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
Heading into this afternoon’s matinee matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes, the Flyers have compiled an 8-7-4-0 all-time mark in 19 contests played on December 13, having won their last two tilts that took place on this day. This will be the initial December 13 meeting between the Carolina franchise (Hartford Whalers included) and the Flyers.
1969 — Rookie Bobby Clarke beat Gerry Cheevers twice to record his first career multi-goal outing, but it wasn’t enough as the Boston Bruins defeated the Flyers, 5-3, at the Spectrum.
1970 — Wayne Hillman beat Glenn Hall with 4:33 left in the third period for the game-tying goal and Bernie Parent turned away 28 of 30 shots to give the Flyers a 2-2 draw with the St. Louis Blues at the Spectrum.
1972 — The Minnesota North Stars bombarded Flyers’ starter Michel Belhumeur with 32 shots in the opening period and 46 through forty minutes on the way to a 53-shot effort as they downed the visitors 7-2 at the Met Center.
1974 — Rick MacLeish’s goal with 1:33 remaining in the third period lifted the Flyers to a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Flames at the Omni.
The Flames twice took a lead, and Philadelphia twice answered back to knot the score. Curt Bennett staked Atlanta to a first period lead before Reggie Leach knotted the score less than four minutes later, and Buster Harvey made it a 2-1 Flames advantage in the first minute of the middle stanza until Bob Kelly evened things up midway through the frame.
It was all Philly in the third as they outshot Atlanta by a 14-4 margin, and the pressure eventually paid off with MacLeish’s late game-winner.
1975 — Reggie Leach notched a pair of goals and Wayne Stephenson made 27 saves as the Flyers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 6-4 at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
Goals by Orest Kindrachuk, Gary Dornhoefer, Dave Schultz, and Leach made it a 4-1 Philadelphia lead through forty minutes, and strikes by Leach and Rick MacLeish midway through the third extended the margin to a five-goal lead.
1979 — The Flyers exploded for five goals in the last half of the third period to erase a two-goal deficit and beat the Quebec Nordiques 6-4 at the Spectrum. The win kept ‘The Streak’ alive and well at 25 games without a loss (18-0-7), as the club inched closer to the Montreal Canadiens‘ NHL record 28-game unbeaten streak set during the 1977/78 campaign.
Down 3-1 entering the latter stages of the final stanza, Philadelphia received goals from Dennis Ververgaert and Bill Barber to tie it up with 7:18 left, before Reggie Leach and Barber each added their second markers of the contest within a 36-second span to give the Flyers a 5-3 lead with 1:25 remaining.
Real Cloutier brought the Nords back to within one with just over a minute remaining, but Al Hill clinched the victory as he hit the empty net 33 seconds later with Michel Dion pulled in favor of an extra Quebec skater.
Rookie Pete Peeters made 20 saves to remain undefeated for the year (11-0-2), while the win left Philly with a 19-1-7 mark and a league-best 45 points for the season.
1980 — Bobby Clarke recorded his fourth career hat trick with three second period tallies, and Mel Bridgman provided the game-winner 4:56 into the third period to lead the Flyers back from a 5-2 deficit and offset a four-goal effort from Pittsburgh’s Paul Gardner in a wild 6-5 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Igloo.
Gardner beat Phil Myre twice in the first and after Paul Holmgren cut the Pens’ lead in half, Rick Kehoe made it a 3-1 game at the first intermission. Clarke beat Greg Millen for his first of the contest 22 seconds into the middle frame, but Gardner hit for two more power play markers to give the home team a 5-2 lead with less than half of regulation time remaining.
Brian Propp narrowed the margin to two goals with 6:40 left in the second, before Clarke struck twice in a 1:30 span to make it a 5-5 game heading into the final session.
Philadelphia controlled the third period, outshooting the Penguins by a 15-4 count and getting the only goal via Bridgman.
Propp — who also assisted on Holmgren’s first period goal — hit the 100-point plateau in the NHL with his goal, while Myre made 23 saves to improve his record to 3-0-1 in his last four decisions.
1987 — Ron Hextall turned aside 39 of 42 shots and Murray Craven netted the game-winning goal while the Flyers were skating two men shorthanded with 5:34 remaining in regulation in a 4-3 thriller over the Winnipeg Jets at the Winnipeg Arena.
Philadelphia appeared to have everything under control with a 3-1 lead through two periods. Peter Zezel and Paul MacLean traded first period tallies, but the Flyers scored both goals in the middle session despite being outshot 17-7. 19-year-old Kerry Huffman registered his first NHL marker at 4:51, and Derrick Smith quickly made it a two-goal lead just 38 seconds later.
Winnipeg got a pair of rapid strikes themselves in the latter stages of the third, when MacLean beat Hextall for the second time in the contest and defenseman Dave Ellett tied the score at 3-3 just 39 seconds later.
Compounding matters was Hextall taking a pair of minor penalties within a 21-second span less than a minute later to give Winnipeg a two-man advantage. With momentum fully shifted in their direction, the Jets indeed appeared ready for takeoff.
But Craven had other plans, beating Eldon ‘Pokey’ Reddick for the Flyers’ first two-man shorthanded tally since Dave Poulin’s strike against the Quebec Nordiques in Game 6 of the 1985 Eastern Conference Final.
With regular defenders Brad Marsh (concussion) and Kjell Samuelsson (shoulder) out of the lineup, Mike Keenan got great efforts from two youngsters in Huffman and Greg Smyth, who added his first NHL points with a pair of assists in his second game since being recalled from the Hershey Bears.
1998 — The Flyers appeared to pull out a 2-1 victory when Eric Desjardins beat Mikhail Shtalenkov with 24 seconds remaining in regulation, but defenseman Boris Mironov’s goal with only seven ticks left on the clock gave the Edmonton Oilers a 2-2 deadlock at the First Union Center.
Marc Bureau had staked Philadelphia to a 1-0 lead with his first goal as a Flyer, as the defensive specialist — playing in his 24th game of the year after being signed as an UFA during the offseason — sent a backhander past Shtalenkov with 8:31 left in the second period. That lead held up until late in regulation, when Marty McSorley’s shot deflected off Philly winger Colin Forbes’ stick and past John Vanbiesbrouck to tie the game with 5:26 remaining in the third to set up the frenzied final half minute.
2000 — Simon Gagne scored with eight seconds left in the third period to give the Flyers a 3-3 draw with the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.
Daymond Langkow — who assisted on all three Philadelphia goals — sent a pass from the corner towards the Av’s net. The puck deflected off of Keith Primeau, then hit Gagne in the thumb of his glove and past Patrick Roy for the flukey game-tying marker. The play was under video review for a fair amount of time before it was finally ruled that Gagne’s glove never left the stick and it was deemed a good goal.
Eric Desjardins and Justin Williams also scored for the Flyers, while Brian Boucher made 22 saves to earn the tie.
2003 — Martin Brodeur stopped all 32 shots he faced as the New Jersey Devils blanked the Flyers, 2-0, at the First Union Center, ending Philadelphia’s home streak without a loss to begin the season at 14 games (12-0-2). The span was the second-longest in team history, only topped by ‘The Streak’ club of 1979/80, who went 26 games (19-0-7) from the start of the year before dropping a home decision.
2005 — Jeff Carter snapped a 1-1 deadlock early in the second period, and Robert Esche turned away 23 of 24 shots in a 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
Peter Forsberg’s first period tally knotted the game after Jan Hrdina had given the home team an early lead, and Sami Kapanen hit the empty net with eight seconds left to seal the win.
The goal for Forsberg was his second in as many games since returning to the lineup after missing six contests with a groin strain, and gave the first-year Flyer 10 goals and 42 points in 23 games for the season.
2008 — Mike Knuble recorded a pair of goals, Kimmo Timonen chipped in with a career-high four assists, and Martin Biron stopped 23 shots as the Flyers doubled up the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3, at the Wachovia Center. The win was Philadelphia’s fourth in a row, as they improved to 12-1-3 over the course of their last 16 outings.
Mike Richards and Jeff Carter added a goal and two helpers apiece, while Joffrey Lupul and Scott Hartnell also lit the lamp for the Flyers.
2011 — Scott Hartnell scored a goal for a sixth consecutive game and Ilya Bryzgalov turned aside 31 of 32 shots in a 5-1 Flyers’ triumph over the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center.
Philadelphia received goals from five different players to build a 5-0 lead, before Jeff Halpern ruined Bryzgalov’s shutout bid with just under seven minutes left to play.
Marc-Andre Bourdon’s first NHL goal 7:23 into the middle stanza turned out to be the game-winner, while Wayne Simmonds, Maxime Talbot, and Jakub Voracek also scored for Philly.
December 13 Flyers’ birthday
Defenseman Mike Busniuk was born on this day in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1951, and the rugged 6′ 3″, 200-pounder was inked as a free agent in 1977 at the age of 26. After spending two years with the AHL’s Maine Mariners, Busniuk made his NHL debut during the 1979/80 season. Along with Bob Dailey, Behn Wilson, Frank Bathe, Norm Barnes, he was an effective part of the ‘Killer B’s’ defense as the Flyers went 35 games without a loss and made it to the 1980 Stanley Cup Final. Over the course of two seasons in Philadelphia, Busniuk posted three goals, 23 points, 297 PIMs, and a +66 rating in 143 regular season contests, and a pair of goals, five points, and 34 PIMs in 25 playoff appearances. In October of 1981, he was re-assigned to the Mariners. He split parts of the next four seasons between Maine and SG Brunico in Italy before retiring at age 35.
December 13 Flyers’ trade
On this day in 1995, The Flyers sent ‘Crazy Eights’ winger Brent Fedyk to the Dallas Stars in exchange for forward Trent Klatt. At the time of the trade Fedyk had 10 goals and 15 points in 24 outings, a season after missing all but 30 games with a chip fracture in a neck vertebrae. He playing a good portion of his time with Eric Lindros and Mark Recchi during his parts of four seasons in Philadelphia, recording 59 goals, 124 points, and 160 PIMs in 200 regular season games, and two goals and four points in nine postseason contests. Klatt was a versatile addition and notched a career-high 24 goals, 45 points, and scored five of his six career shorthanded goals during the 1996/97 campaign as he helped the club return to the Stanley Cup Final. In parts of four seasons Klatt finished his time in Philly with 41 goals and 98 points in 209 regular season games, and eight goals and 12 points in 36 playoff tilts. The 6′ 1″, 210-pounder, who was also acting player rep for the team, had filed for arbitration over the summer — and won his case — before being traded to the Vancouver Canucks for a draft pick after just two contests in October of 1998.
