Of all the things that have gone wrong for the Vancouver Canucks this season, Alex Burrows going 35 games to start the season might have been in the most bizarre. Slumps happen. Good players (even great players) sometimes go a long time without scoring goals.
Alex Burrows finally scores first goal of season
It took him 35 games and 79 shots, but Alex Burrows finally has a goal this season. And he avoided making some infamous history.
Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
But 35 games? For a guy as productive as he’s been throughout his career? That is one hell of a slump, and it was starting to reach historic levels.
Well, in the second period against the Winnipeg Jets that drought finally came to an end when he beat Ondrej Pavelec for his first regular season goal since April 15, 2013.
Had Burrows not scored he would have continued to chase some rather infamous history. The NHL record for most shots on goal by a forward in a season without scoring belongs to Craig Adams when he went 84 shots without scoring during the 2009-10 season for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Before his goal on Wednesday, Burrows had put 79 shots on goal without scoring.
What made Burrows’ dry spell so surprising is that he’s been such a productive player throughout his career. Before this season he had scored at least 26 goals in four of the previous five seasons, with the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season being the only year he did not reach that mark (he scored 13 goals in 48 games).
Based on his normal career shooting numbers (like a 12.7 percent career shooting percentage), he should be expected to have somewhere around 10 goals on 79 shots.
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