Scouts & Capitals Tour of Japan, April 1976

If you're interested in the Scouts, you may know that they ended their final season with a then-record 27 game winless streak. So what would you say if I told you the Scouts won the last game they ever played?

Turns out the Scouts weren't quite done at the conclusion of the '75-'76 regular season: They had a four-game exhibition tour to play with the Washington Capitals in Japan in mid-April. It was the first time the NHL had gone to Japan, and the curious Japanese onlookers were treated to the two newest and worst teams in the league. In 2008, Guy Charron told NHL.com, "Basically, the two teams they selected...had to be pretty well out of the playoffs by a certain time."

The Scouts dropped the first three games (the first two played in Sapporo, the third in Tokyo). That means the team actually managed to run the winless streak up to an unofficial 30 games before winning the final game, played in Tokyo, 4-2. The players were awarded with watches for their victory. Here are summaries for games 2, 3 and 4:




Related article: "Capitals, Scouts Received Rare Shot at April Hockey"