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Or as Manti Te'o would say, a "faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar" more impressive streak. I'm of course referencing the "comparison" that was being discussed on the Mother Ship and the reliably asinine commentary we should expect from one Stephen A. Smith, who was promptly and justifiably ridiculed. As this post on the HockeyWriters.com noted, whereas the Blackhawks have been setting various NHL league records, Miami's then 14-game winning streak at the time was fairly modest in comparison to a number of other NBA winning streaks in recent years. But, you know, "ties."
Look, I get that there's always some grumbling in sports when a teams record has to include a second hyphen and a third digit, usually to denote "ties" if we're talking about, say, the NFL. But this is hockey, and ever since the lost 2004-05 season, shootouts have been used to settle games tied after 60 minutes of play. And sure, as the great Bob Verdi once wrote, awarding a point in the NHL to a team just for forcing overtime was "piling mistakes upon errors" in the grand scheme of changes enacted for regular season games when hockey returned.
Still, absolutely none of that detracts from what this team has accomplished thus far. We are now halfway through a shortened regular season and the Blackhawks still have yet to lose a hockey game. Sure, Chicago has lost three skills contests. Whatever that's worth. Considering that the gimmick disappears once the playoffs begin, I'm going to say "not a whole helluva lot." Right now, I find it hard to believe that any team in the league stands much of a chance in a seven-game series with this Blackhawks team.
Under any other circumstances, I might be worrying about a possible President's Cup jinx. Instead, I have just been enjoying the hell out of a season that has become night after night of can't-miss hockey. Every time Chicago has a one-goal deficit, it has now become just a matter of wondering how much time will be left on the clock when they tie it up. Then whether they'll score again before overtime.
The last game against Colorado had its share of scary minutes. The elbow Andrew Shaw took to the head and the shoulder "upper body injury" Patrick Sharp sustained. Still, the prospect of injuries was a matter of when, not if. Even then, the Blackhawks seem deep enough to be able to carry on rather successfully even without one or two everyday players. The penalty kill continues to be tits, the defense is helping Chicago put more shots on goal in almost every game and—perhaps most surprisingly of all—not one, but two of the best goaltenders in the league. Both Corey Crawford and Ray Emery have been absolutely sensational thus far, wildly exceeding my fairly low expectations heading into this season. I expected the boys in between the pipes to be more of a weakness than anything, but they have instead turned into an obvious strength, owners of two of the six best GAAs in the NHL.
As thrilling as this undefeated point streak is, I am encouraged that the captain is keeping the whole thing in proper perspective: "It is an exciting thing, but we know that if we don't use this confidence for something greater in the postseason, people will forget about what happened at the start of the season pretty quickly."
PHOTO IN GRAPHIC TAKEN FROM HERE
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