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 amassed a 7-5-3-3 regular season record in 18 all-time April 3 contests. Philadelphia is 7-3-2-2 at home and 0-2-1-1 in road contests played on this day.
Philly also played one postseason game on this day, a 5-0 blanking at the hands of the St. Louis Blues to fall behind 2-0 in their 1969 playoff series.
Some of the more memorable moments and brief recaps in Flyers history that took place on April 3:
1971 — Gary Dornhoefer snapped a 2-2 deadlock early in the third period when he beat Lorne Worsley for the eventual game-winner in a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota North Stars at the Spectrum.
The goal gave ‘Dorny’ his second consecutive 20-goal season.
1975 — Fallen defenseman Barry Ashbee, who was forced to retire after being struck in the eye with a slap shot in the previous spring’s postseason, was honored and his No. 4 is retired by the team prior to a 1-1 tie with the New York Rangers at the Spectrum.
1976 — Bill Barber netted goal No. 50 for the season in the second period, and it stood as the game-winner in a 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at the Spectrum.
Barber became just the second Flyer to hit the 50-goal mark that season (Reggie Leach was first) and third in franchise history (Rick MacLeish was the other during the 1972/73 campaign).
Leach beat goalie Al Smith for goal No. 61 of the year in the first period, which remains the highest single-season goal total in franchise history.
With an assist on Barber’s 50th, Bobby Clarke set a team record for points in a season with 119, and Barber’s goal gave the LCB Line a total of 141 for the year, which was an NHL record at the time.
1977 — Paul Holmgren (second goal of the game) and Bob Kelly each tallied goals to erase a 3-1 third period deficit to salvage a 3-3 tie with the Atlanta Flames at the Omni.
The Flames outshot Philadelphia 44-22 for the contest, but Bernie Parent was spectacular in a 41-save performance.
1980 — Reggie Leach’s sixth career hat trick gave the winger his second 50-goal season, leading the Flyers to a come-from-behind 4-2 triumph over former-Flyer netminder Wayne Stephenson and the Washington Capitals at the Spectrum.
Trailing 2-0 late in the middle stanza, Philadelphia got goals from Leach and Jimmy Watson to tie things up before the second intermission. Leach then notched the go-ahead marker 5:08 into the third, and sealed the game with an empty-netter to become the first Flyer to reach the 50-goal plateau in two different seasons.
Bobby Clarke assisted on all four Philly goals, while netminder Pete Peeters ended up with 23 saves to finish his rookie year with a stellar 29-5-5 record.
1983 — Brian Propp scored twice to hit the 40-goal mark for a second consecutive season and lead the Flyers to a 4-2 triumph over the New York Islanders in the club’s regular season finale at the Spectrum.
Darryl Sittler netted his team-leading 43rd in the contest, and Pelle Lindbergh stopped 29 of 31 shots to finish the campaign with a 23-13-3 mark and a spot on the NHL’s All-rookie team.
1989 — The Flyers erased a 6-3 third period deficit with a furious comeback, tying the game on Tim Kerr’s 48th goal of the season with 2:27 remaining to send the contest to overtime, but Mario Lemieux’s second of the game (85th of the season) 3:38 into the extra frame gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a 6-5 victory at the Spectrum.
1993 — Mark Recchi notched his 51st goal of the season and added a pair of assists as the Flyers scored four times with the man advantage on the way to a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Spectrum.
Rookies Eric Lindros (37th goal and an assist) and Dominic Roussel (32 saves) were also instrumental in the win, which snapped a three-game losing skid and kick started an eight-game winning streak to close out the campaign.
2009 — Jeff Carter recorded his first NHL hat trick and the Flyers bolted out to a 5-0 first period lead on the way to burning the Leafs by an 8-5 score at the Wachovia Center.
The goals gave Carter a career-high 44 for the year, and with having also assisted on another marker hit the 80-point plateau.
Daniel Briere chipped in with a goal and three assists, rookie Claude Giroux added a goal and two helpers, while Scott Hartnell connected to hit the 30-goal mark for the first time in his eight-year career.
Flyers’ April 3 trade:
On this day in 2013, Paul Holmgren made one of his best trades during his tenure as the club’s GM with what was at the time an under the radar, last-minute deadline deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets to acquire 24-year-old goaltender Steve Mason in exchange for goalie Michael Leighton and a 2015 third round draft pick. In an ironic turn of events, having traded their “goalie of the future” in Sergei Bobrovsky led to them finding their long-term franchise netminder as the former-Calder Trophy winner had fallen out of favor with Columbus and was eventually replaced in the starting role by Bobrovsky, who the Blue Jackets picked up the previous offseason in a trade with Philadelphia. Mason has been excellent between the pipes for the Orange-and-Black since arriving from day one, so much so that the Flyers saw fit to use one of their amnesty buyouts on Ilya Bryzgalov and the remainder of his enormous contract and go with Mason as their franchise goalie.
Flyers’ April 3 birthdays:
Bernie Parent – 1945 – “Only the Lord saves more than Bernie”, one of the all-time greats at his position. Simply put, the biggest reason for Philadelphia’s two Stanley Cup championships; five-time All-Star, 50 career regular season Flyers shutouts (including a franchise-record 12 in back-to-back years in 1973/74 and 1974/75). Parent’s career ended prematurely when he suffered an eye injury after he took a teammate’s accidental stick in the eye during a netmouth scramble in1979.
Andrei Lomakin – 1964 – The first Russian-born player ever signed by the Flyers after being selected in the 1991 entry draft, Lomakin played two seasons in Philadelphia. He amassed 22 goals, 50 points, and 60 PIMs in 108 games with the Flyers before being lost to the Florida Panthers in the 1993 expansion draft. Lomakin tragically passed away far too early in 2006 at the age of 42 following a battle with cancer.
