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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.
Please Note: As some of the regular readers of this feature may have noticed the absence over the last three days, Hurricane Sandy rendered much of the Eastern seaboard without power following the path of destruction. That path passed through the Philadelphia-area this past Monday and Tuesday.
The Flyers have a 13-6-2-0 record -- including a perfect 7-0-0-0 mark on the road -- on November 2nd dates over the course of franchise history. Philadelphia has scored 73 goals in the 21 contests (an average of 3.47 GPG), while yielding 51 to their opponents (2.42 GAA). The Flyers posted shutouts on consecutive November 2nd tilts (3-0 in Montreal in 1974 and a 10-0 home shellacking of the visiting Scouts in 1975).
Some of the more memorable moments in Flyers history in contests that took place on November 2nd:
1968: Jean-Guy Gendron broke a 2-2 tie with his second goal of the game with 3:47 remaining in the third period to left the Flyers to a 3-2 victory over Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens. It was the first two goals of the rookie Gendron's NHL career.
Defenseman and captain Ed van Impe also scored for the Orange-and-Black, and Andre Lacroix assisted on all three Philadelphia markers.
Bernie Parent made 32 saves as the Flyers were outshot by a 34-22 count. Al Smith took the loss for the Leafs.
1969: Gary Dornhoefer and Lew Morrison each scored twice and Bobby Clarke added three assists to propel the Flyers to a 6-2 defeat of the Minnesota North Stars at the Spectrum.
Reg Fleming notched a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal in the first period, a fight in the second, and an assist on Morrison's second of the contest in the third.
Both Bernie Parent and Caesar Maniago stopped 27 shots, with Parent recording the win.
1972: Bill Clement snapped a 2-2 tie late in the second period with a shorthanded goal and Bobby Clarke provided insurance with a tally midway through the third period as the Flyers went on to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Spectrum. Goals by Ross Lonsberry and Gary Dornhoefer had staked Philadelphia to a 2-1 lead after one period, but the Pens Ron Schock knotted the game with a shorthander of his own at 16:23 of the middle frame.
Clement broke the tie 2:24 later with the eventual game winner.
Doug Favell was sensational in stopping 37 of 39 Pittsburgh shots for the winning Flyers, while Jim Rutherford made 32 saves in the losing effort.
1974: Tom Bladon, Gary Dornhoefer, and Rick MacLeish all beat Ken Dryden and Bernie Parent posted his first shutout of the season -- on the way to posting an NHL-leading 12 shutouts for a second consecutive season -- by stopping all 34 shots the Canadiens threw his way in a 3-0 victory over Montreal at the Forum.
Philadelphia held a 1-0 lead heading into the third period on Bladon's marker at 12:23 of the opening stanza -- despite being outshot 26-12 -- before Dornhoefer and MacLeish closed out the scoring late in the third. Ross Lonsberry assisted on both goals in the final frame.
1975: Bobby Clarke, Mel Bridgman, and Orest Kindrachuk each scored a pair of goals and assisted on another, and the Flyers put up a six-spot in the second period on the way to a 10-0 drubbing of the Kansas City Scouts at the Spectrum. Ross Lonsberry, Dave Schultz, Terry Crisp, and Gary Dornhoefer also lit the lamp for Philadelphia.
Wayne Stephenson stopped all 19 shots to post the whitewash, while Bill McKenzie yielded 10 goals in the 51-shot Flyers assault.
1978: Jerry Korab and Craig Ramsay scored third period goals and Donnie Edwards made 39 saves to enable the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-3 deadlock at the Spectrum. After Bill Barber (shorthanded), Rick Martin, and Rick MacLeish traded goals over the first two frames, Reggie Leach made it a 3-1 Philly lead with a power play marker at 4:04 of the third. But Buffalo would not be denied, as Korab notched a power play tally 3:55 later before Ramsay tied it midway through the final stanza.
Bobby Clarke assisted on two of the Flyers goals.
Bernie Parent made 26 saves for the Flyers to earn the tie.
1980: Defenseman Blake Wesley broke a 2-2 tie with 5:16 remaining in the second period and Rick MacLeish scored twice as the Flyers went on to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Bruins at the Spectrum. The triumph was the 500th all-time win in Philly history, the most of any of the 1967 expansion clubs -- none of others had even reached the 400-victory plateau at the time.
Bobby Clarke also scored for Philadelphia.
Pete Peeters made 22 saves to pick up the win, while Rogie Vachon stopped 26 Flyers offerings in the loss.
1985: Ilkka Sinisalo and Lindsay Carson each scored twice as the Flyers scored four times in 7:39 to bolt to a 4-0 first period lead before holding on for a 5-3 triumph over the Quebec Nordiques at Le Colisee.
Tim Kerr also scored -- his sixth goal in the last six games -- and both Murray Craven and Ron Sutter added two assists to the Philadelphia cause.
Pelle Lindbergh stopped 22 Nords shots to record the win, while Mario "Goose" Gosselin yielded five goals on 25 shots in the Quebec net.
1993: Second period goals by Josef Beranek, Rod Brind'Amour, Kevin Dineen, and Eric Lindros erased a 2-0 Flyers deficit on the way to a 4-3 victory over John Vanbiesbrouck and the Florida Panthers in South Florida.
After Beranek and Brind'Amour knotted the contest at 2-2, Dineen and Lindros each struck while the Flyers were skating shorthanded to stake the visitors to a 4-2 lead heading into the third. In addition to his goal, Brind'Amour also added a pair of assists.
Dominic Roussel stopped 27 of 30 Cats shots, while "Beezer" took the loss by allowing four Philly goals on 34 shots.
1996: Joel Otto scored his first goal of the season with 1:02 remaining in regulation to give the Flyers a 3-2 win over the Panthers in South Florida. Trailing 2-0 midway through the middle stanza, Trent Klatt scored on the man advantage to draw Philadelphia to within a goal heading into the third. Shjon Podein tied the game at 12:39 of the session, setting up Otto's late-game heroics.
Klatt also assisted on the GWG, and defenseman Eric Desjardins added two helpers.
The Flyers sent 44 shots in the direction of John Vanbiesbrouck -- including 22 in the third and 37 over the last two periods -- while Ron Hextall made 26 saves to register the victory.
2002: Dennis Seidenberg and Keith Primeau scored second period goals to lead the Flyers to a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals at the First Union Center.
The home team completely dominated play, outshooting the visiting Caps by an outrageous 45-11 margin. Rookie netminder Sebastien Charpentier -- who rightfully was named Star of the Game in just his fifth career start -- was outstanding in defeat, stopping 43 Philly shots to keep heavily-outplayed Washington in the contest. Roman Cechmanek stopped 10 shots and had his bid for a shutout dashed on a Jaromir Jagr power play tally with just 1:52 left in the third to make it interesting.
2007: R.J. Umberger scored what would prove to be the game-winning power play goal early in the third period as the visiting Flyers skated out of Washington with two points in a 3-2 win over the Capitals. After Tomas Fleischmann staked the home team to a 1-0 lead following the opening stanza, Danny Briere and Mike Richards gave Philadelphia a 2-1 advantage heading into the third.
Umberger made it a 3-1 contest 1:33 into the frame before Alex Ovechkin ripped a man advantage tally -- just three seconds after captain Jason Smith was called for a delay of the game minor -- with 4:08 remaining to make it a one goal nail biter. Braydon Coburn assisted on two of the Flyers goals, including Umberger's GWG.
Antero Niittymaki made 24 saves to post the win, while Olaf Kolzig stopped 26 Philly shots in the loss.
2009: Mike Richards and Jeff Carter each scored twice and added a helper and Scott Hartnell scored once and assisted on two others as the Flyers beat up on the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2, at the Wachovia Center.
James van Riemsdyk assisted on three Flyers goals, while both Claude Giroux and Chris Pronger assisted on a pair.
Philadelphia's Ray Emery stopped 26 shots to ring up the triumph, while Mike Smith yielded five goals on 18 shots before giving way to former-Flyer Antero Niittymaki -- who stopped 12 of 13 shots he faced -- after Richards' second of the night.
2011: The Flyers mounted an early charge on Ryan Miller -- chasing the Buffalo goaltender after putting three shots behind him on 11 attempts in the first 6:23 of play -- before holding on for a 3-2 victory at HSBC Center.
Rookie Sean Couturier and James van Riemsdyk scored 13 seconds apart in the first 1:56, then Scott Hartnell gave visiting Philly the 3-0 lead to bring Jhonas Enroth entered the contest. The rookie Finnish goalie was perfect the rest of the way on the 15 shots he faced, and it was Ilya Bryzgalov who would have to come up big to maintain the lead as the Sabres outshot the Flyers, 23-12, over the final two frames.
Bryzgalov finished the night with 29 saves, yielding a second period tally to Andrej Sekera, and a goal in the third to Luke Adam at 8:29.
Buffalo pulled Enroth with just over a minute and a half left, but could not beat Bryzgalov for the equalizer.
November 2nd Flyers Birthdays:
Jason Smith, 1973: Acquired along with Joffrey Lupul from the Edmonton Oilers in the Joni Pitkanen trade on July 1st, 2007, the hard-nosed defensive-defenseman would play just one season in Philadelphia. In 77 games, the captain notched one goal and 10 points, while racking up 86 penalty minutes.
Following the club's ouster to the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Final, the Flyers allowed Smith to sign with the Ottawa Senators as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2008.
Cal Heeter, 1988: The free agent signing -- currently playing for the Adirondack Phantoms -- recorded his first professional victory in three starts in the early going of the AHL season.
Luke Schenn, 1989: The former Toronto Maple Leaf defender was acquired in exchange for winger James van Riemsdyk on June 23rd, 2012 -- the last deal Philadelphia made prior to the lockout. He will make his Flyers debut whenever a CBA settlement is reached and (if) the 2012-13 campaign finally commences.
As For The Present:
The lockout of NHL players - which began on September 15th -- is now inconceivably in its 48th day.
With games currently canceled through November 30, the official count of games the Flyers have lost all-time due to Gary Bettman-induced lockouts 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
Though the sides reportedly talked Thursday, unless there is some significant breakthrough in negotiations the league is likely to announce the cancelation of the Winter Classic -- scheduled for Ann Arbor in the nearly-105,000 seat stadium at the University of Michigan on January 1st, 2013 -- later today.
Why Friday, November 2nd, 2012? Because the NHL has the first of four installment payments due to Michigan U today, with this one being the smallest of the four in the amount of $250,000.
While there is still hope that sanity will somehow prevail and there will be something of a 2012-13 NHL season, it's looking more-and-more like the sides may just end up being content with the current 'self-destruct' mode.