An almost-daily column that takes a look back at how the Philadelphia Flyers have fared on this day, recalling some of the more memorable moments, achievements, and events that shaped the organization throughout the club’s storied history
The Flyers have compiled a 7-4-4-0 overall record — which includes four consecutive ties from 1973 through 1983 — in 15 all-time November 17 games over the course of franchise history heading into tonight’s clash with the Los Angeles Kings at the Wells Fargo Center on Simon Gagne Night.
This will be the second November 17 meeting between the clubs, as the first game in team history to be played on this date was with Los Angeles in a 3-1 victory over the Kings at the Spectrum back in 1968.
Some of the more memorable November 17 moments in franchise history:
1968 — Jim Johnson scored with 3:01 remaining in the third period and Bernie Parent made 30 saves as the Flyers defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 3-1, at the Spectrum.
After two scoreless periods defenseman Larry Hale scored his first NHL goal to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead 2:39 into the final session. Los Angeles’ Bob Wall tied it up with a shorthanded goal at the 7:00 mark, but Johnson connected for his sixth marker of the season before Britt Selby clinched the victory into an empty net with Kings goalie Gerry Desjardins pulled for an extra attacker with 1:22 remaining.
Parent — who had to be especially sharp in the second period, when L.A. outshot the Flyers, 12-4.– won for a fourth time in his last five decisions.
1977 — Bryan Trottier’s shot beat Bernie Parent with just 10 seconds remaining in regulation to derail a furious Flyers comeback and give the New York Islanders a 4-4 tie at the Spectrum.
Trailing 3-0 entering the final frame on a pair of goals by Mike Bossy and another from Trottier, Philadelphia stormed Isles netminder Glenn “Chico” Resch — who finished the night with 37 saves — and outshot New York by a 16-5 margin in the stanza.
Early goals from Reggie Leach and Ross Lonsberry and pulled the home team within one, before Bobby Clarke knotted things up with 4:31 left.
New York’s Bobby Nystrom was sent to the sin bin less than a minute later, and it took Bill Barber just 0:21 on the power play to capitalize and give Philadelphia their first lead of the contest at 4-3 with 3:20 remaining on the clock before Trottier’s last-second tally.
In addition to his go-ahead goal, Barber added a pair of assists, and Rick MacLeish also set up two of the third period Flyers markers.
1979 — Blair Chapman scored his second goal of the game with 2:32 remaining in the third period to lift the St. Louis Blues into a 3-3 deadlock with the Flyers at the Checkerdome.
By virtue of the draw, Philadelphia extended their undefeated streak to 14 straight games, with a 12-0-2 record during that span.
Much like the November 17 contest two years earlier against the Islanders, the Flyers spotted their opponent a multiple-goal lead heading into the third period, rallied to grab a lead, only to have a game-tying marker scored against them late in regulation time.
First period power play tallies by Chapman and Brian Sutter staked the home team to a 2-0 lead that stretched into the third period, a frame in which Philadelphia would outshoot the Blues by a wide 16-3 margin.
Defenseman Norm Barnes put the Flyers on the comeback trail, notching his third goal of the season 4:42 into the stanza. Bill Barber struck 2:11 later while Philly was skating shorthanded to knot the score at 2-2, and Reggie Leach beat St. Louis goalkeeper Mike Liut to give the Flyers their first lead of the contest with 7:49 remaining.
The marker gave Leach a point in all 14 games he had played for the season, totaling 14 goals and 23 points in all for the red-hot ‘Riverton Rifle’.
1983 — Brian Bellows beat Pelle Lindbergh with 0:20 left in regulation to give the Minnesota North Stars a come-from-behind 5-5 tie with the Flyers at the Spectrum.
Philadelphia built a three-goal lead on tallies from Tim Kerr, Rich Sutter, Ilkka Sinisalo, Brad Marsh, and Dave Poulin’s shorthanded marker at 1:08 of the third period. But Al MacAdam (4:14) and Brad Maxwell (15:52) struck to make it a 5-4 game before Bellows’ game-tying goal.
In addition to his goal, Poulin finished with three points for the Flyers, who outshot Minnesota by a 51-27 count for the contest.
Gilles Meloche came up with 46 saves for Minnesota, while Lindbergh made 22 to extend his winless skid to four straight games (0-3-1).
1984 — Derrick Smith scored 6:20 into the third period to snap a 3-3 tie and Pelle Lindbergh made 29 saves to lead the Flyers to their fifth straight win with a 5-3 triumph over the Bruins at Boston Garden.
After Rick Middleton gave the home team a 1-0 lead midway through the opening stanza, Rich Sutter and Tim Kerr scored late in the period, and Mark Howe connected to give Philadelphia a 3-1 lead just 51 seconds into the third.
Tom Fergus and Charlie Simmer scored 1:45 apart to knot the game at 3-3 before Smith’s go-ahead strike. Murray Craven added an insurance goal with 7:15 remaining.
Recording a goal and an assist in the game, it was the fifth straight contest in which Kerr posted multiple points — a stretch that saw him register 8 goals and 6 assists for 14 points, and gave Kerr 18 goals and 13 assists for 31 points in 16 games for the season.
1985 — Murray Craven scored with 1:08 left in overtime to cap a big comeback and give the Flyers a franchise record 13th consecutive victory with a 5-4 win over the New York Islanders at the Spectrum.
Having been through one of the most emotionally-wrenching weeks of their young lives following the death of Pelle Lindbergh, Philadelphia had to dig deep to keep their winning streak alive. The club pulled together to rally from a 3-0 deficit early in the second period and 4-2 at the second intermission to send the game to the extra session.
Pelle Eklund scored midway through the third frame to get the Flyers back to within a goal at 4-3, then captain Dave Poulin tied it up with 3:25 remaining in regulation.
Tim Kerr scored twice to extend his point-scoring streak to 13 games, which just so happened to coincide with the length of Philly’s winning ways. The big forward recorded 16 goals and 21 points over the 13-contest stretch, giving him 18 goals and 25 points in 17 regular season outings.
Darren Jensen made 29 saves to record his third consecutive win after being recalled from the Hershey Bears.
1997 — Following a career in which he broadcast over 2,000 NHL games and six Stanley Cup Finals, “The Voice of the Flyers”, Gene Hart, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Hart will forever be remembered for his signature “Good night, good hockey” sign-off after each game, as well as his call in the closing seconds of the Flyers first Stanley Cup championship on May 19, 1974:
“Ladies and gentlemen…the Flyers are going to win the Stanley Cup! The Flyers win the Stanley Cup! The Flyers win the Stanley Cup! The Flyers have won the Stanley Cup!”
1998 — Rod Brind’Amour scored midway through the third period to break a 1-1 deadlock and John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 25 of 26 shots as the Flyers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 4-1 count at Civic Arena.
Goals by Keith Jones and Robert Lang made it a 1-1 contest before Brind’Amour’s go-ahead tally, while markers from Eric Desjardins and John LeClair put the game out of reach.
2000 — Dan McGillis beat Milan Hnilicka 1:01 into overtime, Mark Recchi firgured in on all three Flyers goals, and Roman Cechmanek made 25 saves to lead Philadelphia to a 3-2 victory over the Thrashers in Atlanta.
Goals by Recchi (shorthanded) and Simon Gagne gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead but Atlanta’s Donald Audette scored with 1:00 remaining in regulation to send the game to the extra period.
2001 — Simon Gagne’s goal 41 seconds into the third period proved to be the game-winner and Roman Cechmanek made 33 saves to lead the Flyers to a 3-1 victory over the Devils in New Jersey.
Goals by Philly’s Jan Hlavac and New Jersey’s Bobby Holik knotted the contest after two periods, and although the Devils outshot the visitors, 13-7, in the third, shots by Gagne and Ruslan Fedotenko were the only two to find their mark in the decisive stanza.
Martin Brodeur stopped 22 of the 25 shots he faced in a losing effort.
2011 — Matt Read poked home a pass from Maxime Talbot with 18.6 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Flyers to a thrilling 2-1 triumph over the Phoenix Coyotes at the Wells Fargo Center.
It appeared as if James Van Riemsdyk’s tally in the latter half of the second period would stand up, but Mikkel Boedker‘s rebound goal at 3:38 of the third knotted the score at 1-1.
The victory was especially satisfying for Ilya Bryzgalov, as he made 30 saves against his former-teammates — some of whom leading up to the meeting had some not-so-nice things to say about their ex-goaltender, who left for greener pastures in Philadelphia during the summer — to record the win.
Pronger injured
The win would prove costly, however, as captain Chris Pronger was sent head-first into the end boards on a check from behind by Phoenix’s Martin Hanzal with just under three minutes left in regulation.
Unbeknownst to the Flyers and Pronger — playing in just his fourth game after sustaining a serious eye injury against the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 24 — was that he had suffered a severe concussion from the blow.
Pronger would suit up for the next game against the Winnipeg Jets in Manitoba on November 19 before a diagnosis was made, and the linchpin in Philadelphia’s blue line success was shut down for the rest of the season.
Little did anyone know at the time that that would be Pronger’s last NHL game.
