Anaheim sits atop the Pacific Division, and the Western Conference, and the entire NHL with 28 points this morning, following a 6-0 thrashing of a crippled Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver.
They have the league's best record, 12 wins, zero losses, and four in the "other loss" column. Their win last night caused a minor ripple by breaking a 22-year-old record for consecutive games from the start of a season without a loss in regulation. And therein lies a problem.
When the Edmonton Oilers opened the 1984-85 season on a 12-0-3 tear, it was under the old (and if I may say so, the correct, and non-confusing) system. A win equals 2 points, a tie is one point, and a loss gets you nothing. Not only did Gretzky and the boys not lose in regulation, they crushed teams on their way to the standing NHL record. As luck would have it, the Flyers, in Game 16 at the Spectrum, November 11th, 1984, stopped the streak with a come-from-behind 7-5 win.
Under the old system, the one that was unspoiled before the 1999-2000 season offered a fourth column for overtime loss points, Anaheim would have had their current streak stopped in their fourth game, a 5-4 overtime defeat at home to the New York Islanders. In modern times, the next best season-commencing streak would be the 1996-97 Florida Panthers, who opened up 8-0-4 before those streak-busting Flyers ended that run in Game 13. Since then, only the 2000-2001 Colorado Avalanche, who started 9-0-2, put together anything comparable.
Disregarding the vagaries of the standings column, the Ducks are "only" 11-4-1, with all four losses occurring in overtime, and one shootout win (over St. Louis) which should have been a 5-5 tie. Anaheim is still a formidable force, but far from record breakers, and light years from the Edmonton squad which holds the true record in any respect.
The idea that a loss is not a loss is truly ridiculous. Back in '99, the league tried to solve the problem of the avalanche of ties in recent years by awarding a point for teams that went all out in the OT, only to lose. And it bit them that next April, when Buffalo made the playoffs as an eight-seed with a winning percentage below .500, when Carolina missed out despite a record two games over .500. The reason? Buffalo had four overtime losses and the Hurricanes none.
Coming off the lockout last year, with ties eliminated, overtime and shootout losses were morphed into one spot, where ties used to be. As if anyone would, consciously or unconsciously regard non-overtime losses as non-losses simply because a point is awarded and a team's win-loss record looks suspiciously like the old win-loss-tie breakdown. A loss is a loss is a loss, and the Flyers finished last year 45-37, not the more comfortable appearing 45-26-11.
There is enough excitement back in the NHL now, even with the sudden explosion of shutouts in the early going this year, that you'll be hard pressed to find anyone to admit that they didn't get their money's worth in a 4-4, 5-5, or 6-6 tie after overtime. Gimme back my ties. Gimme back my reality, without the spike of rationalizations.
Most importantly, give the Oilers back their record.
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