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 recorded an 8-7-2-1 mark in 18 November 3 tilts over the course of franchise history heading into tonight’s contest against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place. The club has won just once in its last five games played on this date (1-2-1-1), with the last being a 4-3 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils in 2011.
Some of the more memorable moments in franchise history from November 3:
1968 –Jim Johnson snapped a 2-2 deadlock with less than 10 minutes remaining in the third period to cap a come-from-behind 3-2 Flyers triumph over the Montreal Canadiens at the Spectrum.
Henri Richard and Andre Lacroix traded first period goals but the Philadelphia had no answer for Jean Beliveau’s marker in the middle frame, giving Rogie Vachon and the Habs a 2-1 advantage before Simon Nolet knotted things up early in the third.
Bernie Parent turned aside 33 of 35 Canadiens shots to pick up the victory, including all 12 he faced in the crucial final stanza.
1974 — Defenseman Jimmy Watson notched his first NHL two-goal game — including the game-winning goal midway through regulation — and Bernie Parent made 28 saves to lead the Flyers to a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders at the Spectrum.
Bob Bourne staked the visitors to an early first period lead, before Gary Dornhoefer tied things up by beating Billy Smith less than 10 minutes later.
Watson tallied the go-ahead marker midway through the middle session, before adding an insurance goal with less than five minutes left in regulation time.
The triumph gave Parent a five-game personal winning streak and left him undefeated in six (5-0-1), while improving his record for the year to 6-2-1.
1977 — Goals by Bob Kelly, Bill Barber, and Mel Bridgman staked the Flyers to a 3-0 lead after two periods as they cruised to a convincing 4-1 domination over the Washington Capitals at the Spectrum.
Washington’s Bernie Wolfe was the far busier of the two goaltending Bernies as Philadelphia outshot the Caps by a lopsided 17-1 margin in the second period alone, and held a wide 26-5 advantage in that department heading into the final stanza.
Joe Watson added a third period marker, while Bill Riley ruined Bernie Parent’s shutout bid with a goal just under five minutes into the frame.
1979 — Bill Barber broke a 3-3 third period tie and the Flyers came up with a huge effort in the final 20 minutes to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 at the Forum for their fourth win in a row, and to keep their unbeaten streak alive at eight straight (7-0-1).
Mel Bridgman gave the visitors a lead midway through the opening period, but Guy Lafleur and Pierre Mondou answered for Les Habitants less than four minutes apart late in the stanza to give Montreal a 2-1 edge at the first intermission.
Goaltenders Phil Myre and Michel “Bunny” Larocque — who came on in relief of injured Habs starter Denis Herron — would make that score hold up through a scoreless second, setting up a wild final 20 minutes.
Philadelphia came out pressing from the start and carried play throughout, outshooting the home squad by a 19-5 count. Defenseman Norm Barnes knotted the score only 1:24 in, and Al Hill gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead a little more three minutes later before Mark Napier evened things up again less than two minutes after Hill’s strike.
Barber provided the game-winner and Reggie Leach added an insurance marker with less than two minutes remaining to stun the Canadiens and their fans as ‘The Streak’ remained intact.
The extent of Herron’s injury wasn’t known at the time, but he would again leave during the game in his next start against the St. Louis Blues and it would be determined that he had suffered a broken collar bone.
How did it happen? One of the game’s participants remembers it rather vividly.
“I got a shot off from the wing, and it broke Denis Herron’s collar bone,” Barber recalled in an exclusive 2013 interview on ‘The Streak’. “‘Bunny’ Larocque came in and finished the game, and we went on to win.”
Another key member of that 1979/80 club said the group often found themselves in difficult spots, but seemed to find a way to pull through adversity.
“We had some close games, but always found a way to deliver under pressure,” Brian Propp — then a rookie — told me in an exclusive 2013 interview regarding the legendary undefeated stretch of games.
1983 — The Flyers received goals from five different goal scorers, but it wasn’t enough as Brian MacLellan scored four times to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 6-5 win at the Spectrum.
By virtue of racking up 10 PIMs with a fighting major and a spearing major 14:33 into the opening period, Paul Holmgren passed Andre “Moose” Dupont as the franchise’s all-time penalty minute leader with 1,513 (Dupont had 1,505).
Darryl Sittler also recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick — his second with Philadelphia — posting an assist and fight in the first period, and a goal in the middle stanza.
1984 –Tim Kerr scored two power play goals and added a pair of helpers, while Pelle Lindbergh turned away 23 of 24 shots to lead the Flyers to a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota North Stars at the Spectrum.
Rookie Peter Zezel, Ron Sutter, and defenseman Thomas Eriksson also scored for Philadelphia, while defensive partners Mark Howe and Brad McCrimmon each contributed a pair of assists to the winning cause.
The two-goal effort was Kerr’s fourth of the young season, and gave the big forward 12 goals and 21 points in the first 12 games.
1985 — Tim Kerr notched his eighth career regular season hat trick and Peter Zezel posted a Gordie Howe hat trick, to lead the Flyers to a 7-4 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings in a fight-filled affair at the Spectrum.
Goals from Ilkka Sinisalo and Kerr just over a minute apart midway through the opening frame gave the home team a quick 2-0 lead, but L.A. replied with a fast pair from Phil Sykes and Tiger Williams in 1:03 to tie it at the first intermission.
Defenseman Jay Wells gave the Kings their first lead via the man advantage early in the middle stanza, but Philly came roaring back with goals from Rich Sutter, Kerr, and Zezel to take a 5-3 lead into the final period.
Derrick Smith and Kerr — completing the hat trick with 2:00 left — extended the lead to 7-3, before former-Flyer Paul Guay closed out the scoring 0:12 after Kerr’s hat trick marker.
Zezel had a goal and a pair of helpers for the contest, then went toe-to-toe with Williams — one of the toughest customers ever to lace ’em up — in the third period.
There were 12 fighting majors in all, including three apiece to Philadelphia enforcer Dave Brown and Kings’ blue liner Wells. The two dropped the mitts with one another on a trio of occasions — twice in the opening session and once midway through regulation — to draw automatic game misconducts for their efforts.
Pelle Lindbergh made 18 saves to record his fourth consecutive win, while Los Angeles’ Bob Janecyk stopped 30 of 37 Philly offerings to take the loss.
1997 — Eric Lindros scored twice as part of a four-goal Flyers’ first period and Garth Snow turned away 27 of 28 shots in a 5-1 triumph over the St. Louis Blues at the Kiel Center.
Goals from Rod Brind’Amour and Dainius Zubrus staked the visitors to a 2-0 lead before Lindros beat St. Louis starter Grant Fuhr twice within a 4:16-span late in the opening frame.
Blair Atcheynum got the Blues on the board midway through regulation, before John LeClair closed out the scoring with the lone tally of the third.
Zubrus — taking up the right wing side in place of the departed Mikael Renberg on a line with Lindros and LeClair — finished the contest with a pair of helpers in addition to his goal, giving him three goals and 11 points in nine games in which he had appeared with having missed seven with a lingering hand injury.
The line finished with four goals and three assists for seven points total (Zubrus goal, two assists — Lindros two goals — LeClair goal, assist).
1998 — Spurred on by Eric Lindros’ goal and pair of assists, the Flyers raced out to leads of 3-0 and 4-2, but Maxim Galanov scored his first two NHL goals — with the second coming with 5:24 left in regulation — to forge a 4-4 deadlock with the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Igloo.
1999 — John LeClair scored his second goal with 4.1 seconds left in the second period to lift the Flyers into a come-from-behind 3-3 tie with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.
Trailing 3-2 in the closing seconds of the middle frame, Eric Lindros gained the Anaheim zone with speed and was taken down by Jason Marshall with 0:09 left. Lindros won the ensuing faceoff to LeClair, who beat former-Philadelphia netminder Dominic Roussel high to the short side to knot the score.
All of the scoring in the contest took place in the second stanza, incredibly divided evenly despite the Flyers’ 14-5 shots advantage in the period.
LeClair opened the scoring while the club was on the man advantage when Lindros hit Mark Recchi at the right point, and a pinpoint pass found LeClair for a tap-in at the side of the net.
The Ducks would tie it up just over a minute later when Paul Kariya lit the lamp with his team also on a power play, before Fredrik Olausson and Teemu Selanne beat John Vanbiesbrouck 1:04 apart to make it a 3-1 Anaheim lead late in the second.
Lindros again helped set up a Philly scoring play, kicking the puck back to Eric Desjardins, who put a shot past Roussel with less than three minutes remaining in the period.
The Flyers would allow just six more shots on ‘Beezer’ the rest of the way — just two in the third and four in overtime — while Roussel was required to turn aside nine in the third and three in the extra session to preserve the deadlock.
2005 — Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne, and Jon Sim each scored a pair of goals and Robert Esche made 29 saves to lead an 8-1 thrashing of the Washington Capitals at the Wachovia Center.
After spotting the Caps an early first period lead on a goal by Chris Clark, strikes from Sim and two from Carter — the rookie’s first multi-goal contest in the NHL — gave the home squad a 3-1 lead by the first intermission.
His second came in the stanza’s final minute while the Flyers were killing off a Joni Pitkanen tripping minor. Carter stole the puck from Alex Ovechkin then deked around defenseman Steve Eminger to go in alone on Brent Joihnson, beating the goaltender for his first career shorthanded marker. After a slow start to his freshman campaign, it gave Carter goals in three of his last four games (four goals total).
Philadelphia blew open the floodgates in the middle frame, with a pair from Gagne and one each from Mike Knuble and Peter Forsberg before Sim closed out the score sheet in the third.
The two tallies gave Gagne 12 goals in his first 11 games, while Forsberg also added helpers on both of Gagne’s strikes to give him a league-leading 19 for the year.
Already without captain Keith Primeau due to lingering concussion-related issues, the Flyers lost defenseman Eric Desjardins with a concussion during the contest.
2011 — Zac Rinaldo scored his first NHL goal and Max Talbot beat Johan Hedberg on a third period penalty shot to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead, but David Clarkson beat Sergei Bobrovsky for the game-tying goal late in regulation and Patrik Elias scored the game-winner in the shootout in a 4-3 New Jersey Devils win at the Wells Fargo Center.
