Career
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964. A poor season by the Montreal Canadiens in 1947-1948 allowed Turk Broda of the Toronto Maple Leafs to end Durnan"s streak. Durnan, however, returned to prominence the next season, capturing his fifth and sixth Vezina Trophies in 1948-1949 and 1949-1950.
Durnan was also selected to the First Team All-Star six times during his career, including four consecutive selections from 1944-1947.
During the 1947-1948 season, Durnan served as the Canadiens" captain. However, he left the crease so often to argue calls that other teams claimed he was giving the Canadiens unscheduled timeouts.
After the season, the National Hockey League passed a rule barring goaltenders from performing the duties of captain, known as the "Durnan Rule."
Following the 1949-1950 National Hockey League season, at the age of 35, Durnan retired, no longer able to stand the stress of playing professional hockey. He later went into coaching, most notably with the Ottawa Senators of the QSHL in 1950-1951, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen of the OHA in 1958-1959.
Durnan set a long-standing modern National Hockey League record between February 26 and March 6, 1949, when he registered four consecutive shutouts, not allowing a goal over a span of 309 minutes, 21 seconds.
This record stood until 2004, when Brian Boucher, then of the Phoenix Coyotes, broke lieutenant He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964. In 383 regular-season games, Durnan had 208 wins, and 112 losses, with 34 shutouts and a 2.36 goals-against average.
He had 27 wins, and 12 losses, with two shutouts and a 2.07 average in 45 playoff games.
He died of kidney failure on October 31, 1972. He suffered from diabetes in his last years and his health had been failing steadily.
Durnan was an ambidextrous goalie, equally adept at using his right or left hand (he wore special gloves that permitted him to catch with either hand while still holding his stick). Until Roberto Luongo was named captain of the Vancouver Canucks on September 30, 2008, he was the last goalie to be a captain in the National Hockey League, and one of seven in history.