Start of the Blackhawks Dynasty, Part 6: Nine-game winning streak

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In a 10-part series, we look back at the 10-year anniversary of the 2008-09 season, the start of the Blackhawks dynasty.

After opening the year winless (0-2-1) and making an early season coaching change, the Blackhawks started to turn it around and played more consistent hockey under Joel Quenneville. But it took them a bit to really get going, finishing with a 10-6-6 record through the first two months of the season.

Then the calendar flipped to December. That's when the Blackhawks began to click on all cylinders, which was exciting to watch in Chicago and scary for the rest of the NHL. They were arriving.

From Dec. 7-28, the Blackhawks won nine consecutive contests, which set a new franchise record at the time. During that run, they had an astounding plus-28 goal differential, allowed only one goal or fewer in six of them, killed off 29 of 30 penalties (96.7 percent), converted on 11 of 44 power play opportunities (25 percent) and had 15 different players find the back of the net.

"I think every team in the NHL is concerned about the Chicago Blackhawks," Blackhawks TV analyst Steve Konroyd said during a postgame show at the time. "They're making noise and it's league-wide noise."

Did they ever.

It was the first time we truly saw the Blackhawks firing in every facet of the game and what they could do when playing their best and at full strength. The first of many over the next decade.

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