An almost-daily 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 amassed a pretty dominant 12-6-3-0 record in 21 all-time games played on October 26 in the club’s history, having won five of their last six outings that took place on this day.
Some of the more memorable October 26 moments in franchise history:
1969 — Bernie Parent stopped all 25 shots he faced to post his seventh NHL shutout (sixth with Philadelphia), but Jacques Plante turned away the 26 Flyers sent his way in a scoreless tie with the St. Louis Blues at the Spectrum.
1972 — Bill Flett’s goal with 5:50 left in the third snapped a 1-1 deadlock and Doug Favell turned aside 34 of 35 shots to lift the Flyers to a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at the Spectrum.
Bill Clement staked Philadelphia to a 1-0 lead late in the second period, before Nick Libett evened the score 2:30 into the final stanza.
Flett’s game-winner gave him seven goals in eight games for the season, on the way to a career-best 43-goal campaign.
1974 — Jimmy Watson’s goal with 1:05 remaining in the third period snapped a 2-2 tie as the Flyers overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 at Pacific Coliseum.
Down 2-0 midway through the middle frame, Bill Clement scored twice in a 52-second span to bring Philadelphia all the way back and send the game knotted up into the third.
Bernie Parent made 15 saves to pick up the victory.
1975 — Bill Barber notched his second career hat trick and four points and Wayne Stephenson stopped 26 of 28 shots as the Flyers blasted the New York Rangers 7-2 at Madison Square Garden.
The LCB Line accounted for five goals and 11 points, as Bobby Clarke contributed a goal and three assists and Reggie Leach scored once and added a pair of helpers in addition to Barber’s exploits.
Tom Bladon and Gary Dornhoefer also tallied for the visitors, as Philadelphia burned Eddie Giacomin for seven goals on 25 shots.
1977 — Bill Barber beat Mike Veisor early in the third period to tie the game and Bernie Parent made 28 saves to help the Flyers salvage a point in a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago Stadium.
Denis Savard gave the Hawks an early lead in the opening period before Reggie Leach and John Marks traded goals in the middle session to make it a 2-1 Chicago advantage heading into the third.
1978 — Behn Wilson and Bill Barber each scored a pair of goals and Bernie Parent made 25 saves to post his 51st career regular season shutout in a 5-0 blanking of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Spectrum.
Wilson struck for two power play markers and Barber notched his first of the night in the opening period, before Barber and Rick MacLeish (shorthanded) closed out the scoring in the final frame.
The shutout was also Parent’s 47th regular season whitewash in a Flyers’ uniform, to go along the four others he had during his time tn Boston and Toronto.
1980 — Bill Barber scored once and assisted on three other goals, Tim Kerr notched his first NHL goal, and Rick St. Croix stopped 24 of 25 shots in a 6-1 thumping of the Hartford Whalers at the Spectrum.
Kerr opened the scoring by beating Mike Veisor 2:32 into the contest for his first career goal. Behn Wilson, while Reggie Leach, Bob Dailey, and Brian Propp also dented the twine for the Orange-and-Black in the romp.
Mike Rogers spoiled St. Croix’s bid for a shutout with a power play goal early in the third period for the Whalers.
1986 — Peter Zezel scored the eventual game-winning goal late in the second period and rookie Ron Hextall stopped 29 of 30 shots to lead the Flyers to a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota North Stars at the Spectrum.
Ilkka Sinisalo and Lindsay Carson also beat Kari Takko, while Rick Tocchet hit the empty net late in regulation with the Minnesota netminder pulled for an extra attacker as the North Stars tried to get to within a goal.
1987 — Murray Craven’s goal 6:43 into the third period knotted the game and Ron Hextall made 40 saves to help the Flyers gain a point in the standings in a 2-2 tie with the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The game was marred by an ugly cross-check from Dave Brown to the neck of Rangers’ agitator Tomas Sandstrom midway through the third period. Brown was given a match penalty for attempt to injure, then received what at that time was the third-longest suspension in NHL history of 15 games just eight days later.
The Brown ban broke down as 13 consecutive contests, then the next two meetings between the Flyers and Rangers.
Then-New York GM Phil Esposito made it clear that he felt the suspension wasn’t nearly as harsh as it should have been. “The penalty is a travesty, given the offense,” Esposito said. “We are outraged by the suspension. This was the most severe incident in league history, and our reaction is that this does not provide enough of a deterrent.”
While the unfortunate incident certainly left a black eye on both the Flyers and the league, Esposito’s sentiments would have hardly been echoed by the likes of Ace Bailey, Ted Green, or Dennis Polonich.
1993 — Josef Beranek scored a goal for a seventh consecutive game in which he played, and Dominic Roussel turned aside 30 of 32 shots in a 4-2 triumph over the Quebec Nordiques at Le Colisee.
Beranek assisted on Brent Fedyk’s goal in the opening frame, then doubled the Philadelphia lead early in the second. Vyacheslav Butsayev and Eric Lindros made it a 4-0 lead later in the stanza, before Chris Lindberg finally got the home team on the board in the last two minutes of the frame.
Martin Rucinsky made it a 4-2 game with a man advantage tally early in the third, but that was all Roussel would allow as he slammed the door shut on the Nords the rest of the way to improve his record to a perfect 6-0-0 for the campaign.
2000 — Daymond Langkow recorded a goal and assist and Brian Boucher made 32 saves to post his fifth career regular season shutout in a 3-0 whitewashing of the New York Rangers at the First Union Center.
Defenseman Michal Sykora gave Philly a 1-0 lead midway through the opening stanza with his first goal in a Flyers’ uniform, and Rick Tocchet beat Mike Richter early in the third to make it a two-goal lead before Langkow closed out the scoring.
2002 — Justin Williams and Michal Handzus scored goals within the game’s first 31 seconds to spur a five-goal Flyers first period and Robert Esche made 22 saves to lead the to a decisive 6-2 triumph over the New York Islanders at Nassau County Coliseum.
The goals from Williams and Handzus set a team record for fastest two goals from the start of a game, and was the third-fastest pair of goals to start a contest by one team in NHL history.
Both Handzus and Jeremy Roenick finished the contest with a pair of goals, and Keith Primeau also scored in a first period that ended with Philly holding a 5-1 advantage to chase starter Chris Osgood, who managed to make just six saves on 11 shots.
2006 — Peter Forsberg and Simon Gagne scored in the shootout to give John Stevens a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers in his head coaching debut at the Wachovia Center.
Randy Robitaille and Ilya Kovalchuk traded first period goals, and the 1-1 deadlock held up until the third period thanks to the goaltending of Philly’s Antero Niittymaki and Johan Hedberg of the Thrashers.
Forsberg gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead with a power play goal in the first minute of the third period, but Bobby Holik knotted the score less than eight minutes later to force extra time.
Hedberg made 26 saves in regulation and three more in overtime, but Atlanta head coach Bob Hartley made the rare strategical move of changing netminders just before the shootout began, opting to instead go with Kari Lehtonen.
“The Moose (Hedberg’s nickname) gave us a great game, but we feel the guy who could make a difference in a shootout was Kari,” Hartley explained after the loss.
Forsberg and Gagne both beat Lehtonen on the Flyers’ first two attempts of the tiebreaker, while Niittymaki gave up a goal to Slava Kozlov before stopping Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa — two of the league’s brightest and youngest offensive stars — in the game-deciding skills competition to seal the victory.
2010 — Jeff Carter notched a goal and two assists and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 of 35 shots as the Flyers doubled up the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 at the Wells Fargo Center.
After Thomas Vanek gave the visitors an early lead, former-Sabre Daniel Briere tied things up late in the opening frame on the man advantage.
That started a string of Philadelphia tallies, as goals by Nikolay Zherdev, Darroll Powe, Claude Giroux, and Jeff Carter made it a 5-1 Flyers lead early in the third.
Following strikes by Buffalo defenders Tyler Myers and Steve Montador that made it a two-goal game, Andreas Nodl hit the empty net with Sabres netminder Ryan Miller pulled in favor of an extra attacker in the contest’s final minute.
2013 — Vincent Lecavalier posted his fourth career hat trick and first as a Flyer, and Steve Mason turned away 26 of 28 shots to lead the Flyers to a 5-2 triumph over the New York Islanders at Nassau County Coliseum.
The Lecavalier hat trick was much-needed for a club having a terrible time putting the puck in the net. The Flyers came into the contest having scored just 13 goals in the first nine contests of the season, and had not managed more than two goals as a team in any of those games.
The visitors jumped on Isles starter Kevin Poulin for three goals in the opening stanza — with Lecavalier netting a pair and Jakub Voracek accounting for the other — while Kyle Okposo answered for N.Y. to make it a 3-1 Flyers lead at the first intermission.
With Michael Grabner serving a penalty and Philadelphia looking to extend their lead, Frans Nielsen beat Mason for a shorthanded marker midway through regulation to cut the lead to one heading into the final frame.
Lecavalier intercepted a Thomas Hickey pass at the Philly blue line and the club immediately began a transition rush the other way. Claude Giroux’s centering pass from the left wing was one-timed past Poulin to complete the hat trick and restore the two-goal margin.
Matt Read closed out the scoring when he hit the empty cage with Poulin pulled for an extra Islanders attacker with 1:32 remaining.
