Last night the Columbus Blue Jackets failed in their attempt to tie the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins record for consecutive games won. The Blue Jackets streak ended at an impressive 16 games, which was one short of the Penguins 17 games.
Even with the differences between the eras (3 on 3 overtime, shootouts) this was an awesome accomplishment for Columbus. This was a team who many had fighting for the division’s bottom spot this year. The streak was so great that the Pittsburgh Penguins who went 12-1-2 in the month of December actually lost their position at the top of the division to Columbus.
The 1992-93 season for the Penguins may have ended prematurely with David Volek’s overtime goal in Game 7 of the second round, but the regular season was very special. The Penguins 17 game winning streak coincided with Mario Lemieux returning from Hodgkin ’s disease to torch the NHL and reclaim his scoring lead from Pat Lafontaine. Former Penguins Hockeybuzz writer John Toperzer had some great numbers on this yesterday:
In '92-93, Mario missed 2 months w/cancer & trailed Lafontaine by 12 points w/20 games left. Scored 56 points in last 20, won Art Ross by 12
— John Toperzer (@JohnToperzer) January 5, 2017
@Mance_22 @GunnerStaal Lafontaine had 32 points in his last 20, so it's not like he folded, either. 66 had 2 earn it https://t.co/AmMHWsPQWs
— John Toperzer (@JohnToperzer) January 6, 2017
Mario Lemieux’s 1992-93 regular season should be considered the best individual season of all-time. He was on pace to break Wayne Gretzky’s single season points record before the cancer stole a significant portion of his year. His return from cancer and the subsequent performance should put to rest any questions about if he would have been able to keep that pace all season.
So now that the streak is over for Columbus what is next for them? Was this winning streak a mirage or are they one of the best teams in the league?
Jesse Marshall of The Pensblog produced some rolling average charts that I found interesting.
Same thing on the puck-possession front. First part of the streak = monstrous. Since December 11? Not so much. At all. pic.twitter.com/DQv5NHVvBa
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) January 4, 2017
During the beginning and middle of their impressive streak they were a great possession team. They deserved every bit of the success they had. Lately the team has dropped back around that 45% mark where they were at the beginning of the season. The wins may not flow as often moving forward if they stay in that 45% range.
Scoring chances have had a similar track
Scoring chances is an area where they've seen the least amount of drop-off. But compare now to where they were on Nov 27, start of streak. pic.twitter.com/fIeB7GWJrP
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) January 4, 2017
I won't use the word unsustainable. Too cliche. But consider:
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) January 4, 2017
1. Possession down.
2. Scoring chances down.
3. Expected goals down
Even if the team starts to slip a little bit with the metrics listed above they still have an x-factor which will win them games. That x-factor is Sergei Bobrovsky. He is playing at a Vezina level this year. Here is a rolling average that I came up with to illustrate how brilliant Bob has been this year.
He's been awesome. His floor at even-strength has been around the league average of .925 and the majority of the season he has been at .940 or above. Goaltending like that can prop a bad team up. Goaltending like that can drive a team playing good hockey to an near record winning streak. No matter how the Blue Jackets are playing if Bob is at this standard they will have a chance to win games.
That said, I predict the Blue Jackets are closer to the 45% possession team than they are the 55% version which showed up during the win streak.
The good news for Columbus is that even if they don't quite find that 55% magic anymore they just banked 32 out of a possible 32 points in the standings with their amazing winning streak. It will take a lot of things to go wrong for them to lose out on a playoff berth which wasn't a place many had the Blue Jackets being in.
It was a close call but the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins still hold the record for most consecutive wins. Congratulations to the Columbus Blue Jackets on a tremendous run at the record.
Thanks for reading!