BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…March 8, 2013:
The longest streak of games without a loss in regulation to start a season in NHL history comes to an end when the Chicago Blackhawks are throttled by the Colorado Avalanche, 6-2. The Blackhawks had registered at least one point in 24 straight games at the beginning of the lockout-shortened campaign, going 21-0-3 during the streak. Chicago shattered the previous record of 16 games set by the Anaheim Ducks in 2006-07. The Blackhawks went on to win their second Stanley Cup in four years. But fast starts don’t always end in titles.
Which brings us to Major League Baseball, as the season is just a few weeks away. The longest winning streak to start a season in MLB history is 13 games, a record tied last year by the Tampa Bay Rays. The Milwaukee Brewers opened the 1987 season with 13 straight wins, as did the 1982 Atlanta Braves. The Rays did make the playoffs but lost in the Wild Card Series. The Brewers finished third in the AL East and didn’t make the playoffs (at a time when only two teams qualified in each league). The Braves did make the postseason but were swept in the NLCS by the St. Louis Cardinals.
The longest season-opening streak in the NFL is pretty easy to figure out. The New England Patriots went undefeated through the 16-game regular season in 2007 and won two more games in the playoffs before falling to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. The 1972 Miami Dolphins started with 17 wins and finished with 17 wins. It is, of course, the only perfect season in NFL history.
The NBA record for winning streak to open a season is held by the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who rolled off 24 consecutive victories. That shattered the previous NBA standard of 15 wins. The Warriors would go on to set a league record with 73-9 season. Unfortunately for Golden State, it ended on the other side of history, as LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team ever to come back from a three games-to-one deficit in the NBA Finals and win the championship.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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