2 632. This is the number of consecutive baseball games Cal Ripken Jr. played over 17 MLB seasons. This is perhaps the most unbreakable record in the history of sports. But it’s baseball and, depending on what kind of crackpots are you listening to, Ripken enlisted the help of Baltimore Gas & Electric to get there. The calculation changes significantly when the sport is hockey and the lights never go out mysteriously, and that’s why Flyers defender Keith Yandle accomplished Tuesday is so damn impressive.
965 straight games spanning 12 seasons. That’s less than half of the total games and five fewer seasons than Ripken Jr., but in some ways it’s even more unthinkable. The physical strain is the big one, especially with Yandle scoring 20,877 minutes as a defender during his record series. But also because Yandle, in the true hockey spirit, did not throw some big party with fireworks and cake. He just put on a new pair of gloves and went to work.
Unfortunately for Yandle, his series coincided with another as the Flyers dropped their franchise record 13th consecutive game and fell 4-3 to the Islanders on Tuesday night. And this is the harsh reality of being the Iron Man: You’re usually on teams that suck. Good teams have depth. They shuffle their lineups. They acquire good, young talent and let the vets undergo it before they pass their expiration date. Yandle managed to keep his series on a good Panthers squad last season, but was scratched during the play-off rounds, which limited his experiences to the regular season. These pamphlets make that team look like the Y2K Red Wings.
How much more can Yandle’s stomach lose? How long can the Flyers wait until they turn the page? Big questions that require quick answers, but Philadelphia’s next game is only Saturday. At least they both have a few days to think about it.
