Edge Of Seventeen

The 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins for a lot of reasons, but most people will remember them from that season for three reasons: the introduction of the "Robo-Peguin" logo, falling to the New York Islanders in the playoffs that year thanks to David Volek, and an epic win streak that lasted for 17 games and 32 days. Despite winning the President's Trophy and having the league's top scorer and third-overall goal scorer in Mario Lemieux who missed 24 games thanks to his Hodgkin's Disease diagnosis, the Penguins set a record that has been twice been challenged, but yet to be equalled in today's NHL. The Oilers had a chance to add their name alongside the Penguins as they faced off against the Vegas Golden Knights!

With 18 games to go in the 1992-93 season and trailing the Montreal Canadiens by four points in the standings for first-overall in the NHL, the Penguins rattled off 17-straight wins before a 4-4 tie against the New Jersey Devils in the final game of the season ended the epic win streak. Of course, the Islanders ruined what would have been an incredible Eastern Conference Final between the Penguins and Canadiens thanks to David Volek's overtime goal in Game Seven of the second round to send the Penguins home, but that's not why we're here. A second team has a chance to tie the improbable 17-game win streak set by the Penguins!

Before we get to what happened between Edmonton and Vegas tonight, there was one other team who got as close as possible without actually matching the Penguins' streak. We need to jump back to the 2016-17 season where an unlikely team recorded 16-straight wins to threaten the Penguins' record as the Columbus Blue Jackets began their streak on November 29, 2016 with a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Backstopped by Sergei Bobrovsky, the Blue Jackets did record two shootout wins during their streak, but it came to a crashing halt on January 5, 2017 with a 5-0 loss to the Washington Capitals. Ironically, the Blue Jackets had defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 to win their 16th game in a row!

And that brings us to the 2023-24 season where the Edmonton Oilers find themselves on a heater of significant proportions as they rolled into Las Vegas tonight for a date with the Golden Knights. The Oilers had won 16-straight games prior to the NHL All-Star Weekend, and they had a chance to tie the Penguins for the league's best win streak of all-time. Edmonton had defeated Nashville 4-1 on January 27 to tie the Blue Jackets with the second-longest streak in NHL history, but no one ever remembers second-place. The Oilers wanted a share of history at the very least with a win over Vegas!

Let's go to the final moments in this game to see what happened.

William Karlsson scored into the empty net with 32.8 seconds remaining in the game to put the Golden Knights up 3-1, and that score would end the streak at 16 games for the Oilers. A heckuva run that began on December 21 with a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils came to an end in Sin City on a night where only Connor McDavid could find the back of the net, and the Oilers will sit beside the Columbus Blue Jackets at the 16-game win streak mark.

What might be even more incredible about this 16-game win streak cobbled together by the Oilers is that it only moved them into third-place in the Pacific Division as they still trail the division-leading Vancouver Canucks by 14 points and are seven points back of the Vegas Golden Knights. That 2-9-1 start they got off to this season certainly put them in a deep hole, but the 16 wins recorded over the last month-and-a-half put them back in the thick of things in their division. There's still work to be done, but going 16-1 in your last 17 games certainly is nothing at which one should scoff.

With the parity seen in the NHL, win streaks of double-digit totals are rare, but getting to 17 wins in a row may be one of those "once in a lifetime" win streaks. Twice in the last 30 years since the Penguins set the record has anyone come within a game of it, and that record has yet to fall. Who will be the next to reach the edge of 17-straight wins? Can someone tie or beat the Penguins' record in today's game? We'll have to wait and see!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!