I stole that line from NHL.com... but it's true: the 2011-2012 Red Wings are the SOLE owners of the NHL's record for most consecutive home wins.
The final score was 3-1 and it was never close... Joey MacDonald had the Stars shut out until the final 30 seconds of the third when Dallas scored on a deflection. But no matter. We had the win. From NHL.com:
DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings have done something that no other NHL team had done before.
By defeating the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Tuesday night at Joe Louis Arena, they became the first team in League history to win 21 straight games on home ice – and by the looks of things, they might keep winning here for a while.
No longer are they tied with the 1929-30 Boston Bruins and 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers, who both won 20 straight games in their own barns. That Bruins team, technically speaking, won 22 straight between the end of that season and the start of the next, but the NHL doesn't carry over wins for records purposes – and nobody in Detroit cares much about such technicalities now.
The Wings have outscored opponents 84-31, including 31-9, during the streak. They've gotten two points in all 21 home games they've played since losing 4-1 to Calgary on Nov. 3 -- the streak began two nights later with a 5-0 victory against Anaheim.
There's been a lot of talk among hockey pundits about how this record should come with an asterisk, as the Bruins and the Flyers didn't have the benefit of the shoot-out. There will always be naysayers, but the simple fact is the Wings have done something no other team has ever done, and set a record that's liable to go unbeaten or unmatched for a long, long time.
Well Done, Wings. Very well done.
Woo hoo! I'll have to take your word for it, however, seeing as how my iPad refuses to show the video.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the Wings! Funny how "set a record" and "broke a record" are the same, but playing like a broken record is different.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to The Wings! Meanwhile, the B's celebrated being knocked off of their record by peppering Lundqvist with 42 shots and potting NONE. Yeesh.
ReplyDeleteBuck, while all teams have their ups&downs over time, has there ever been a team that has a better overall record than the Redwings since the NHL was founded? I know Montreal was the gold standard for a long time up thru the end of the 50s, but not since then. I'm not a historical stats guy (and am too lazy to do the research even tho I've all the time in the world) so ask if you know of any team that has consistently performed better over the life of the NHL in terms of overall W/L ratio?
ReplyDeleteWoo-hoo, Wings!
ReplyDeleteI'll admit that three shootouts and another overtime win gave the Wings four wins that would've been ties 'back in the day'. But they still had to get the wins, or no record. . .
Just for the sake of curiosity, I'm wondering, just a little, what their road record has been during the streak. . .
@Virgil - Over the past 20 years, the Wings are definitely the NHL's gold standard. But, other than those last 20 years, Les Habitants have never really had a 'down time'. They lead the Wings in Stanley Cups, something like 26-11 (when I was in my teens/20s, the Wings were flat-out AWFUL)
Moogie: Isn't there an app for that? ;-)
ReplyDeleteLou: True, dat.
Jim: I saw the highlights of that game last evening. Sometimes ya just can't win.
Virgil: What Craig said.
Craig: The Wings sucked when I moved to Dee-troit and became a fan back in '85. I think they might have had 44 points TOTAL in '85-'86, which is much worse than the BJ's will do this year. The Wings are .500 on the road this year and aren't doin' all that well. But they're getting better.
In re: the Habs. It really must hurt to a geezer (anyone over 60) and a Habs fan these days.
Congrats to you and the Red Wings. How long do you think this will go on?
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