This Date In Philadelphia Flyers History: A Hat Trick, 2 Shutouts, And A Massive Shakeup

This is a daily column that will run during the duration of the NHL lockout. It is not meant to depress hockey fans, but is rather intended to provide a reminder of some of the more memorable moments in Philadelphia Flyers' history, and act as a much-needed distraction from the ongoing negativity surrounding the lockout for hockey fans. What must not be forgotten during the labor strife is just how great of a game we have been blessed with to enjoy throughout the years.

The Flyers have had mixed results in the 22 games played on October 22nd, sporting a 10-9-1-2 record (6-4-1-1 at home). Philly has managed 74 goals in those games (for a 3.36 GPG average), while allowing 75 to their opponents (3.40 GAA).

As for the more memorable moments in club history in October 22nd contests:

1969: Andre Lacroix registered a hat trick to lead the Flyers to a 4-3 victory over Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens. Lacroix beat Leafs goalie Bruce Gamble once in each period, with his marker midway through the third period turning out to be the game-winner.

Bernie Parent made 32 saves to pick up the win.

1970: The Flyers scored three goals in the third period to overcome the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2, at the Spectrum. After spotting Buffalo a 2-0 lead midway through the first period, Simon Nolet cut the deficit in half before the end of the opening frame.

Following a scoreless second, Bobby Clarke beat Dave Dryden just 37 seconds into the final stanza to tie the score at 2-2, before Jean-Guy Gendron netted the game-winning goal midway through the third. Garry Peters added an insurance goal into the empty net with 48 seconds remaining.

Philadelphia started slowly but ended in dominating fashion, throwing 19 shots on Dryden in the third. Bernie Parent made 18 saves in the winning effort.

1974: Andre "Moose" Dupont scored at 5:28 of the third period to break a 2-2 third period tie and send the Flyers to a 4-2 win over the Kings at the Forum in Inglewood, CA.

Heading into the second period with no score, the teams traded a pair of goals (Orest Kindrachuk and Reggie Leach for Philly).

Bernie Parent stopped 24 of 26 Kings' offerings to post the victory.

1981: Goals by Brian Propp, Mel Bridgman, and Reggie Leach staked the Flyers to a 3-0 lead by the midway point of the first period but would have to hold on for dear life in the end as they defeated the Quebec Nordiques, 3-2, at the Spectrum.

Philadelphia controlled play from the opening faceoff and outshot the visitors by an 18-6 count in the opening stanza, but they could not beat Nords' netminder Michel Plasse the rest of the way. He finished with 34 saves.

Marion Stastny scored in each of the second and third periods to draw Quebec close, but the Nordiques could not pot the equalizer.

Ilkka Sinisalo notched two helpers for the Flyers, while Rick St. Croix stopped 18 of 20 Quebec shots to register the win.

1992: Third period goals by Pavel Bure and Tom Fergus rallied the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-4 deadlock with the Flyers at the Spectrum.

After assisting on a second period Eric Lindros goal to make it a 2-2 contest heading into the final period, Mark Recchi scored twice in the first 5:13 of the third to give Philly a 4-2 lead before Vancouver answered.

Goalies Dominic Roussel (30 saves) and Kay Whitmore (21 saves) battled it out to earn the tie.

1993: Eric Lindros scored twice and defenseman Dmitri Yushkevich scored the eventual game-winning goal late in the third period as the Flyers beat the New York Islanders, 4-3, at the Spectrum.

Lindros opened the scoring with a power play tally early in the second period, but the Isles took a 2-1 lead into the third after goals from Uwe Krupp and Marty McInnis.

Philadelphia used the man advantage to take the lead midway through the final frame with PP markers from both Josef Beranek and Lindros before Yushkevich's GWG,

Travis Green scored a power play goal for New York to round out the scoring.

Diminutive defender Greg Hawgood assisted on all three Flyers' man advantage goals.

Dominic Roussel made 23 saves to gain the victory for the Flyers, while Ron Hextall stopped 30 Philadelphia shots in the losing effort against his former teammates.

1996: Ron Hextall, who faced just one Ducks' shot in the opening stanza, needed to make just 12 saves total on the night to record a shutout, and the Flyers received goals from Shjon Podein, Rod Brind'Amour, and Eric Desjardins en route to a 3-0 victory over the visiting Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

1999: John Vanbiesbrouck stopped all 20 shots he faced and Daymond Langkow and Dan McGillis each posted a goal and assist in the second period to lead the Flyers to a 2-0 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

2003: Tony Amonte beat Jean-Sebastien Giguere to tie the game at 3-3 with just one second remaining in regulation, but it wasn't to be the Flyers night as Rob Niedermayer scored just 1:10 into overtime to give the Mighty Ducks a 4-3 win in Anaheim.

Robert Esche stopped 25 of 29 Anaheim shots in suffering the loss.

2005: Mike Knuble, Donald Brashear, and Branko Radivojevic scored third period goals to break a 2-2 tie to help lead the Flyers to a 5-2 victory over the Maple Leafs in Toronto.

After Mike Richards' second period goal gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead, ex-Flyer Eric Lindros knotted the score at 2-2 early in the third before the three-goal Philadelphia explosion.

Robert Esche stopped 22 Leafs' shots -- including 15 of 16 in the decisive third -- to gain the win over Ed Belfour.

2006: The Flyers announced the resignation of GM Bobby Clarke and the firing of head coach Ken Hitchcock following a five-game losing skid and an awful 1-6-1 overall start to the 2006-07 season. Paul Holmgren was named the club's interim-GM, while John Stevens replaced Hitchcock behind the bench.

The shake up gave a temporary boost to the team as they won two of the next three contests, but went on to lost their next six (0-5-1) subsequent tilts. The Flyers 40th year in the NHL would be their worst all-time regular season, posting a 22-48-12 mark and aa league-low 56 points.

2008: Danny Briere scored with 1:05 left in the third period to send the game to overtime, but Joe Pavelski and former-Flyer Jeremy Roenick each scored in the shootout to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 7-6 win over the Flyers in Philadelphia.

Joffrey Lupul (two), Jeff Carter (shorthanded), Mike Richards, and Scottie Upshall also scored for Philadelphia.

Antero Niittymaki (11 saves on 15 shots) was yanked in favor of Martin Biron following a wild first period in which San Jose led 4-3. Biron made 18 saves the rest of the way, but was bested by Evgeni Nabokov in the shootout.

2009: Claude Giroux bested Tuukka Rask in the shootout while Ray Emery was perfect on all three B's shooters to give the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins at the Wells Fargo Center.

As For The Present...

With Friday's announcement that games are now canceled through November 1, the official count of games the team has lost all-time due to lockout is now at 127 -- 36 in the shortened 1994-05, the entirety of the 82-game schedule in 2004-05, and nine thus far this season:

October 11 Boston Bruins @ FLYERS
October 13 FLYERS @ NY Islanders
October 18 Pittsburgh Penguins @ FLYERS
October 20 Winnipeg Jets @ FLYERS
October 25 FLYERS @ Montreal Canadiens
October 27 Toronto Maple Leafs @ FLYERS
October 28 FLYERS @ Buffalo Sabres
October 30 Dallas Stars @ FLYERS
November 1 New Jersey Devils @ FLYERS

There is still some hope remaining after last Tuesday's offer from the NHL that finally got the ball rolling with regards to negotiations. If there is an accord reached by this Thursday (October 25th) and the regular season commences on November 2nd (3rd for the Flyers in a 1:00 Saturday matinee against the visiting Anaheim Ducks), the games that were erased will be made up during the course of the season.

While talks at the end of the week didn't go well at all -- Gary Bettman says the two sides "are not speaking the same language" -- there is still hope that sanity will somehow eventually prevail and there will be a 2012-13 NHL season, even though no further negotiations have been officially scheduled.