The Columbus Blue Jackets are the surprise team in the early going, and their goaltender, Pascal Leclaire, has been stellar, posting a league-high five shutouts in his nine starts. It shouldn’t come as a shock that Leclaire, who turns 25 on Wednesday, also ranks first among his peers with a 1.12 goals-against average and .957 save percentage.

In the last 10 days, Leclaire has secured wins despite facing his two highest shot totals of the season. On Oct. 25, he faced a season-high 36 and stopped all of them for a 3-0 win over St. Louis. In Los Angeles on Halloween, Leclaire was 33-for-34 in a 4-1 decision against the Kings. He hasn’t lost when facing 30 shots.

A number of other goalies have been on top of their game in 2007-08. Most of them have faced a heavy workload so far this season. Here are the netminders who have helped their team post the most points when facing at least 30 shots from an opponent. The leader board features only those goaltenders who have posted a better than .500 winning percentage in these games.

Most Team Points Earned When Facing 30+ Shots
(only goalies with better than .500 win pct in these games)

Goalie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .G. . . .W-L-SOL. . . Tm Pts
Martin Gerber, Ott. . . . . . . . . . . . . .6. . . . .5-1-0. . . . . . .10
Martin Biron, Phi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. . . . .5-3-0. . . . . . .10
Tim Thomas, Bos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6. . . . .3-2-1. . . . . . . 7
Cristobal Huet, Mon. . . . . . . . . . . . .6. . . . .3-2-1. . . . . . . .7
Pascal Leclaire, Clm. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. . . . .3-0-0. . . . . . . .6
Miikka Kiprusoff, Cal. . . . . . . . . . . . .4. . . . .2-0-2. . . . . . . .6
Cam Ward, Car. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4. . . . .2-1-1. . . . . . . .5
Josh Harding, Min. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. . . . .2-1-1. . . . . . . .5

Ottawa’s Martin Gerber has the better winning percentage (.833) among the five-game winners, and his Senators were outshot in four of those five wins. All but one of Gerber’s 30-shot nights came in the first half of October. On Oct. 4, he stopped 41 of 43 shots in a tight 3-2 victory over division rival Toronto. Two nights later, Gerber made 35 saves and blanked the potent New York Rangers, 2-0. For the season, he is 9-1-0 with a 1.88 GAA that ranks seventh in the league.

Martin Biron has impressed in his first season in the Philadelphia net. He’s handled 30 or more shots in eight games, the most among NHL goalies. He’s faced at least 30 in seven straight contests going into the Flyers’ Monday night matchup against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. During this seven-game span, Biron is 5-2-0 and posted back-to-back shutouts over the Thrashers and Devils in mid-October. His team was outshot in six of the seven games.

Biron stopped 38 shots in his 4-0 victory over New Jersey on Oct. 18, and more recently, he faced 44 and 39 shots, respectively, in low-scoring, one-goal wins over Carolina and Boston. He hasn’t seen fewer than 39 shots in his last four starts, and Biron easily tops the league by facing an average of 35.1 a game. He is fourth in save percentage (.940) and has a respectable 2.11 GAA, which ranks eighth in the league.

Tim Thomas’ team, the Bruins, has been outshot in all six games in which the goaltender has faced 30 or more shots. Still, Thomas has secured points in four of them, including three wins. He stopped 36 of 37 shots in his 2007-08 debut, a 3-1 win over Phoenix on Oct. 6. Thomas made 35 saves in a 4-1 win against Tampa two weeks later, and he was terrific in losing both ends of a home-and-home series with 12-1 Ottawa over the weekend.

Boston was outshot 45-19 Friday night in Ottawa, but Thomas kept his team close in a 3-2 decision. He stopped 36 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss Saturday in Boston. The Bruins’ key offseason acquisition, Manny Fernandez, is the backup.