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 tonight’s road contest with the Calgary Flames, the Flyers have put together a 9-8-3-0 all-time mark in 21 games played on November 5. Philadelphia was winless in their first seven outings on this date (0-4-3), but strung together six consecutive wins (1989-2005) and have won seven of their last nine November 5 tilts (7-1-0-1).
Some of the more memorable November 5 moments in franchise history:
1967 — Yvan Cournoyer ruined Bernie Parent’s shutout bid with less than seven minutes remaining in the third period to salvage a point for the visitors as the Flyers and Montreal Canadiens skated to a 1-1 tie at the Spectrum.
Philadelphia had beaten the Habs 4-1 a day earlier at the Forum in their inaugural matchup with Les Habitants in the front end of a home-and-home set, as the expansion club took three of a possible four points in the pair of contests.
Ed Hoekstra gave Philadelphia a 1-0 lead when he beat Lorne “Gump” Worsley early in the second period before “The Roadrunner’s” game-tying marker.
Parent finished with 30 saves for Philly.
1974 — Late third period goals from Terry Crisp and Reggie Leach turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead, but Billy Harris managed to beat Bernie Parent with just 0:34 left to salvage a wild 4-4 tie between the Flyers and New York Islanders at Nassau County Coliseum.
Bill Barber and Rick MacLeish also scored for Philadelphia, who made it five games in a row without a loss (4-0-1).
1975 — Bobby Clarke scored twice — one shorthanded and the other with the man advantage — as the Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks battled to a 4-4 deadlock at Chicago Stadium.
Bob Kelly and Bill Barber scored second period goals to give the visitors a seemingly-comfortable 4-1 lead at the second intermission, but Grant Mulvey connected twice as the Blackhawks scored three times after the midway point of the final period to forge the tie.
Wayne Stephenson made 20 saves, while Hall-of-Famer Tony Esposito was spectacular in stopping 39 of 43 Philadelphia shots to earn Chicago an extra point in the standings.
1977 — Bobby Clarke scored twice, Bill Barber broke a 1-1 tie late in the second period, and Wayne Stephenson made 23 saves to lead the Flyers to a 3-1 triumph over the Washington Capitals at the Capital Center.
Gerry Meehan was the lone Cap to beat Stephenson when he knotted the contest at 1-1 on a power play early in the second period.
LCB linemate Reggie Leach added helpers on two of the three Philadelphia goals.
1978 — Bill Barber and Barry Dean each tallied a pair of goals and Bernie Parent made 25 saves as the Flyers blitzed the Colorado Rockies 6-4 at the Spectrum.
Barber opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal early in the first period, but Philadelphia and the Rockies were deadlocked at 3-3 heading into the third period.
After Andre Dupont gave Philly a 4-3 lead early in the final frame, Dean — a former-Rockie — notched his second of the game and the eventual game-winner just over seven minutes later. Mel Bridgman, who assisted on three of the earlier Flyers’ markers, added an insurance marker just 22 seconds later.
1983 — Darryl Sittler recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick — on a pair of first period assists, a second period goal and a fight with Perry Anderson — but Anderson’s first goal of the season with less than eight minutes left in regulation gave the St. Louis Blues a wild 7-6 victory over the Flyers at the Checkerdome.
It was Sittler’s third and final Gordie Howe hattie with Philadelphia, and it was also his second in consecutive outings as he had recorded one just two days earlier in a 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at the Spectrum.
1989 — Gord Murphy’s goal snapped a 2-2 tie midway through the third period and Bruce Hoffort made seven saves to record the win in relief of Pete Peeters in his NHL debut during a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders at the Spectrum.
The teams traded goals in the first two periods — with Mike Bullard doing the honors for Philadelphia and David Volek lighting the lamp for the Isles in the first, and Kjell Samuelsson and Pat LaFontaine evening things up in the middle frame — as the clubs were deadlocked at 2-2 at the second intermission.
Losing goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick was spectacular in stopping 44 of 47 shots, including 18 of the 19 he faced in the third stanza.
1991 — Rick Tocchet scored twice to pace a four-goal Flyers’ first period, and Ron Hextall stopped 22 shots as Philadelphia held on for a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues at St. Louis Arena.
Steve Kasper opened the scoring with a shorthanded marker early in the first, and Tocchet doubled the lead less than two minutes later.
Brett Hull cut the lead in half at 11:10 with his first of the contest, but Tocchet got it right back just 14 seconds later when he beat Curtis Joseph for his second of the period. Pat Joblonski relieved CuJo and was greeted by a Steve Duchesne tally on the only shot he would face, as Joseph was brought back into the game immediately.
Hull would finish with a pair and Brendan Shanahan scored in the second period to close out the scoring.
CuJo ended up with 41 saves on 44 Philly shots.
1995 — Rookie Mikael Renberg posted a pair of goals and an assist, John LeClair scored once and added two helpers, and Garth Snow made 21 saves as the Flyers defeated the Hartford Whalers 6-1 at the Spectrum.
First period markers from Renberg and Craig MacTavish — the latter’s coming with just 0:02 remaining — in the first period and Renberg’s second midway through the middle frame gave Philadelphia a 3-0 lead and chased Hartford starter Jeff Reese.
Russ Romaniuk, LeClair, and Rob DiMaio all beat Hartford reliever Sean Burke, while Geoff Sanderson notched the lone Whalers’ goal to ruin Snow’s shutout bid.
1999 — Eric Lindros scored once and set up another goal and John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 15 of 16 shots to lead the Flyers to a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks at San Jose Arena.
John LeClair and Daymond Langkow also managed to put the puck past Steve Shields, while Alexander Korolyuk spoiled ‘Beezer’s’ chance for a shutout with just 1:26 remaining in the third period.
2002 — John LeClair’s rebound goal 1:56 into overtime lifted Philadelphia to a 2-1 triumph over Kevin Weekes and the Carolina Hurricanes at the Raleigh Enterainment and Sport Arena.
LeClair pounced on the rebound of a Justin Williams shot and put it past Weekes for his eighth of the season and 300th goal as a Flyer.
Williams had given Philly a 1-0 lead early in the second period, but former-Flyer Rod Brind’Amour tied it up on the power play less than three minutes later.
Roman Cechmanek stopped 17 of 18 shots for his fourth consecutive victory, improving his record to 6-1-2 for the year.
2005 — Simon Gagne recorded his second career hat trick and was in on all four Flyers’ goals, and Peter Forsberg added a goal and three points in a 4-3 triumph over the Atlanta Thrashers at the Wachovia Center.
The line of Gagne, Forsberg, and Mike Knuble remained one of the hottest in the NHL, as the trio of goals gave Gagne a league-leading 15, and Forsberg’s 21 helpers also had him atop the NHL leaders. The three points gave ‘Foppa’ four goals and 12 points over his last four outings.
Goaltender Robert Esche literally had to save Philadelphia as they were outshot 26-11 over the final two frames, with a lopsided 13-3 margin in the third period alone. Gagne beat Atlanta starter Mike Dunham, who finished with 14 saves, on two of those three third period shots.
Before the contest, the 25-millionth fan in franchise history passed through the turnstiles to watch a home Flyers’ contest.
2011 — Sean Couturier posted the first multiple-goal game of his career and Jakub Voracek had a goal and three points as the Flyers raced out to an 8-0 lead in an eventual 9-2 thumping of the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Wells Fargo Center.
It was the first nine-goal explosion for Philadelphia since February 6, 1997, in a 9-6 win over the Montreal Canadiens at the First Union Center.
Both Voracek and Couturier — who was selected with Columbus’ eighth-overall pick in the previous summer’s draft — were acquired from the Blue Jackets in the Jeff Carter trade in late-June.
Goals from James van Riemsdyk, Jaromir Jagr, Maxime Talbot, Claude Giroux, and Voracek staked Ilya Bryzgalov to a 5-0 lead after twenty minutes, before Couturier (first NHL shorthanded marker), Wayne Simmonds, and Matt Carle put Columbus in an eight-goal hole by the second intermission.
The Jackets saved some face as they dominated the third period by a 21-6 shots on goal count, scoring two goals wrapped around Couturier’s second of the night.
Rookie defenseman Erik Gustafsson led all skaters with a +6 rating, while Carle posted a +5.
Current-Flyers netminder Steve Mason allowed seven goals on 28 shots for Columbus to absorb the loss.
2013 — Steve Mason and Justin Peters were locked in a goaltender’s duel for most of regulation before two late goals split evenly sent the contest to overtime, where Manny Malhotra gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 2-1 triumph over the Flyers at PNC Arena with a breakaway tally 2:40 into the extra frame.
With the game scoreless into the waning moments of the third period, Scott Hartnell gave the visitors a 1-0 lead with less than four minutes remaining when he deflected a Kimmo Timonen point shot past Peters for a power play goal.
It appeared as if that would be the lone marker of the tilt, but the Staal brothers combined for some last-minute heroics. Eric Staal found Jordan Staal at the top of the crease, and Mason’s shutout bid and win were both gone with just 0:53 left in regulation.
November 5 Flyers Birthday
Nikolay Zherdev 1984 — Blessed with tremendous offensive abilities, the enigmatic Zherdev was inked to a one-year contract as a free agent in the summer of 2010 after playing a year in the KHL. The Kiev, Russia-native had put together a 23-goal season with the New York Rangers during his previous campaign in North America in 2008/09, and the Flyers took a gamble that the issues with his sometimes sketchy work ethic would be rectified following a year away from the NHL. Things didn’t go as well as hoped, as Zherdev found himself a frequent healthy scratch under head coach Peter Laviolette. Following a late-season waiver and going unclaimed by other clubs, Zherdev continually found himself in and out of the lineup the rest of the way through Philadelphia’s second round postseason exit at the hands of the Boston Bruins. Zherdev finished his one and only season in Philly with 16 goals, 22 points, 22 PIMs, and a +5 rating in 56 regular season games, and a goal, three points, two PIMs, and a -1 in eight playoff contests.
