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 own a 9-6-1-0 all-time record in 16 all-time contests played on October 28, with the best stretch being a five-game winning streak from 1973-1982.
Thanks to three huge offensive outbursts, Philadelphia has averaged better than four goals-per-game in the 16 outings, while Flyers’ netminders have pitched a trio of October 28 shutouts.
Some of the more memorable October 28 moments in club history:
1967 — Gary Dornhoefer scored his first goal as a Flyer, but it would be the only time they would manage to beat Roger Crozier as the Detroit Red Wings skated to a 3-1 victory at the Spectrum to snap a three-game Philadelphia winning streak.
Doug Favell stopped 33 of 36 shots in defeat.
1971 — Simon Nolet scored his second goal of the game midway through the third period to break a 2-2 tie and Doug Favell stopped 28 of 30 shots to lift the Flyers over the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 at the Spectrum, giving Philadelphia its 100th regular season win in franchise history.
A first period power play marker by Larry Mickey (the only goal he would ever score with Philadelphia) and a late-second period tally from Nolet gave the home team a 2-0 lead going into the final stanza. But the visitors knotted the score on goals by rookie defenseman Jocelyn Guevremont and Orland Kurtenbach within the frame’s first 5:06 before Nolet’s game-winner.
1972 — Doug Favell stopped 51 of 53 shots but it wasn’t enough in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota North Stars at the Met Center.
Minnesota peppered Favell with 42 shots in the first 40 minutes alone, outshooting Philadelphia 21-11 in each of the first two frames.
Despite being badly outplayed in the opening stanza, the Flyers actually held a 1-0 lead at the first intermission thanks to a Bob Kelly goal and 21 saves from Favell.
But the North Stars kept up the unrelenting offensive attack in the second, finally solving Favell midway through regulation with a goal from J.P. Parise to tie the game, and what would prove to be the game-winner by Danny Grant less than seven minutes later.
Minnesota goalkeeper Gump Worsley had to be especially good in the third period, stopping all 16 shots he faced as Philly pressed to try and come up with an equalizer. He finished with 37 saves to pick up the victory.
1973 — First period shorthanded goals from Orest Kindrachuk and Bill Clement proved to be all Bernie Parent would need as the Flyers held on for a 2-1 triumph over the California Golden Seals at the Spectrum.
Parent would finish with 21 saves, with the only blemish coming when Craig Patrick spoiled his shutout bid with less than five minutes remaining in the third period.
1976 — Bernie Parent turned aside all 21 shots he faced and goals from Reggie Leach, Mel Bridgman, and Bobby Clarke led the Flyers to a 3-0 whitewash of the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Spectrum.
It was the 36th regular season shutout for Parent in a Flyers uniform, while Pens netminder Marv Edwards kept things close by stopping 35 shots in the defeat.
The win was the fifth in a row for the Orange-and-Black and sixth straight game without a loss (5-0-1) after starting out the year with losses in three of their first four outings.
1979 — Reggie Leach scored his second goal of a wild third period with 1:00 left in regulation as the Flyers pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at the Spectrum.
Detroit entered the final period with a 2-1 lead on the strength of goals from rookie Mike Foligno and captain Dale McCourt, but the home team came out flying in the third.
Rookie Brian Propp tied the score just 0:51 into the stanza — his fourth straight game with a goal to give him seven in his first eight NHL games — before quick strikes from Dennis Ververgaert (his second of the contest) and Leach within a span of 24 seconds made it a 4-2 lead for the home team less than five minutes later.
Willie Huber brought the visitors back to within one midway through the session, and Dan Labraaten tied it up with less than three minutes remaining before Leach’s last-minute heroics.
It was the second consecutive two-goal game and fourth multi-goal outing in the first eight contests for Leach, giving him nine goals total. He also had managed at least one point in every game, boasting six assists in addition to the nine goals for 15 points for the red-hot right winger.
Big defenseman Bob Dailey contributed four helpers to the winning effort.
The triumph ran Philadelphia’s undefeated streak to six straight games (5-0-1) following a 9-2 embarrassment in Atlanta in the season’s second contest.
Phil Myre made 16 saves to record the win, while Rogie Vachon was much busier in facing 48 shots for Detroit.
1980 — Behn Wilson and Bill Barber each posted a pair of goals and Pete Peeters stopped all 22 shots he faced as the Flyers burned the Calgary Flames 8-0 at the Spectrum.
Goals from Al Hill, Tim Kerr and Wilson (shorthanded) staked the home team to a 3-0 lead at the first intermission, before Wilson made it 4-0 1:39 into the middle stanza. With Wilson’s shorty coming just 14 seconds before the end of the first, his pair of goals were tallied within a 1:53-span.
Brian Propp made it a 5-0 rout before the end of the frame, while Barber struck twice and Jimmy Watson closed out the scoring in the third.
Bobby Clarke, Bob Dailey, and Paul Holmgren contributed a pair of assists to the offensive onslaught.
A third period fight between Holmgren — his second fighting major of the contest — and Calgary’s Willi Plett touched off a fevered melee in which 176 PIMs were doled out between the clubs.
1982 — Bobby Clarke posted a pair of goals and four points while Tim Kerr and Ray Allison added two goals apiece to lead the Flyers to a 9-2 bludgeoning of the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Spectrum.
Goals by Kerr, Lindsay Carson, and Allison made it a 3-0 lead until Pittsburgh’s Rick Kehoe got the Pens on the board in the final minute of the opening frame.
The middle period went much the same with Paul Holmgren and a pair of strikes from Clarke — with the Holmgren and first Clarke goal coming just 0:16 apart in the first 31 seconds of the frame — made it 6-1 before Doug Sheddon answered for the Penguins to make it 6-2 at the second intermission.
The final 20 minutes saw another trio of Philadelphia markers — Kerr’s second, Ron Flockhart, and Allison’s second — to put the finishing touches on the rout.
Carson, Flockhart, Mark Howe, Bill Barber, and Paul Evans each chipped in with a pair of helpers.
Rookie netminder Pelle Lindbergh made 30 saves to record the victory in his first appearance of the season.
1995 — Eric Lindros posted two goals and an assist but Tommy Salo made 41 saves and Derek King provided the game-tying goal in the third period in a 5-5 tie with the New York Islanders at Nassau County Coliseum.
Mikael Renberg, John LeClair, and Brent Fedyk also scored for Philadelphia, and Dominic Roussel made 17 saves in the deadlock.
The performance gave Lindros goals in seven of the Flyers first nine games and six multiple-point efforts, giving him eight goals and 16 points in the early season as a follow-up to capturing the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP the previous year.
Philadelphia outshot the Islanders by a 20-4 margin in the third period and OT — including 6-0 in the extra period — but could not solve Salo over that stretch.
1999 — Valeri Zelepukin scored with 0:09 remaining in overtime to salvage a 5-4 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche at the First Union Center.
Goals by Mikael Renberg, Mark Recchi, Eric Desjardins, and Mark Greig staked John Vanbiesbrouck to a seemingly safe 4-0 lead just over two minutes into the third period, but Alex Tanguay and Milan Hejduk each posted a pair of goals to incredibly tie the contest pup with 6:31 remaining in regulation.
Daymond Langkow assisted on three of the Flyers’ goals, including Zelepukin’s OT game-winner.
2005 — Jon Sim‘s second goal of the game midway through the third tied the game, but Matt Cullen beat Antero Niittymaki just over four minutes later for the game-winner as the Carolina Hurricanes struck five times in the third period to give them a wild 8-6 victory over the Flyers at the RBC Center.
Mike Knuble and Derian Hatcher staked Philadelphia to a 2-0 lead but Eric Staal beat Niittymaki with 0:06 left in the opening frame to get the home squad on the scoreboard.
Former-Flyer Justin Williams knotted the game early in the see saw second before Sim put the Flyers ahead again with his first of the contest. Staal connected for his second of the game to knot things again, but goals from Peter Forsberg and Mike Rathje in the last two minutes of the middle stanza gave the visitors a 5-3 lead heading into the third.
Goals by Cory Stillman and Rod Brind’Amour evened the score early in the third before Staal gave the ‘Canes their first lead of the tilt by completing the hat trick, but Sim tied it up yet again with his second of the game before Cullen’s game-winner. Josef Vasicek closed out the scoring and sealed the triumph when he hit the empty net with Niittymaki pulled for an extra skater.
2008 — Joffrey Lupul, Simon Gagne, and Mike Knuble each scored twice and Antero Niittymaki turned away 24 shots to post his fourth and final shutout in a Flyers’ uniform in a 7-0 drubbing of the Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena.
It was the third consecutive victory for Philadelphia following an 0-3-3 start, and was the 11th straight time they’d beaten Atlanta, making it 15 games in row without a loss to the Thrashers (14-0-1).
Niittymaki’s mastery over fellow-Finn goaltender Kari Lehtonen and the Thrashers was incredible, as the victory ran his personal record against Atlanta to a perfect 10-0-0.
One of the few bright spots for the home team came when Lehtonen was able to stop Mike Richards on a shorthanded penalty shot after the captain was hooked from behind on a breakaway by Ron Hainsey.
2014 — Brayden Schenn beat Jonathan Quick 2:36 into overtime to give the Flyers a thrilling 3-2 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings at the Wells Fargo Center.
Schenn intercepted a Jake Muzzin pass at the blue line and went in on a partial breakaway with Muzzin furiously attempting to disrupt the Flyers forward from behind. Quick made the initial stop on Schenn’s wrist shot, but the goaltender’s momentum carried both him and the puck back across the goal line.
The goal was immediately waived off by the official, but was reversed following a lengthy video review.
Michael Raffl opened the scoring when he got to a loose puck following a Claude Giroux shot that was blocked and tucked it past Quick 5:24 after the opening faceoff.
Tyler Toffoli knotted the score with Philadelphia on a power play less than eight minutes later when Matt Read‘s pass for Michael Del Zotto bounced over the defenseman’s stick and Toffoli beat Ray Emery on the ensuing breakaway.
Chris Vandevelde put the home team back on top when he one-timed a Jakub Voracek pass past Quick with 0:43.7 remaining in the opening frame. The goal was VandeVelde’s first as a Flyer, and was his first in the NHL in more than two years.
After a scoreless second, former-Flyer Mike Richards — the club’s captain who was traded to L.A. when Schenn and Wayne Simmonds were acquired in return — tied things up early in the third to send the game to extra time.
Both netminders were busy in this one, with Quick making 40 saves on 43 Philly offerings, and Emery stopping 38 of the 40 shots he faced.
October 28 Flyers birthday
Kevin Dineen was born on this day in Quebec City in 1963. The tough-as-nails winger brought an equal mix of talent and toughness, posting 355 goals, 760 points, and 2,229 penalty minutes over 19 seasons in the NHL.
Drafted by the Hartford Whalers with a 1982 third round pick acquired in the trade that brought Mark Howe to Philadelphia in 1981, Dineen came the Flyers in exchange for Murray Craven and a pick in early-November of 1991.
The 5′ 11″, 190-pound spark plug quickly became one of the team’s key contributors over the rest of the season, tallying 26 goals, 56 points, and 130 PIMs in 64 contests. He fared even better the next year, posting 35 goals, 63 points, and 201 PIMs in 83 games, and became one of the club’s veteran leaders.
The Flyers failed to qualify for the postseason for a fourth consecutive year and were in the midst of a rebuilding phase with the likes of 19-year-old Eric Lindros, 22-year-old Rod Brind’Amour, and 24-year-old Mark Recchi, but no Flyer had worn the “C” since Rick Tocchet was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 1992 trade deadline.
Dineen was the obvious choice, and was named the 10th captain in franchise history just prior to the 1993/94 campaign.
He was the perfect leader on the ice and in the locker room, but managed just 19 goals, 42 points, and 119 PIMs in 71 games that year. The Flyers missed the playoffs again, and were anxious to anoint Lindros as the next captain.
The change was made in September of 1994.
Dineen missed much of the next season due to a horrible run of injuries, and he was only able to produce eight goals, 13 points, and 39 PIMs in 40 games. The wear and tear of 14 NHL seasons was taking its toll, and after managing just a pair of assists and 50 PIMs in 26 outings to start 1995/96, Dineen was sent back to Hartford for two draft picks.
In a total of 284 games with Philadelphia. Dineen recorded 88 goals, 176 points, and 533 PIMs.
The fiery Dineen followed in his father’s footsteps, beginning another chapter in his career by becoming a head coach in 2005 with the AHL’s Portland Pirates, a position he held until the NHL cam calling in May of 2011.
Dineen was named head coach of the Florida Panthers prior to the 2011/12 campaign and had immediate success in his initial season, leading the Panthers to the first Southeast Division title in franchise history and their first playoff berth in 12 years.
The expectations to move forward dropped hard the next season, however, as the Cats fell off to a sub-.500 record in his second year, posting a 15-27-6 mark in a lockout-shortened 2012/13 campaign.
When Florida began the next season with a 3-9-4 mark and trudging along on a seven-game losing skid, Dineen and his entire staff were fired — just one week after the head coach celebrated his 50th birthday.
He took over the head coaching position with Team Canada’s women’s national team, and led them to a Gold Medal in Sochi at the 2014 Winter Olympics before moving on to take over the head spot with Canada’s men’s under-18 club at the 2014 IIHF World U18 Championships in Finland, where he took home bronze.
Dineen made a return to the NHL in the summer of 2014 when he was named one of Joel Quenneville’s assistants with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he was part of that years Stanley Cup champions.
