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
Philadelphia is 1-0 in the regular season in games played on May 2, and hold a 4-6 all-time record in postseason games played on this day.
1976: Mel Bridgman scored goal and added a pair of assists, while Wayne Stephenson made 26 saves in a 5-2 Flyers win over the Bruins at Boston to take a 2-1 lead in their semifinal series.
Bridgman snapped a 2-2 tie early in the third period, before Reggie Leach and Tom Bladon added insurance markers as Philadelphia won going away.
1987: Brian Propp and Brad Marsh scored first period shorthanded goals 44 seconds apart, and Ron Hextall made 22 saves in the Flyers 5-1 Game 7 win over the New York Islanders at the Spectrum in the Patrick Division Final series.
The victory earned Philly the right to move on to face the Montreal Canadiens in the Wales Conference Final.
After enforcer Dave Brown had given Philadelphia an early lead with his first NHL playoff marker, both Propp and Marsh beat Kelly Hrudey with Flyer Lindsay Carson off for slashing midway through the opening session to make it a 3-0 lead.
Ilkka Sinisalo — who had missed significant time during the season and early in the playoffs with back spasms — iced the game with a pair of goals in the third, before Denis Potvin ruined Hextall’s shutout bid with less than a minute remaining.
1995: The Flyers defeated the Islanders 2-0 at Nassau Coliseum in what is the latest calendar date regular season game ever played in franchise history, which is due to the league’s first-ever lockout.
Mikael Renberg and Eric Desjardins each scored first period goals, while Dominic Roussel stopped all 21 shots he faced to record his first shutout of the campaign and fourth of his career.
2000: Rookie defenseman Andy Delmore scored his second goal of the game 11:01 into overtime to lift Philadelphia to a 4-3 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins, cutting their Eastern Conference Semifinal series deficit to 2-1.
The Flyers jumped to a 2-0 lead late in the first period on goals from Delmore — his first-ever in the NHL playoffs — and winger Keith Jones, but the Pens answered with two of their own in the middle frame. Jaromir Jagr beat Brian Boucher in the first minute of the second, and Martin Straka tied it up midway through the stanza.
John LeClair put Philly ahead midway through the third, but Jagr knotted things with 5:32 remaining in regulation time with his third point of the contest.
Philadelphia — who dropped both games at the First Union Center and could not afford to go down 0-3 — dominated the extra period by an 11-1 shots on goal count. They couldn’t beat Pittsburgh netminder Ron Tugnutt — who finished with 40 saves — until Delmore’s wrist shot from the slot finally ended it and gave the club their first victory of the series..
2004: Keith Primeau grabbed the Flyers and carried them on his back with a dominating three-goal, four-point performance in a 7-2 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Wachovia Center, giving Philadelphia a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference Semifinal series.
Primeau, who had just 11 goals in his previous 119 postseason games prior to netting the hat trick, told his teammates in a closed-door meeting that he was going to do something special. “He told us he would be great today, and to jump on for the ride”, said goalie Sean Burke after the game.
The captain did just that. He scored on a shorthanded breakaway with just over a minute left in the first period, made it a 4-1 score with a tally just 44 seconds into the middle frame, then capped off the scoring by completing the hat trick early in the third.
Michal Handzus also netted his first two goals of the 2004 playoffs. The Flyers chased Toronto starter Ed Belfour with six goals on 18 shots midway through regulation, at which time he was replaced by Trevor Kidd.
Robert Esche started the game for Philadelphia, but left after yielding a goal on just two first period shots. Burke played the rest of the game, stopping eight of the nine shots Toronto sent his direction.
The Leafs managed just 11 shots for the entire game — which set the club record for fewest shots allowed at that time — including two in the first and three in the third.
