Winning one game in the modern NHL is hard enough. Between the parity created by the salary cap, the grueling travel schedules, and the sheer randomness of a puck bouncing off a defenseman’s skate, stringing together victories feels like trying to walk a tightrope in a hurricane. But when we talk about the longest win streak nhl fans still obsess over, we aren't just talking about a hot week. We are talking about the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins. Seventeen games. No losses. No ties. Just straight dominance for over a month of hockey.
It hasn't been matched since. Honestly, it might never be.
You’ve probably seen teams get close. The 2016-17 Columbus Blue Jackets teased us with 16 wins. The 2023-24 Edmonton Oilers went on a tear that had everyone checking the record books again. But the Penguins' mark stands as this weird, untouchable monolith in hockey history. It’s not just about the number 17; it’s about the context of how they did it and why the modern game makes that specific mountain so much harder to climb.
The 17-Game Gauntlet: How the 1992-93 Penguins Did It
To understand the longest win streak nhl history has ever produced, you have to look at that Pittsburgh roster. It was absurd. Mario Lemieux was at the absolute peak of his powers, which is terrifying considering he was also battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma that same season. You had Jaromir Jagr, Rick Tocchet, Ron Francis, and Kevin Stevens. This wasn't a team; it was an All-Star lineup playing in their prime.
The streak started on March 9, 1993, with a 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins. It didn't end until the final game of the regular season, a 6-6 tie against the New Jersey Devils.
Wait. A tie?
Yeah. Back then, there was no shootout. No 3-on-3 overtime. If you were even after five minutes of 5-on-5 extra time, the game just ended. The Penguins technically went unbeaten in 18 games, but the winning streak stopped at 17 because of that stalemate with New Jersey. If that game happened today, with the wide-open space of 3-on-3, there's a good chance Mario or Jagr would have found a way to make it 18.
During those 17 games, Pittsburgh outscored their opponents 96 to 48. They didn't just win; they embarrassed people. They scored an average of 5.6 goals per game. Think about that. In today’s NHL, if a team scores five goals, they usually feel safe. The ’93 Pens were doing that as a baseline.
Why 17 is the Magic Number (And why 16 hurts so much)
The 2016-17 Columbus Blue Jackets are the "what if" of this conversation. Under John Tortorella, they ripped off 16 straight wins. They were a completely different beast than the Penguins—less "pure skill" and more "relentless pressure." They had Sergei Bobrovsky playing out of his mind in net.
They got to 16. They were one game away from tying the record. Then they ran into the Washington Capitals on January 5, 2017. They lost 5-0.
It was a blunt reminder of how fragile a streak is. You need everything to go right. You need your goalie to bail you out on a night where the skaters have "heavy legs." You need the referees to miss a marginal high-sticking call in the third period. You need the post to be your best friend. Columbus had all of that for 16 games, and then, suddenly, they didn't.
More recently, the 2023-24 Edmonton Oilers made a massive run. After a disastrous start to the season that saw their coach fired, Connor McDavid and company decided they simply weren't going to lose anymore. They hit 16 wins. The hype was unreal. People were already printing the "17" graphics. Then they went to Vegas. The Golden Knights, the defending champs at the time, played a perfect defensive game and snapped the streak.
It’s the parity. That’s the culprit.
The Salary Cap and the Death of the "Super Team" Streak
If you look at the list of the longest win streaks in NHL history, a lot of them happened before the 2005 lockout.
- 1992-93 Penguins: 17 games
- 1981-82 Islanders: 15 games
- 2016-17 Blue Jackets: 16 games
- 2023-24 Oilers: 16 games
- 1929-30 Bruins: 14 games
The 1982 Islanders were in the middle of a dynasty. They won four straight Stanley Cups. In that era, the gap between the best team and the worst team was a canyon. If the Islanders played the Colorado Rockies (the 80s version) or the Hartford Whalers on a Tuesday night, the result was almost a foregone conclusion.
Today? The "worst" team in the league—the one sitting in the basement with a 20% winning percentage—still has a roster full of NHL players who can shut you down. On any given night, a backup goalie can have the game of his life.
The salary cap has flattened the talent. You can't just stack five Hall of Famers on one power play unit anymore without sacrificing your entire fourth line and bottom defensive pair. This makes the longest win streak nhl chase more of a grind than a sprint.
The Psychological Toll of the Streak
Ask any player who has been in the middle of a 10-plus game run, and they’ll tell you the same thing: it’s exhausting.
Not physically—though the schedule is brutal—but mentally.
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Every morning skate, there are more cameras. Every interview is about the record. The pressure shifts from "let's win this game" to "let's not be the guys who blow the streak." It’s a subtle shift in mindset that leads to "playing not to lose" instead of "playing to win."
When the Penguins were doing it in '93, they were almost arrogant. They knew they were better. When the Blue Jackets or Oilers did it, you could see the weight of the streak starting to press down on them by game 14 or 15. The media circus becomes a distraction. Opposing teams start circle-ing the date on their calendar because they want to be the "streak busters." There is a target on your back that grows larger with every win.
Is the Record Actually Unbreakable?
Nothing is truly unbreakable in sports, but this one is close.
To break 17, you don't just need to be the best team in the league. You need a perfect storm. You need a schedule that favors you—maybe a long homestand against non-playoff teams. You need a power play that is clicking at 30% or higher. And you need a goalie who is essentially a brick wall for an entire month.
Interestingly, the "loser point" (the point given for an overtime loss) actually makes winning streaks harder to sustain. In the old days, teams might take more risks in a tie game late in the third period. Now, there is a massive incentive to play it safe, get to overtime, and secure that one point. This leads to more games going to the coin-flip of a shootout, where a team's win streak can be ended by a single creative deke from a depth player who has three goals all year.
Misconceptions About "Unbeaten" vs. "Winning"
People often confuse a winning streak with an unbeaten streak. These are very different animals.
The 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers hold the record for the longest unbeaten streak. They went 35 games without a loss. That is a staggering number. However, that streak included 10 ties.
In the modern era, "unbeaten" isn't really a thing because every game has a winner. You either win or you lose (even if the loss happens in OT). So, while the Flyers' 35-game run is legendary, it’s a relic of a different points system. When we look for the longest win streak nhl fans actually care about, we want the "W" column to be the only thing that moves.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Bettors
If you’re watching a team start to climb the ladder toward 10 or 12 wins, there are a few things to look for that signal whether the streak has legs or is about to collapse:
- PDO (The Luck Metric): Look at a team's shooting percentage plus their save percentage. If it’s way above 100 (like 105 or higher), they are "getting lucky." A regression is coming. If a team is winning because their goalie is making 45 saves a night, the streak is fragile.
- The "Third Game in Four Nights" Trap: NHL scheduling often involves clusters of games. Most long streaks die on the tail end of a back-to-back or during the third game in four nights, especially if travel is involved.
- Injuries to "Glue" Players: It’s rarely the superstar injury that kills a streak. It’s the loss of the top-pair defensive defenseman or the best penalty killer. When the structure of the team cracks, the wins stop.
- Opponent Motivation: Watch for when the streaking team plays a rival or a team fighting for a playoff spot. Those teams will play with a playoff intensity that usually breaks the rhythm of a streaking squad.
The 17-game mark by the 1992-93 Penguins is a testament to a specific era of hockey—an era of high scoring, legendary superstars, and a lack of the parity we see today. It remains the gold standard. Whether it’s broken or not, the chase itself provides the most compelling drama in the regular season.
Keep an eye on the schedule. Watch for the teams that find that rare, elusive chemistry where they forget how to lose. Just don't expect them to hit 18. The math, the logic, and the history of the game are all working against them.