Chicago Black Hawks' Scooter Line

The Florida Panthers have won the first 10 home games, and with a win tonight against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers can match the NHL record for longest home winning streak to start the season.

The record is held by the 1963-64 Chicago Black Hawks, as they were worded back then. The Hawks were powered by the Scooter Line, shown here on this Sports Illustrated cover. In that 11 game win streak let winger Bobby Hull had 10 goals and 21 points. Right winger Kenny Wharram, a real speedster, had 10 goals and 20 points. Center Stan Mikita had 9 goals and 20 points. 

That was a powerful Hawks team. Hull would end up leading the entire league in goals with 43. Both Mikita and Wharram had 39 goals. Mikita was the playmaker of the line and finished with 89 points, enough to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league's scoring leader. Not surprisingly the Hawks led the entire NHL in goals tallied that year.

The Hawks also had Pierre Pilote on the blue line, one of the game's all time great two way defenders. But despite his presence and having the great Glenn Hall in nets, the Hawks ultimately could not win a playoff series that year. They lacked the depth to support their star players.

The following year the Hawks would land Doug Mohns, who sometimes played defense and sometimes played forward. When he played forward with the Hawks, he replaced Hull on the Scooter Line, while Hull tried meshing with a young center named Phil Esposito.