December 15, 2016
With a 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche late Wednesday night in Denver, the Philadelphia Flyers won their 10th straight game, the first time that has happened since November 11th, 1985. The Orange and Black stretched that particular winning streak out to 13 games, a franchise record.
That’s a long time ago! And as you can see, the current team was pretty gassed after making it to 10 wins.
Just to prove that it was in fact, a long time ago, I thought we would compare what was going on with the Flyers and around the world the last time the Orange and Black won 10 straight games.
| 1985 | 2016 | |
| Flyers captain | Dave Poulin | Claude Giroux |
| Top-rated TV show | The Cosby Show | Empire |
| Flyers coach | Mike Keenan | Dave Hakstol |
| Box office #1 | Rocky IV | Moana |
| Best picture | Out of Africa | Spotlight |
| Flyers leading scorer | Brian Propp | Jake Voracek |
| Scoring margin during streak | 55-27 | 36-22 |
| U.S. President | Ronald Reagan | Barack Obama |
| Donald Trump | "No politics for me" | President-elect |
| Flyers top defenseman | Mark Howe | Ivan Provorov |
| Defending NCAA basketball champs | Villanova | Villanova |
| Eagles quarterback | Ron Jaworski | Carson Wentz |
| Eagles place in NFC East | 4th | 4th |
| Ron Hextall | Hershey Bears goaltender | Flyers GM |
| Win #10 | vs. Bruins | at Avalanche |
| Billboard #1 single | Miami Vice Theme | Black Beatles |
| Record of the year | What's Love Got to Do with It | Uptown Funk |
| Fortune 500 #1 | Exxon Mobil | Walmart |
| SI Sportsperson of the year | Kareem-Abdul Jabbar | LeBron James |
| Defending Super Bowl champs | 49ers | Broncos |
| Flyers arena | The Spectrum | Wells Fargo Center |
| Middleweight boxing champ | Marvin Hagler | Canelo Alvarez |
| WWE champ | Hulk Hogan | AJ Styles |
| Popular video game | Super Mario Bros. | Overwatch |
| Apple release | Macintosh XL | iPhone 7 |
| Flyers playoff finish | First-round loss | ???? |
Tragically, Flyers goaltender Pelle Lindbergh died in a car accident after their 10th consecutive win in 1985.
According to the Daily News’ Bob Vetrone Jr. (who knows these things better than anyone), there have been 41 double-digit win streaks in the history of the four major sports in Philadelphia:
Philly's 41 double-digit win streaks -- https://t.co/xvfjDPv2sV https://t.co/7GAHz3Hrca
— Bob Vetrone Jr. (@BoopStats) December 15, 2016
“I’ve never won 10 in a row in any league, nevermind the NHL,” Wayne Simmonds said after the game. “So that’s pretty special.”
So you know, enjoy this one. The Flyers will try to make 11 straight on Saturday in Dallas against the Stars, who they knocked off in comeback fashion just last week.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
