Bobby Clarke won two Stanley Cups with the Philadelphia Flyers and played a key role in helping them set a new record in 1979-80 with their 35-game points streak.
Fast forward to last night, when the Chicago Blackhawks came from behind to extend their current points streak to 30 contests, dating back to last season.
Clarke thinks “all the records should be challenged and beaten by new generations,” but he argues that the Blackhawks aren’t as close to besting his team’s mark as people are giving them credit for.
“They can’t use last year’s games, that’s foolishness,” Clarke said in an NHL.com report. “Can Sidney Crosby go back and take the points he got in the last 10 games and add them to this year and add them to the scoring race? Can the Flyers add their point total from the last 10 games and add them to this year so they can get a playoff spot?
“It’s legitimate if they do it in one season. It’s not legitimate if they use two season totals.”
Chicago hasn’t lost in regulation through 24 games this season. That not only shatters the previous record for the best points streak to start a campaign, it also extends through half of their schedule. They have nearly double the points of the ninth place squad in the Western Conference.
Still, regardless of when the Blackhawks streak started, Clarke isn’t going to mope if his squad loses the record.
“Whatever Chicago does, it didn’t take away from what Philadelphia did,” Clarke said. “The players that were part of the Flyers in those days can still enjoy what we did and celebrate what we did.”