During their current run of sustained success, the Chicago Blackhawks are used to making history, but the feat that they accomplished on Tuesday night is not one that they’ll want to brag about.
That’s because the Blackhawks’ loss to the Minnesota Wild was their fifth of the season to their Central Division rivals, giving Minnesota a season sweep over Chicago. That sweep of five or more games is the first one the Blackhawks have suffered in nearly 80 years.
In fact, the last time the Blackhawks were swept in a season series of five or more games was all the way back in the 1938-39 season. In that season, the Hawks lost all eight games they played against the Boston Bruins, marking one of three times in team history that they’d been swept by an opponent.
Of course, that 1938-39 season did have a striking similarity to this one: the Blackhawks were the defending Stanley Cup champions that season, and before their 2015 triumph, the 1938 Cup was the last time they had won the championship on home ice.
Those facts are more striking than another mark that the Blackhawks set on Tuesday: they have now lost 11 straight games against the teams that are currently in Western Conference playoff spots. Ouch.