Worst Stretch of "X" games

[DJ Man]

Nothing record breaking, but I remember the Chicago Black Hawks in 1967-68.

In 1966-67 they won their first NHL regular season title. 1967-68 saw the big expansion, with the league doubling in size. Here's how the Hawks began their title defense.

Opened with a road loss to New York, 6-3.
Next, they lost at Toronto 5-1.
Toronto then beat them at home. 5-3.
Boston also beat them at home, 7-1.
They visited Pittsburgh, an expansion team, and lost 4-2.
Next they hosted another new team, Los Angeles, and lost 5-3.

That’s an 0-6 start, being outscored 32-13.

They followed with a tie; (finally) a win (over the new Minnesota team) and lost again. That’s 1-7-1.

They improved at this point, though they didn’t beat an established team until Game #12, and didn’t even their record until Game #21. The team finished fourth in the Eastern Division and thus just made the playoffs.

 

[The Panther]

Just for fun: The 1990-91 Oilers (last season of the "dynasty era" guys) started the season 2-11-2. Later, they made the Conference Finals.

The following year, 1991-92, after they'd purged the team of a bunch of Hall of Famers and their head coach, they started the season 7-13-3. Later, they made the Conference Finals.

 

[shadow1]

This is a bigger sample size, but the 2010-2011 Avalanche were sitting 24-16-6 in mid January.

Their second act was a thing of beauty: 6-28-2, while getting outscored 135-66.

 

[seventieslord]

This is a bigger sample size, but the 2010-2011 Avalanche were sitting 24-16-6 in mid January.

Their second act was a thing of beauty: 6-28-2, while getting outscored 135-66.

Reminds me of the 2014-15 Leafs: 19-10-2 before going 11-34-6 (102 GF, 175 GA)

 

[reckoning]

Nothing will beat Washington, but I found a couple of horrible 6 game stretches:

72-73 Islanders: Early in the season after defeating the Seals, they were outscored 36-7 over their next 6 games.

76-77 Detroit: They ended the year on a 19 game winless streak, but in that span they had a 6 game stretch where they were outscored by a total of 28-3, including a 6-1 loss to the lowly Capitals.

 

[c9777666]

The 2011-12 Wild had a fast start (20-7-3). They won only 15 out of a possible 52 games the rest of the year and didn’t even finish above .500

 

[The Panther]

Quebec c. late-80s/early-90s was just brutal. And 1989-90 was the 'peak' of brutality.

In Jan./Feb. 1990 they endured an 11-game losing streak, during which they were outscored 74 to 28.

(28 goals scored in 11 games doesn't sound so bad nowadays, but how the heck does a non-expansion team [with Joe Sakic] allow 74 goals in 11 games? Yikes.)

Anyway, this stretch included 6 games in which the Nordiques were outscored 38 to 11.

 

[c9777666]

Quebec c. late-80s/early-90s was just brutal. And 1989-90 was the 'peak' of brutality.

In Jan./Feb. 1990 they endured an 11-game losing streak, during which they were outscored 74 to 28.

(28 goals scored in 11 games doesn't sound so bad nowadays, but how the heck does a non-expansion team [with Joe Sakic] allow 74 goals in 11 games? Yikes.)

Anyway, this stretch included 6 games in which the Nordiques were outscored 38 to 11.

Amazingly, the game before the 11 game skid, they scored 8 goals in a win at a playoff team in Winnipeg

 

[Normand Lacombe]

Yikes! Did Harold Snepts shave off his porn-'stache or something?

The 1985-86 Flames were a weird one. They started the season 17-8-3, and weren't that far behind Edmonton in the Smythe. Then, out of nowhere, they suddenly lost 11 games in a row! Then, they made the Finals.

Agree that Calgary's streak was strange. 7 of the 11 games lost were by one goal and 3 games were lost by three goals. Only blowout was a 9-1 home loss to Hartford. Just a guess on my part, but it seemed like the Flames would make a crucial mistake at the most inopportune time and the opposing team would capitalize.

 

[The Panther]

Agree that Calgary's streak was strange. 7 of the 11 games lost were by one goal and 3 games were lost by three goals. Only blowout was a 9-1 home loss to Hartford. Just a guess on my part, but it seemed like the Flames would make a crucial mistake at the most inopportune time and the opposing team would capitalize.

Yes, I think you're right. What was often noted at the time was that GM Cliff Fletcher did nothing during the 11 game slide. No trades, or shake-ups. I'm not even sure if they changed the starting line-ups.

Peter Chiarelli probably would have traded Al MacInnis and Hakan Loob for an 8th-round draft choice.