2013

• Due to a 119-day lockout, the season doesn't begin until January 19. It's the third owners' lockout in Gary Bettman's commissionership. Just as it was in 1995, the regular season is reduced to 48 games, followed by a full slate of playoffs.

• The Winter Classic and the All-Star Game are cancelled as a result of the lockout.

• What better way to make things right with your fans than to go on an epic streak. The Chicago Blackhawks went through the entire first half of the shortened season without losing a single game in regulation (21 wins and three shootout losses). The 24-game points streak to start a season annihilated the previous NHL record of 16 in a row by the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks. Dating back to the end of 2011-12, they went 30 consecutive regular season games without a regulation loss (24-0-6). That's the second longest in NHL history, behind only the 35-game unbeaten streak of the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers.

• Not to be outdone by the Blackhawks, the Pittsburgh Penguins make an incredible run of their own, winning 15 consecutive games (including one shootout win), encompassing the entire month of March. It's the second-longest winning streak in NHL history, two shy of the 17 straight wins the Penguins racked up in the 1992-93 season.

• So close, yet so far away: The Columbus Blue Jackets were the worst team in the NHL in 2011-12 by a wide margin, and they looked well on their way towards being the worst in 2012-13 with a horrid 5-12-2 start. However, they turned things around in a hurry, going 19-5-5 (43 pts.) the rest of they way. To put that in perspective, the Presidents' Trophy-winning Blackhawks went 20-7-2 (42 pts.) over that very same stretch. The Blue Jackets barely missed the playoffs, losing out on the eighth seed by tiebreak to the Minnesota Wild.

• Facing elimination after blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins pull off a comeback of epic proportions. They became the first team in NHL history to win a Game Seven after trailing by three goals in the third period. They trimmed the deficit to two with under 11 minutes remaining and tied the game in the last 90 seconds by scoring two goals with six attackers. They won it in overtime on a goal by Patrice Bergeron.

• At the end of the conference semifinals, the four teams left standing -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles -- were the last four Stanley Cup champions. The only other time that happened was back in 1945.

• The Blackhawks and Bruins emerged victorious in the conference finals to set the stage for the first all-Original Six Final since 1979, which was won by Chicago in six games. In the decisive Game Six, the Blackhawks trailed 2-1 with 1:16 left in the third period, but they scored two goals 17 seconds apart to win their second Stanley Cup in four years.