November 4th In Philadelphia Flyers History: First Hat Trick, Barber & Rusty First NHL Goals

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 an excellent 12-6-0-0 record -- including a 7-3-0-0 mark at home -- on November 4th over the course of franchise history. Philadelphia has scored a whopping 78 goals in the 18 contests (an average of 4.33 GPG), while yielding just 45 to their opponents (2.50 GAA).

Some of the more notable moments and brief game recaps from Flyers contests that took place on November 4th:

1967: In just the ninth game in their young history, Leon Rochefort recorded the first-ever Flyers hat trick to lead the Orange-and-Black to a 4-1 victory over the Canadiens at the Forum in Montreal.

It was the first goals he scored for Philadelphia and it brought some measure of revenge for Rochefort, as the 28-year-old winger had spent the previous four seasons in the Canadiens' organization. Rochefort opened the scoring with a power play marker early in the first period, then put away what had been a 2-1 lead with two goals in 3:13 in the latter stages of the third period.

Garry Peters also scored for the Flyers, and Bernie Parent stopped 33 of 34 Montreal shots to pick up the win.

1972: Bill Barber scored his first career goal and added three assists and Rick MacLeish scored twice in the third period as the Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 5-3, at the Spectrum.

After beginning the season with the Richmond Robins, this was just Barber's third NHL game.

Don Saleski and Tom Bladon each scored second period goals, and Bobby Taylor made 30 saves to register the win.

1973: Bobby Clarke and Ross Lonsberry each scored twice and Bernie Parent stopped all 28 shots to post a shutout as the Flyers blasted the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-0, at the Spectrum. It was the second time in eight days that Parent and Philadelphia blanked Pittsburgh, as the Flyers skated out of the Steel City on October 27th with a 6-0 triumph.

Philly unleashed a 47-shot assault on Pens' goaltender Denis Herron, beating him once in the opening period and three times in both the second and third frames.

Bill Barber, Orest Kindrachuk, and Simon Nolet also lit the lamp for the home team.

1978: Reggie Leach and Mel Bridgman each scored a pair of goals and Wayne Stephenson turned aside 24 of 27 shots as the Flyers blitzed the Bruins, 7-3, at Boston Garden.

Five first period tallies on just 10 shots by Bridgman, Paul Holmgren, Paul Evans (first career NHL goal), Rick MacLeish (shorthanded), and Leach chased Boston starter Gilles Gilbert.

Bobby Clarke assisted on three of the Flyers markers.

1979: Bill Barber, Kenny Linseman, and Paul Holmgren each scored a goal and added an assist and Pete Peeters stopped 40 shots to garner First Star honors as the Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1, at the Spectrum.

Peeters' lone blemish was a first period power play goal scored by Danny Gare.

The win was the fifth on a row for Philadelphia, and ninth straight game without a loss (8-0-1).

1986: Tim Kerr scored a pair of goals to give him 10 in 12 games on the season and Ron Hextall stopped 28 shots to lead the Flyers to a 7-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils at the Spectrum. Mark Howe and Pelle Eklund each added a goal and two assists.

Hextall shook off an early 1-0 deficit on an Uli Hiemer power play goal, and turned in an excellent performance as his Philadelphia teammates rallied for seven unanswered goals. Derrick Smith, Peter Zezel, and Ron Sutter also scored for the Flyers.

1988: Murray Craven scored with 13 seconds left in regulation to beat his former club and spoil a Steve Yzerman hat trick performance, lifting the visiting Flyers to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Craven -- who was a first round selection (17th overall) of the Red Wings in the 1982 draft before being dealt to Philadelphia in exchange for Darryl Sittler -- beat Greg Stefan on a breakaway for the game-winning goal.

The triumph snapped a three game-losing skid and a stretch of six losses in seven contests (1-5-1)

Scott Mellanby, Terry Carkner, and Brian Propp also scored for the Flyers, while Mark LaForest stopped 31 Detroit shots -- and picked up an assist on Craven's GWG -- to record the win.

1989: Tim Kerr scored twice as Philadelphia torched former-Flyers netminder Mark LaForest for seven goals in a 7-4 victory over Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Keith Acton, Rick Tocchet, Ron Sutter, Brian Propp, and Tony Horacek also tallied for the visitors.

Ron Hextall stopped 19 of 21 shots over the first two periods to record the win before leaving with a groin injury. Hextall -- who held out at the beginning of the 1989-90 campaign in a contract dispute, would go on to appear in just eight contests in an injury-plagued season.

1990: For a second consecutive year the Flyers put up a seven-spot at Maple Leaf Gardens as Scott Mellanby scored a pair of goals to lead Philadelphia to a 7-1 win over Toronto. Pelle Eklund, Murray Craven, Keith Acton, Rick Tocchet, and rookie Mike Ricci also beat current Flyers goalie coach Jeff Reese, who gave up all seven goals on 36 shots.

Also for a second straight year on this date at MLG was a Flyer goaltender not finishing the game, as Ken Wregget -- who was a perfect 13 saves on 13 shots -- aggravated a hip flexor injury and gave way to Pete Peeters 5:23 into the second period. Peeters had just been brought back to the Flyers to serve as backup for Wregget after Ron Hextall was injured for the second time in the campaign, and was pressed into duty earlier than expected. He went on to make 18 saves on 19 shots, including thwarting a Gary Leeman penalty shot attempt.

1993: Dave Tippett and Rod Brind'Amour each scored shorthanded goals and Mikael Renberg notched a penalty shot marker as the Flyers defeated the Quebec Nordiques, 4-1, at the Spectrum for their third win in a row. Eric Lindros also scored for Philadelphia.

Dominic Roussel made 27 saves and outplayed the Nords Stephane Fiset, who yielded the three Flyers goals on 20 Flyers shots.

2000: Ruslan Fedetenko scored his first NHL goal -- the eventual game-winner -- and Roman Cechmanek turned away all 18 shots he faced as the Flyers blanked the visiting Buffalo Sabres, 3-0, at the First Union Center.

Dan McGillis and Keith Primeau also beat Dominik Hasek in the win.

Todd Fedoruk posted his first NHL fighting major in a first period tussle with Buffalo tough guy Rob Ray.

2010: Blair Betts scored midway through the second period to snap a 1-1 deadlock to propel the Flyers to a 4-1 victory -- Philadelphia's fifth straight -- over the New York Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center. Mike Richards, Nikolay Zherdev, and Chris Pronger also beat Henrik Lundqvist, and Claude Giroux added a pair of helpers.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 20 Rangers shots to record the victory.

As For The Present:

With games currently 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

The NHL and NHLPA talked Saturday at an undisclosed location, which is better than the staring contest the two have been involved in to see which one would blink first.

While there is still hope that sanity will somehow prevail and there can still be something of a 2012-13 NHL season, Friday's cancelation of the January 1st, 2013 Winter Classic makes it look more-and-more like the sides may just be content with the current 'self-destruct' mode.