The skids of winter: Red Wings longest losing streaks

The Detroit Red Wings will be going to places and coming up against teams this week in which it hasn’t been going well for them of late.

On Wednesday, they travel to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins. Detroit is 1-5 in the last six games played at Pittsburgh.

The Red Wings are welcoming the Ottawa Senators for their annual New Year’s Eve game. Detroit is 0-4-1 in the past five games against the Senators.

Bring in 2023 with excitement at Little Caesars Arena for the annual New Year’s Eve Celebration and cheer on your #RedWings as they host the Ottawa Senators!

🎟️: https://t.co/nfquU8eoSM pic.twitter.com/ev0dMobe48

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 23, 2022

Next month, there’s two games on the slate facing another of Detroit’s Atlantic Division rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs. That could be more bad news. In this era of 3-on-3 overtime and the shootout, the Leafs have won eight straight games against Detroit in regulation time.

While that seems like a lot, the fact of the matter is it isn’t even close to regisitering as the most games in a row that Detroit has dropped in regulation time to the same opponent. Eight isn’t even enough to crack the top three.

Without further ado, a rundown of the longest regulation-time losing streaks against one team in franchise history.

13 Games

Red Wings vs. Edmonton Oilers (March 19, 1983 to March 11, 1987)

This stretch started with a wild 9-7 Oilers victory at Edmonton. The Oilers scored at least six goals in 10 of the victories. highlighted by a 12-3 drubbing at Edmonton on March 14, 1986. Oilers captain Wayne Gretzky enjoyed what would be a pretty good season for a lot of players. The Great One accounted for 15-36-51 totals during this 13-game stretch.

Detroit vs Chicago Blackhawks (April 8, 1970 to January 3, 1972)

A four-game sweep of their Stanley Cup quarter-final series in which all games ended 4-2 was launching this Chicago run of success against Detroit. The streak didn’t end with a win by the Wings, but rather via a 3-3 tie on February 12, 1972. Chicago would then rattle off another six successive victories before a 2-0 Detroit shutout at Chicago Stadium on March 13, 1973 gave the Red Wings their first win over the Blackhawks in nearly three years.

9 Games

Red Wings vs Boston Bruins (October 11, 1970 to March 4, 1972)

For nearly two full NHL seasons, Detroit lost every game to Boston. It began with a 7-3 Bruins triumph. Seven of the nine wins by Boston featured margins of 4+ goals, including an 11-4 rout on March 16, 1971.

8 Games

Detroit vs Toronto Maple Leafs (October 12, 2019 to November 28, 2022)

Their last meeting, a 4-2 Leafs victory at Little Caesars Arena, was the second-closest game of the eight-game Toronto run. There was a 5-4 Toronto win in the first game between the two teams last season. Of course, the 2021-22 campaign also featured a 10-7 shootout at LCA.

Red Wings vs Montreal Canadiens (November 30, 2017 to March 12, 2019)

The losing skid was actually nine games, but started with a 3-2 OT loss on April 8, 2017, so that doesn’t count in this scheme of things. Detroit suffered a 10-1 loss at Montreal on December 2, 2017 during this slide. Since ending the skid, the Wings are 5-2-1 in eight games against the Canadiens.

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Detroit vs Chicago Blackhawks (April 10, 1985 to January 19, 1986)

Much like the 13-game skid of the 1970s, this one began with a Chicago sweep of a best-of-five playoff series. The Blackhawks outscored the Wings 56-25 during the run, never tallying fewer than six times during any of the eight games.

Red Wings vs Minnesota North Stars (Janaury 18, 1983 to January 21, 1984)

Following a 4-1 Detroit victory on December 10, 1981, the Wings went 0-7-2 in the next nine games against the North Stars. The eight-game skid began with a 3-2 loss at Minnesota. A 6-4 Detroit win at Minnesota on February 11, 1984 ended what overall was an 0-15-2 winless skid against the North Stars.

Detroit vs Boston Bruins (February 12, 1929 to March 15, 1930)

Detroit’s NHL team was still known as the Cougars when this slide occurred. A 1-0 loss at Boston began the skid. Detroit scored two or fewer goals in seven of the eight losses. A 2-2 on November 3, 1930 in what was Detroit’s first game against the Bruins as the Falcons ended Boston’s rule.