Column: Pittsburgh Penguins' streak more impressive than Miami Heat's

While everyone was getting caught up in the Miami Heat’s unbelievable streak, there had been a more impressive one going on in hockey.

The Pittsburgh Penguins just had their 15-game win streak snapped  in a 4-1 loss to Buffalo last night. The streak was just two short of the NHL record the franchise set in the 1992-93 season.

It’s hard to compare win streaks in two different sports, and 27 is a lot more than 15.

But there are plenty of factors that go into the Penguins streak that makes it more
impressive.

First, take into account how many one-goal games the Penguins have been a part of.
In their 15-game streak, nine of those games were decided by a single goal, and there were two other games where the Penguins added an empty-net goal to win by two.

I believe it is much more difficult to win a close hockey game than a close basketball game. Goals are a lot harder to come by than baskets.

Second, consider how hard it is to build a hockey streak.

It may seem as though hockey streaks are just like any other, but the truth is they aren’t.

All it takes to end a win streak in the NHL is one bad performance from your goalie.

Now, the Penguins did allow three or more goals in their first four games of the streak, but since then they haven’t allowed more than two goals in a single game.

On top of that, starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was injured a few games ago, and backup Tomas Vokoun has not allowed a goal since he replaced Fleury.

Third, the Penguins are getting help from everywhere.

While the Heat’s streak was centered around the play of LeBron and Wade, the Penguins haven’t had a single player score for them or come up big for them.

In the Penguins’ last game, Sidney Crosby went down with an injury, but it was Matt Cooke and James Neal stepping up in his absence and providing goals.

Pittsburgh has even missed other big names such as Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang for different stretches of this streak.

Fourth, I consider the NHL schedule the Penguins have taken part of to be more grueling than that of the Heat.

Pittsburgh has had to play seven games against the top six teams in the Eastern Conference and 15 games overall in 29 days.

It’s difficult to be sharp night in, night out when you play so many games in such a short amount of time.

Now, this is not at all a knock on the Heat. They pulled off something we may not see again for 30 years.

Then again, the Penguins are doing that, too.

Their 17-game streak from 20 years ago has held up as the all-time NHL record. That was a team that saw Jaromir Jagr score 94 points and finish fifth in points among his
teammates.

That team was legendary.

Maybe this Penguins team is the same way.

But the one thing that the ’92-’93 Penguins didn’t do was win the Stanley Cup.

The one thing in common with this year’s Heat and Penguins: both these streaks will mean nothing if they don’t finish the season as champions.