The Flyers have posted an 8-6-1-3 record in 18 all-time October 14 contests as they prepare to faceoff against the Kings tonight in Los Angeles to kick off their 50th anniversary season. It’s rather appropriate that the team appears in L.A. on this date, because they did so in their very first October 14 outing back in 1967.Philadelphia won their last October 14 decision — last year at home against the Chicago Blackhawks — snapping a four-game winless skid in games played on this date (0-2-2), dating back to 2005.
The Flyers have been involved in four contests that have gone beyond regulation time on October 14, having won once (2005) while dropping three in overtime and another in a shootout.
1973 — Birthday boy Dave Schultz snapped a 2-2 deadlock late in the second period as Philadelphia spotted the visiting Detroit Red Wings an early two-goal lead before scoring five times in a 5-2 triumph at the Spectrum.
Goals from Detroit’s Nick Libett and Mickey Redmond staked the visitors to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period, but rugged defenseman Barry Ashbee cut the Flyers’ deficit in half late in the opening stanza.
It was all orange-and-black in the middle frame, as the Flyers outshot the Wings by a 20-7 count. Don Saleski scored a shorthanded goal with Andre Dupont serving a slashing minor as the midway point of regulation approached, before Schultz — who was much better known for his fists than he was for his goal-scoring hands — celebrated his 24th birthday by netting his first of the season to give Philly their first lead at 3-2 before the second intermission.
It was much the same in the third as the home squad continued to besiege Detroit netminder Roy Edwards, pouring 17 more shots on net and collecting the lone two strikes — a shorthanded marker from Rick MacLeish and an even-strength tally from Simon Nolet — to win going away at 5-2.
Schultz did give the crowd more of what they wanted, as he fought Tom Mellor early in the final session.
Goaltender Bernie Parent — who had celebrated his return to the Flyers after being reacquired in an offseason trade by pitching a pair of shutouts to open the campaign — recovered from allowing the two early goals and finished with 26 saves to improve to a perfect 3-0-0 record.
1978 — Rick MacLeish broke a 1-1 tie with the Flyers skating two-men short early in the second period and Bernie Parent stopped 27 of 28 shots sent his way as the Flyers went on to down the Red Wings by a 3-1 score at the Detroit Olympia.
Paul Woods got things started off on the right foot for the Wings by beating Parent 8:59 after the opening faceoff, but Bill Barber knotted it up late in the period with a power play goal just 10 seconds after Detroit defender Reed Larson was whistled for boarding.
MacLeish’s shorthanded goal gave the visitors a 2-1 lead heading into the third stanza, and Parent had to be good as the Red Wings carried play and outshot the Flyers, 11-6. With goalie Jimmy Rutherford pulled for an extra Wings attacker, rookie defenseman Behn Wilson hit the empty net with 0:27 remaining to solidify the victory.
1979 — Bob Kelly’s goal with 3:16 left in regulation proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Spectrum.
Coming on the heels of a 9-2 thrashing at the hands of the Flames in Atlanta the day before, little did anyone know this victory would be the first game of what would eventually become a historic 35-game undefeated streak, as the club would not drop another decision all the way into the new calendar year.
Rookie Brian Propp notched his first multiple point game, recording a goal and an assist as the Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the span of 5:29 late in the opening session. Paul Holmgren potted his team-leading third of the campaign, and the LCB Line teamed up with Reggie Leach finishing things off just 1:10 later. Leach then set up Propp to make it a three-goal Philadelphia cushion, but Lanny MacDonald responded only 38 seconds later to make it a 3-1 contest after one.
Darryl Sittler managed the lone marker of the middle stanza, beating Pete Peeters 0:33 into the frame to cut the lead to 3-2 heading into the third.
Kelly put the puck past Toronto’s Paul Harrison to give the Flyers some breathing room, and it would become very important when MacDonald netted his second of the contest on a penalty shot with just 10 seconds left on the clock to set the final at 4-3.
1981 — Brian Propp scored his second goal of the game with 25 seconds left in regulation to lift the Flyers to a hard-fought 5-4 triumph over the Washington Capitals at the Cap Center in Landover, Maryland.
Reggie Leach also scored twice, and Bill Barber added a shorthanded marker for Philly, who had squandered a late 4-2 lead by allowing goals to Caps Ryan Walter and Roland Stoltz to set up Propp’s late-game heroics.
The Flyers dominated the final two periods to the tune of a 3-14 shots on goal advantage, but Washington goalie Dave Parro gave his team a chance and finished the contest with 37 saves. Pete Peeters ended up with 20 saves to pick up the victory.
1982 — Consecutive goals from Mark Howe (shorthanded), Darryl Sittler and Tim Kerr staked the Flyers to a 3-1 lead, and Ray Allison added an insurance marker late in the third as Rick St. Croix outdueled Jacques Cloutier in a 4-2 Philadelphia win over the Buffalo Sabres at the Spectrum.
1989 — Mark Howe and Dave Poulin scored to erase a two-goal third period deficit and complete a Flyers rally all the way back from 3-0 for a 3-3 deadlock with the New York Islanders at Nassau County Coliseum.
Down 3-0 in the second period, Doug Sulliman began the comeback 7:56 into the middle frame before Howe and Poulin’s strikes knotted the contest in the final session.
Having dodged defeat was only a temporary relief for a struggling Philadelphia squad — who were now 1-3-1 on the year — as they continued to suffer from a lack of speed and scorers and were still reeling from goaltender Ron Hextall’s ongoing six-week holdout in a contract dispute with the club.
1995 — Mikael Renberg shattered a scoreless tie 8:02 into the third period and Dominic Roussel pitched a 19-save shutout in his first start of the season in a 3-0 triumph over the New York Islanders at Nassau County Coliseum.
The Isles held a 9-6 shots advantage during the opening 20 minutes, but it was all Flyers the rest of the way as they put rubber on Tommy Salo 30 times in the final two frames, while Roussel saw just 10 shots in the final 40 minutes.
Rod Brind’Amour added an insurance tally with just under eight minutes left, and Eric Lindros capped things off with a late empty-netter.
2005 — Defenseman Mike Rathje blew a slapshot past goaltender Sebastien Caron 3:17 into overtime for his first goal as a Flyer, as the club overcame squandering a four-goal lead in a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Wachovia Center.
On the strength of a pair of goals and four points from Simon Gagne, Philly built a commanding 5-1 lead midway through regulation. But the Pens kept chipping away, getting goals from Ryan Malone and rookie Sidney Crosby to make it 5-3 by the second intermission, and another via the power play from Dick Tarnstrom early in the third.
Nursing a 5-4 lead, goaltender Antero Niittymaki cost the Flyers when he was caught daydreaming. Max Talbot won a faceoff at center ice and flipped the puck into the Philadelphia zone from his own side of the red line, hoping to get to the bench for a line change.
What happened next was beyond belief, as the Philly goalie allowed the puck to bound off of him and into the net to knot the score at 4-4 with 8:08 remaining.
It was Talbot’s first NHL goal, and he never even saw it go in.
“I turned around ready to change,” the first-year Penguin said, “and the guys were like ‘It’s in! It’s in!'”
Niittymaki admitted he had been watching a video on the jumbotron, and hadn’t seen Talbot send the puck his way.
“It was a stupid mistake,” he said after the contest.
Philadelphia had a golden opportunity to win it in the late stages of the third, but Caron — who relieved rookie Marc-Andre Fleury after he was shelled for four goals on just 20 shots — made a spectacular save. After a shot hit the goal post, Caron, who was lying flat on his back in the crease, reached over with his glove to rob Flyer Brian Savage with 1:11 left on the clock.
The Flyers were given a two-man advantage when Crosby was called for holding with 13 seconds remaining in regulation and Sergei Gonchar went off for tripping at 1:24 of the overtime, but Philly couldn’t capitalize until Crosby had returned and Rathje’s shot beat Caron to salvage the two points.
Peter Forsberg racked up four assists in the win, giving the new Flyer points in each of his first four outings and nine assists over that span.
2015 — Sam Gagner scored his first goal as a Flyer and Michal Neuvirth stopped 30 shots to record his second straight shutout in a 3-0 whitewash of the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
It was the 12th consecutive victory over the Hawks on home ice for Philadelphia, dating back to November 9, 1996.
Neuvirth, filling in for number one goaltender Steve Mason — who remained out due to personal family reasons — and coming off a 31-save blanking of the Florida Panthers, was again spectacular in the Philly cage as he extended his streak of not yielding a goal to 132:05.
Gagner deposited the puck past Corey Crawford 5:35 into the second period, while Claude Giroux — playing in his 500th NHL game — doubled the lead before Matt Read closed out the scoring in the third.
The Flyers held an emotional pre-game ceremony in which they honored defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who retired after winning the Cup with Chicago after Philadelphia dealt him to the Windy City at the NHL trade deadline.
October 14 Flyers birthday
Dave Schultz was born in Waldheim, Saskatchewan on this day in 1949. Drafted by the Flyers in the fifth round of the 1969 draft, “The Hammer” was viewed as the ringleader of The Broad Street Bullies during their glory days in the mid-1970’s. Schultz racked up 1,386 penalty minutes in just 297 contests with the Flyers, and holds the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a single regular season, a staggering 472 during the 1974/75 campaign and is a mark that many believe will never be equaled. He also picked up 139 PIMs in only 17 playoff games during the drive to the 1974 Stanley Cup, and totaled 363 in just 61 postseason games while with Philadelphia.
Schultz could also score, notching a pair of hat tricks and posting a 20-goal season in 1973/74. He registered the overtime-winner in Game 4 of the 1974 Stanley Cup quarterfinal that eliminated the Atlanta Flames and propelled the Flyers onto the next round as they continued on the journey in securing their first-ever championship.
