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How Toronto security ruined Steven Stamkos' 18 game point streak.
Eric Canha/CSM/Zuma  

How Toronto security ruined Steven Stamkos' 18 game point streak.

Stamkos shares the inside details.

Jonathan Larivee

On Saturday night, Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Mitch Marner cemented his name in Maple Leafs' history when he recorded a point for the 19th consecutive game this season, this after tying Maple Leafs legends Eddie Olczyk and Darryl Sittler when he reached an 18 game point steak earlier in the week.

Over a decade earlier though there was another young man who was setting an 18 game point streak of his own, a young man who also just so happens to be from Markham, Ontario. That young man was Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos but he never did reach the 19 consecutive game plateau that Marner achieved on Saturday.

Recently though Stamkos revealed the reason that he believes he failed to extend that point streak, one that he set back during the 2009-2010 National Hockey League regular season, and in a bizarre twist of fate there is a Toronto connection to the story. Stamkos would reveal that, even now a decade later, he holds thieves in Toronto responsible for putting an end to his incredible point streak.

“I remember it like it was yesterday," said Stamkos of his streak ending. "Because my sticks got stolen after the game at the Toronto airport by Toronto security and then I didn’t get a point the next game, so I remember that pretty clear.”

It's wild to think that someone's personal greed could have put an end to such a historic run for Stamkos, and it is clear that it still irks him to this day given the way he talks about the memory. Can't say that I blame the Lightning captain one bit for feeling as aggrieved as he does about how his own streak came to an end.