A sometimes frequent look back at how the Philadelphia Flyers have fared on this day, recalling some of the more memorable moments, achievements, and events that have shaped the organization throughout the club’s storied history
The Flyers have put together a stellar 8-3-2-0 record in 13 contests played on October 19, which included a streak of eight consecutive contests being played at home from 1975 through 2002 and a six-game win streak from 1974-1986.
Philadelphia has scored 36 goals (2.76 goals per game) in October 19 tilts, while allowing just 22 (for a miniscule 1.69 GAA). As a matter of fact, the Flyers have allowed more than one goal in only five of their 12 outings played on this date.
Some of the club’s more memorable October 19 moments:
1967: Bill Sutherland scored the lone goal of the game in the third period and Doug Favell stopped all 21 shots he faced to record the first shutout in franchise history, as the Flyers posted a 1-0 whitewash of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the inaugural game played at the Spectrum.
Philadelphia opened their first NHL season with three road contests, dropping the initial two before picking up their first victory the previous night against the St. Louis Blues.
Sutherland — who registered goals in the first two games of the year and points in all three — beat Penguins’ netminder Les Binkley 2:59 into the third with one of only three shots the Flyers would manage in the final frame.
The shutout was also the first of Favell’s career, and the first of 16 that the rookie goaltender would record over the course of the six seasons he spent in Philadelphia .
1969: Jean-Guy Gendron beat Lorne “Gump” Worsley for the game-tying goal with just 1:01 remaining in the third period to salvage a point for the Flyers in a 1-1 stalemate with the Montreal Canadiens at the Spectrum.
Philadelphia was badly outplayed as the Habs outshot the home team by a 38-23 count, but goaltender Bernie Parent stopped all but one — a Marc Tardif goal with just over eight minutes left in the third — to allow the Flyers the opportunity to knot the game in the latter stages.
1974: Bill Barber and Don Saleski each scored twice and Bobby Clarke notched a Gordie Howe hat trick as the Flyers pummeled the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3, at the Igloo in Pittsburgh.
Despite outshooting Pittsburgh, 46-24, Pens’ goaltender Gary Inness kept the home team in the contest heading into the third period.
With the scored tied at 3-3, Philly outshot Pittsburgh by a 19-6 margin in the final stanza and blew the game wide open, all accounted for by the LCB Line of Barber (two goals), Clarke (goal and an assist), and Reggie Leach (assist).
In addition to his third period goal and helper, Clarke fought Pittsburgh’s Dave Burrows in the first period to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick.
Special teams were paramount for the Orange and Black, as three goals came via the power play, and one while the team skated shorthanded.
Orest Kindrachuk also added a goal and an assist, while Wayne Stephenson made 21 saves in the triumph.
1975: Goals 0:49 apart from Ross Lonsberry and rookie Mel Bridgman midway through the opening frame staked the Flyers to a lead they would never relinquish to back the 24-save performance of Wayne Stephenson in a 5-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at the Spectrum.
Philadelphia jumped on the visitors early, outshooting them 18-4 in the opening period, and taking a 2-0 lead on the quick strikes by Lonsberry and Bridgman.
After Orest Kindrachuk had made it a three-goal advantage, Detroit’s Nick Libett ruined Stephenson’s bid for a shutout and made it 3-1 at the second intermission.
Bill Barber and Bob Kelly added third period markers for Philly, who improved to 5-0-1 in the young season.
1978: Rick MacLeish scored one goal and assisted on another and Bernie Parent turned away 24 of the 25 shots he faced in a 3-1 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Spectrum.
A first period goal by Paul Holmgren and one from MacLeish in the second had the home team cruising, but Pittsburgh dominated play in the third, outshooting the Flyers, 11-4. Greg Malone beat Parent with the Pens skating a man up with just under four minutes remaining, but Dan Lucas — Philly’s first-round pick (14th-overall) in the 1978 draft –iced the game with his first and only NHL goal less than two minutes later.
1980: Yves Preston’s power play goal early in the third period would prove to be the game-winner and Pete Peeters made 24 saves to lift the Flyers to a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at the Spectrum.
Philadelphia carried play throughout the first forty minutes — outshooting Les Habitants by a wide 30-13 margin — yet found themselves leading by just a goal at 1-0 on a second period Mel Bridgman marker, thanks in large part to the fine play of Habs’ goaltender Michel “Bunny” Larocque, who would finish with 38 saves.
With Montreal’s Denis Savard serving a carry over tripping minor called late in the middle stanza, Preston beat Larocque in the final seconds of the power play to make it a 2-0 Flyers lead.
That goal would be huge when Canadiens defender Gaston Gingras beat Peeters with 2:06 left, cutting the lead to 2-1.
1985: Rick Tocchet scored twice and added an assist and four other Flyers posted multiple point-games, leading Philadelphia to a 7-3 demolition of the Minnesota North Stars at the Spectrum.
Ron Sutter scored once and assisted on three other Philly tallies, while twin brother Rich Sutter recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick.
Rich notched the primary assist on Ron’s goal midway through the opening period to snap a 1-1 deadlock, then scored a goal of his own just 0:34 later. He then fought rugged Minnesota winger Willi Plett six ticks of the clock into the middle frame to complete the Gordie Howe feat.
Tim Kerr, Brian Propp, and Mark Howe (shorthanded) also lit the lamp for Philly. who dominated throughout, outshooting the North Stars, 45-16 — including 15-5 in the second period and 15-2 in the third — and the score likely would have been even more lopsided if not for the play of goalie Don Beaupre.
At the other end of the ice, Bob Froese stopped 13 of 16 North Stars offerings to pick up the win.
1986: Ilkka Sinisalo scored twice and Ron Hextall stopped 29 of 30 shots as the Flyers defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 at the Spectrum.
Tim Kerr and Sinisalo each beat Eldon “Pokey” Reddick with late first period goals, before Sinisalo made it a 3-0 game midway through the third.
Hextall’s bid for his first career NHL shutout was spoiled by Winnipeg’s Dale Hawerchuk when he beat the rookie netminder with 5:46 left in the final frame.
Kerr’s goal gave him five in his last three games, on the way to his fourth consecutive 50+-goal campaign.
2000: Goals by Eric Desjardins and Gino Odjick turned a third period deficit into a late 3-2 lead, but Oleg Petrov beat Roman Cechmanek with 3:13 remaining to force a 3-3 deadlock with the Montreal Canadiens at the First Union Center.
Philadelphia’s Andy Delmore managed the lone first period marker when he beat Jeff Hackett for a power play tally, but the Habs struck for a pair of man advantage goals of their own in the middle stanza off the sticks of Trevor Linden and Andrei Markov to take a 2-1 lead into the third.
Desjardins knotted the contest against his former team, also via the power play, before Odjick gave the Flyers a brief lead with 4:25 left in regulation.
Hackett would finish the tilt with 42 saves, including seven during a scoreless overtime session. Cechmanek stopped 25 of 28 Montreal shots, including all four he faced in the extra period.
2002: Following a first period in which they were trailing 1-0 on a goal by Robert Lang, the Flyers stormed back with goals by John LeClair and Simon Gagne beat Olaf Kolzig 1:39 apart late in the second, and got an insurance marker from Donald Brashear early in the third to defeat the Washington Capitals, 3-1 at the First Union Center.
LeClair’s goal was his seventh in just five games in the early going of what would unfortunately be an injury-ravaged season.
Robert Esche stopped 23 of the 24 Caps’ shots he faced, while Justin Williams added two assists to support the winning effort.
