diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/6523-therealak12-small.md b/changelogs/unreleased/6523-therealak12-small.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..478f6666603
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/6523-therealak12-small.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Improve shutdown manager query to the Envoy stats endpoint for active connections by utilizing a regex filter query param.
diff --git a/cmd/contour/shutdownmanager.go b/cmd/contour/shutdownmanager.go
index 305a5303903..fc22a473ba0 100644
--- a/cmd/contour/shutdownmanager.go
+++ b/cmd/contour/shutdownmanager.go
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	prometheusURL      = "http://unix/stats/prometheus"
+	// The prometheusURL is used to fetch the envoy metrics. Note that the filter
+	// value matches Envoy's raw stat names (i.e. those on the `/stats/` endpoint).
+	prometheusURL      = "http://unix/stats/prometheus?filter=^http\\..*\\.downstream_cx_active$"
 	healthcheckFailURL = "http://unix/healthcheck/fail"
 	prometheusStat     = "envoy_http_downstream_cx_active"
 )