:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/3350337/gyi0064431936.0.jpg)
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 managed to put together a respectable 13-7-2-1 overall record in November 16th games -- which includes a stellar 9-2-2-1 mark at home -- over the course of franchise history.
Philadelphia has scored 73 goals in the 23 contests (an average of 3.17 GPG), while yielding 65 -- which includes11 surrendered to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Civic Arena in 1993 -- to their opponents (2.82 GAA).
Some of the more memorable moments and brief recaps in Flyers history that took place in November 16th games:
1967: Doug Favell made 30 saves and Ed Hoekstra's late-second period goal proved to be the game-winner as the Flyers defeated the New York Rangers, 3-2, at the Spectrum.
Leon Rochefort and Ed Van Impe also scored for Philadelphia, and Don Blackburn added a pair of assists.
1973: Bill Flett beat Gilles Meloche early in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie and Bernie Parent stopped 23 of 24 shots to lift the Flyers to a 2-1 triumph over the California Golden Seals at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum.
Philadelphia had taken a 1-0 lead in the opening period when Rick MacLeish scored a shorthanded goal with Joe Watson in the penalty box serving a cross-checking minor.
The home team tied it up just 1:09 into the second on a goal by Walt McKechnie.
1975: Bob Kelly and Rick MacLeish scored second period goals and Wayne Stephenson stopped 26 of 27 shots to lead the Flyers over the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, at the Spectrum.
Trailing 1-0 midway through the second on a first period tally by Guy Lafleur, Kelly scored just seconds after leaving the penalty box after serving a high-sticking major.
MacLeish scored 5:26 later to give Philadelphia a 2-1 lead, and Gary Dornhoefer sealed the victory with an empty-netter with four seconds remaining and Ken Dryden -- who turned in a spectacular 46-save performance to hold the Habs in the game -- pulled in favor of an extra attacker.
1976: Bernie Parent stopped all 27 shots he faced to record his third shutout of the season and Orest Kindrachuk scored the game's first goal with 2:05 left in regulation time as the Flyers skated to a 2-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings at the Spectrum.
Mel Bridgman added an empty net goal with seven seconds left and Ed Giacomin pulled for an extra attacker as Detroit attempted to break through Parent for a tying goal.
1985: Rick Tocchet scored a pair of goals as the Flyers defeated the Whalers at the Hartford Civic Center for their 12th straight victory. Brian Propp scored his 14th goal of the year in Philadelphia's 16th game. Pelle Eklund and Brad McCrimmon also scored for Philly, and Murray Craven assisted on two Flyer tallies.
Darren Jensen made 31 saves to win his second consecutive start after being recalled following Pelle Lindbergh's fatal car accident. Jensen was pressed into starting duties when Bob Froese suffered a groin injury in practice.
1986: Peter Zezel scored twice and added an assist in a four-goal Flyers first period as Philadelphia went on to a 6-2 thrashing of the Washington Capitals at the Spectrum.
Lindsay Carson and Murray Craven also tallied in the opening stanza, chasing Caps starter Bob Mason, who made 11 saves on 15 shots.
Former-Flyer Pete Peeters came into the game to begin the second period and yielded third period goals to Brian Propp (shorthanded) and Dave Poulin in the 20 shots he faced.
Rookie Ron Hextall made 23 saves to hit the double-digit mark in victories, raising his record to 10-3-1 for the year. He also assisted on Propp's third period shorthander.
1989: Pelle Eklund scored twice and Mike Bullard added a goal and three helpers to lead the Flyers to a 6-3 win over the Minnesota North Stars at the Spectrum.
Eklund broke a 3-3 tie midway through the second stanza with his first of the contest, then added a second with 5:31 remaining in regulation to close out the scoring after Don Biggs had made it a 5-3 lead early in the third.
It was the third consecutive multi-point outing for Bullard, who scored three goals and posted eight posts in the hot stretch.
Brian Dobbin and Murray Craven (shorthanded) also lit the lamp for Philadelphia, and defenseman Gord Murphy added three asissts. Bruce Hoffort made 21 saves to record his third victory of the year (3-0-1).
1995: Eric Lindros netted a pair of goals and Rod Brind'Amour assisted on four Flyer markers to lead Philadelphia to a 5-3 tiumph over the Ottawa Senators at the Spectrum.
Trailing 3-2 early in the third period, the Flyers got goals from Russ Romaniuk, Lindros, and Karl Dykhuis within a span of 3:09 to knock Sens starter Mike Bales out of the game in favor of Don Beaupre.
The game represented a triumphant return to the lineup for Lindros, who sat out the previous seven with a bruised left knee.
Mikael Renberg also scored for Philly, extending his point-scoring streak to five straight contests (3-4-7). John LeClair and Joel Otto each recorded a pair of assists, and Ron Hextall stopped 20 of 23 Ottawa shots to post the win.
1997: Rod Brind'Amour scored two third period goals -- including the game-winner with 1:00 left in regulation -- and Ron Hextall made 19 saves to lift the Flyers to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the CoreStates Center.
By scoring a pair of goals within 39 seconds in the opening period, Alexander Selivanov had staked the visitors to a 2-0 lead. Trent Klatt beat Daren Puppa early in the middle frame to cut Tampa's lead in half, setting up Brind'Amour's third period heroics.
2006: R.J. Umberger scored a pair of late third period goals -- including the game-winner with 3:37 left in regulation -- to erase a 3-2 deficit and lift the Flyers to a come-from-behind 4-3 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.
After Alex Frolov scored his second goal of the game to give the Kings a 3-1 lead midway through the final frame, Simon Gagne notched his 10th goal of the season with 6:47 left. Umberger connected on his first of the night when he stripped the puck from Dustin Brown and fired a shot past Los Angeles netminder Dan Cloutier to tie the score just 40 seconds later.
Geoff Sanderson also scored for the Flyers, and Mike Richards assisted on three goals. Antero Niittymaki made 23 saves to record the win.
2008: Joffrey Lupul ended an end-to-end dash by scoring from the left faceoff circle with 6:17 remaining in regulation to rescue the Flyers from a third period collapse in a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers at the First Union Center. The win was Philly's 12th consecutive over the Thrashers and gave the Orange-and-Black an unbelievable 27-3-3-1 mark all-time against Atlanta, including a 13-1-2-1 record at home.
Philadelphia took a 3-1 lead into the final stanza on the strength of markers from Simon Gagne, Mike Knuble, and Kimmo Timonen, but the ice was tilted in the visitor's favor just about the rest of the way. Atlanta outshot Philadelphia 21-4 in the third, and they got on the board quickly as Bryan Little scored 35 seconds into the frame. Slava Kozlov tied it at 12:03 before Lupul beat Johan Hedberg for the game-winner just 1:40 later.
In addition to his goal, Gagne also added a pair of assists.
Antero Niittymaki made 29 saves to garner the win, improving his all-time record against the Thrashers to 11-0.
2009: James van Riemsdyk gathered a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Martin Brodeur for what would prove to be the game-winning goal as the Flyers stopped New Jersey's nine-game road winning streak to open the season with a 3-2 win over the Devils at the Wachovia Center.
N.J. was attempting to tie the Buffalo Sabres NHL record of 10 consecutive road wins to begin a campaign.
Darroll Powe and Scott Hartnell also scored for Philadelphia and Claude Giroux added a pair of helpers. Ray Emery came up big with 33 saves, allowing only a David Clarkson power play goal late in the second and a Zach Parise tally with just one second left in the game.
Prior to the game, Dave Schultz became the 20th member of the organization to be inducted into the Flyers Hall-of-Fame. "The Hammer" posted 51 goals and 115 points in 297 games over parts of five seasons with the club while amassing 1386 penalty minutes, including an NHL-record 472 during 1974/75, a mark that still stands today.
Schultz played in 61 games over four postseasons for Philly (1973-1976), recording seven goals, 16 points, and 363 PIMs. Included in that total is 139 over 17 contests in 1974, which set an NHL record, but was shattered in 1986 by Montreal's Chris Nilan with 141 in 18 games.
Notable November 16th Trade:
On this day in 1995, the Flyers sent the rights to winger Martin Spanhel and 1996 first and fourth-round draft picks to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for sniping winger Pat Falloon.
Falloon would spend just over two years in Philadelphia, posting 38 goals and 83 points in 144 regular season games, while managing just six goals and nine points in 26 postseason tilts.
Following a poor performance in the Flyers run to the 1997 Stanley Cup Final -- in which he was scratched for the final four games of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers and first game of the Final against Detroit -- and getting off to a slow start in 1997-98 (five goals, 12 points in 30 games), Falloon was dealt to Ottawa as part of a package for center Alexandre Daigle.
As far as San Jose's return in the original Falloon trade, Spanhel never played a game for the Sharks, and the two draft choices were dealt -- with the first-rounder going to the Phoenix Coyotes, who used the pick to select current-Flyer Danny Briere.
As For The Present:
With the lockout now 60 days old and games canceled through November 30, the official count of games the team has lost all-time due to lockout is now at 140 -- 36 in the shortened 1994/05, the entirety of the 82-game schedule in 2004/05, and 22 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
November 3 Anaheim Ducks @ FLYERS
November 4 FLYERS @ NY Rangers
November 6 Buffalo Sabres @ FLYERS
November 8 FLYERS @ Carolina Hurricanes
November 10 Carolina Hurricanes @ FLYERS
November 13 Minnesota Wild @ FLYERS
November 16 FLYERS @ Buffalo Sabres
November 17 Buffalo Sabres @ FLYERS
November 21 Ottawa Senators @ FLYERS
November 23 Winnipeg Jets @ FLYERS
November 24 FLYERS @ NY Rangers
November 28 FLYERS @ Toronto Maple Leafs
November 29 FLYERS @ NY Islanders
Many Flyers are currently playing as the lockout drags on -- now past the 60-day mark -- scattered throughout different leagues in Europe.
After seemingly making a bit of progress on some of the issues last week, the NHL and NHLPA have abandoned negotiations for the time being and have instead resumed the staring contest that was so prevelant during the initial days of the stoppage.
With games having been canceled through the end of November and the calendar creeping past the middle portion of the month, it's likely more games will fall by the wayside if no significant movement is not made soon.
While there is still hope that sanity will somehow prevail and there can still be something to salvage of a 2012-13 NHL season, it is unfortunately looking more-and-more like the sides may just be content to self-destruct.