Some teams are just impossible to beat, especially when they hit their stride. Hockey is one of the hardest sports to uphold a consecutive winning streak, mostly because of how many controlled variables the game offers.
Throughout NHL history, there have only been several times when a team has reached double-digit game-winning streaks, although most of them are by the same team. None, however, throughout the regular season, managed to reach 20 consecutive wins, which would be mighty impressive. That’s why, in this article, we’re outlining five of the longest winning streaks in NHL history, including what team held a winning streak, what season it occurred, and how many games they won.
While tied with the Buffalo Sabres for this record, the New York Islanders would only hit one winning streak of this caliber ever. A 15-game win streak is nothing to scoff at in the NHL, especially during the 1980s era of hockey. The Islanders would strike a 54-16-10 overall record, winning more regular season matches than any other team on this list with high winning streaks.
Although the Buffalo Sabres will slightly outdo this accomplishment by repeating a 15-game win streak two separate times, this 15-game win streak by the New York Islanders still goes down as one of the longest NHL winning streaks in history.
Just like the Islanders, the Sabres would achieve a 15-game win streak in their 2005-2006 season, although they’d repeat that same win streak the next 2006-2007 season. Mirroring back-to-back 15-game win streaks over two back-to-back seasons gives the Sabres a slight advantage over the Islander’s 1981-1982 win streak. By the end of their 2006 and 2007 seasons, they’d accomplished 52-24-6 and 53-22-7 records respectively, which overall is an insanely high win rate!
All in all, the Sabres’ efforts would be remembered as two repeated longest NHL winning streaks in history, something not so easily replicable.
We have another 16-game win streak, starting with the Edmonton Oilers by the end of their 2024 season. With a 49-27-6 record, the Oilers would go on the most modern rampant win streak of 16 games before being cut short by the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
Even so, a 16-game win streak achieved by the 2023-2024 Edmonton Oilers would be tied for second place with the Columbus Blue Jackets winning streak in 2016 to 2017.
Another incredible 16-game win streak was achieved by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2016-2017 NHL season. Much like what the Oilers would do seven years later, the Blue Jackets complete a 50-24-8 regular season record, having their streak cut short in an embarrassing 5-0 defeat to the Washington Capitals.
Overall, both the Oilers’ 2023-2024 win streak and the Blue Jackets 2016-2017 win streak are comparable to each other, as they will go down as two of the longest NHL winning streaks in history.
Currently holding the record for the longest winning streak in NHL history are the 1992-1993 Pittsburgh Penguins. This team started their dominant run with a massive 302 victory over the Boston Bruins. After winning 17 straight games, the Penguins would fall short of a record-breaking 18 wins straight with a 6-6 OT defeat to the New Jersey Devils.
The Penguins would end 51-21-7 in their regular season and would ultimately capture the number one spot for the longest winning streak in NHL history.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.