April 14, 2012: the St. Louis Blues won 3–0 over the San Jose Sharks with
Jaroslav Halák, who left the game after a collision with teammate Barret Jackman
in the second period. He was replaced by Brian Elliott, who made 17 saves to
conserve the shutout. February 28, 2013: The Chicago
Blackhawks won 3–0 over the St. Louis Blues. Corey Crawford left the game
after the first period for unspecified reasons, and was replaced by Ray Emery,
who completed the second and third periods. This win also extended the
Blackhawks' streak of games without a regulation loss to start a season to 20.
March 26, 2013: The Pittsburgh Penguins won 1–0 over the Montreal Canadiens. At
the start of the third period, Marc-André Fleury was replaced by Tomáš
Vokoun after sustaining an unspecified injury late in the second period. Fleury
stopped all of 25 shots, while Vokoun stopped all of 12.
February 3, 2014: The Detroit Red Wings won 2–0 over the Vancouver Canucks.
Jonas Gustavsson stopped all eight shots faced in the first period, but did not
return for the second period due to dizziness. Jimmy Howard stopped all 16
shots in the remainder of the game. April 8, 2014: The Tampa Bay Lightning
won 3–0 over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ben Bishop stopped all three shots faced
in the first period, but fell awkwardly making a glove save and left the game.
Anders Lindbäck stopped all 25 shots in the remainder of the game. Neither
goalie was given a shutout, though the team itself received that stat.
February 22, 2015: The Vancouver Canucks won 4–0 over the New York Islanders.
Ryan Miller stopped all ten shots faced in the first period. However, early in
the second period, he was run into by teammate Jannik Hansen, who crashed into
the net and made contact with Miller's right leg. Eddie Lack then stopped all
27 shots in the remainder of the game. Neither goalie was given a shutout, but
Miller was awarded the win because the Canucks led 1-0 at the time of Miller's
injury. December 5, 2015: The Minnesota Wild won
3–0 over the Colorado Avalanche. Devan Dubnyk stopped all six shots faced in
the first period and the first five shots faced in the second period, but he
suffered an injury to his left knee while making a save on Avalanche forward
Jarome Iginla and eventually left the game midway through the second period.
Darcy Kuemper then stopped all nine shots in the remainder of the game to
conserve the shutout. Neither goaltender was credit with the shutout, but Kuemper
was awarded the win because Dubnyk suffered the injury before the first
goal of the game was scored. Association football
In association football a team, defence or goalkeeper may be said to "keep a
clean sheet" if they prevent their opponents scoring any goals during an
entire match. Because association football is a relatively low-scoring
game, it is common for one team, or even both teams, to score no goals. A theory
as to the term's origin is that sports reporters used separate pieces of paper
to record the different statistical details of a game. If one team did not
allow a goal, then that team's "details of goals conceded" page would appear
blank, leaving a clean sheet. American football
A shutout in American football is uncommon but not exceptionally rare.
Keeping an opponent scoreless in American football requires a team's
defense to be able to consistently shut down both pass and run offenses over the
course of a game. The difficulty of completing a shutout is compounded by
the many ways a team can score in the game. For example, teams can attempt
field goals, which have a high rate of success. The range of NFL caliber
kickers makes it possible for a team with a weak offense to get close enough
to the goalposts and kick a field goal. In the decade of the 2000s there were 89
shutouts in 2,544 NFL regular-season games, for an average of slightly more
than one shutout every two weeks in an NFL season.
Shelbyville Tennessee's Bedford County Training School Fighting Tigers recorded
52 consecutive shutouts from 1942 to 1949, a record for an American high
school football team. The second-longest streak is 18.
The achievement of a shutout is much more difficult in Canadian football,
where scoring and offensive movement is generally more frequent and a single
point can be scored simply by punting the ball from any point on the field
into the end zone. Rugby
Shutouts are not common in either rugby union or rugby league. The 2005 Gillette
Rugby League Tri-Nations final was the first time that Australia had been
'nilled' since 1981. The term "shutout" is not in common
usage in European sport, and thus is not applied to European rugby, and there is
no alternative term for the occurrence of a team achieving a no score, except
to say that the team scored "nil". For example, the December 2006 Magners
League match between Munster and Connacht ended 13–0 to Munster; it was,
therefore, said that Munster won "thirteen-nil".
Generally, a defensively well-disciplined team, as well as
behaviourally, is most likely to not give away scores. This may also occur if
there is a significant difference in class between the two teams, for
example, when Scotland beat Spain 48–0 in the 1999 Rugby World Cup, or when
Australia beat Namibia 142–0 in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The most recent shutout
win was England against Scotland on 8 February 2014 where they won 20-0.
See also Whitewash
References External links
Football clean sheet statistics