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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.
After going winless in their first seven November 5th games (0-4-3-0), the Flyers have managed a 9-8-3-0 record -- including a 5-3-1-0 mark at home -- on November 5th over the course of franchise history. Philadelphia has scored 69 goals in the 20 contests (an average of 3.45 GPG), while allowing 63 to their opponents (3.15 GAA).
Some of the more notable moments and brief game recaps in Flyers history that took place in contests played on November 5th:
1967: Yvan Cournoyer beat Bernie Parent with 6:09 left in regulation to lift the visiting Montreal Canadiens to a 1-1 tie at the Spectrum. Ed Hoekstra had given the Flyers a 1-0 lead early in the second period, but the Flying Frenchmen turned up the pressure. Montreal outshot Philadelphia, 23-13, over the last two periods, including 12-6 in the final frame.
Lorne "Gump" Worsley made 22 saves foe the Canadiens.
1975: Grant Mulvey scored his second goal of the third period to cap off a furious Blackhawks comeback in a 4-4 tie at Chicago Stadium. The Flyers used a 32-12 shots on goal advantage to build a 4-1 lead after two periods -- with two goals coming from Bobby Clarke and one each from Bob Kelly and Bill Barber -- before the 'Hawks doubled their shot total in the final frame.
Tony Esposito made 39 saves for Chicago, while Wayne Stephenson stopped 20 of 24 Blackhawks offerings.
1977: Bill Barber scored at 14:20 of the second period to break a 1-1 deadlock and Bobby Clarke scored twice as the Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals at the Cap Center in Landover, Maryland. The LCB Line accounted for all three goals and right winger Reggie Leach assisted on a pair.
Philadelphia threw 39 shots at the Caps net, and Bernie Wolfe made 36 saves. Wayne Stephenson came up with 23 stops, with a Gerry Meehan man advantage tally in the first minute and a half of the second period being the only one to elude him.
1978: Bill Barber scored twice, Barry Dean notched his first two goals of the season, and Mel Bridgman added a goal and three assists as the Flyers beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-4, at the Spectrum.
Trailing 3-2, Barber tied the game late in the middle period, then Philadelphia ran off three straight goals in the final frame from Andre Dupont, Dean, and Bridgman to build a 6-3 lead.
Michel Plasse was tested 41 times, while Bernie Parent made 25 saves to record the victory.
1983: Guy Chouinard and Perry Anderson scored in the latter stages of the third period to give the St. Louis Blues a wild 7-6 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Checkerdome.
Philly's Darryl Sittler posted a Gordie Howe hat trick -- two assists in the first period, a goal and fight in the second -- in the losing cause.The Flyers also received a pair of goals from Ilkka Sinisalo, and one each from Rich Sutter, Brian Propp, and Bill Barber. Barber's tally actually gave Philadelphia a 6-5 lead at 7:54 of the third before the Blues struck twice to pull out the win.
St. Louis' Mike Liut made 26 saves to register the triumph, while Pelle Lindbergh stopped 25 of 32 shots to absorb the loss.
It was the third straight loss for the defensively-challenged Orange-and-Black, as they yielded at least six goals or more in each defeat (19 total).
1987: Greg Adams scored his second goal of the third period -- this one with 11 seconds remaining in regulation -- to give the Vancouver Canucks a 4-3 victory over the Flyers at the Spectrum.
Leading 2-0 on the strength of goals from Scott Mellanby and Ilkka Sinisalo heading into the third, Ron Hextall was beaten by Adams, Petri Skriko, and Tony Tanti to give Vancouver a 3-2 lead with five minutes left in the stanza. But Rick Tocchet's power play goal with 1:02 remaining knotted the contest before Adams' late game-winner.
1989: Gord Murphy's goal midway through the third period proved to be the game-winner as the Flyers got past the New York Islanders, 3-2, at the Spectrum.
After the teams traded goals to a 2-2 tie after two periods of play (Mike Bullard and Kjell Samuelsson for Philadelphia), the Flyers upped the offensive pressure in the final session, outshooting the Isles, 19-5.
Mark Fitzpatrick was called upon to make 44 saves on the night, while Bruce Hoffort was perfect on all seven shots he faced to pick up the victory in relief of Pete Peeters, who left the game with an injury with 4:56 left in the second.
1991: The Flyers got a pair of goals from Rick Tocchet and single markers from Steve Kasper and Steve Duchesne in the first period and hung on for a 4-3 triumph over the Blues in St. Louis.
Philadelphia outshot the Blues, 45-25, including a wide 19-7 margin in the opening frame. The four Philly first period tallies were countered by a pair from Brett Hull, and Brendan Shanahan cut the visitors' lead to 4-3 in the late stages of the middle stanza. But Ron Hextall -- who ended the night with 22 saves -- wouldn't be beaten again as he held on for the victory.
1995: Missing one-third of the Legion of Doom Line with Eric Lindros on the shelf with a bruised knee suffered three days earlier, Mikael Renberg (two goals, assist) and John LeClair (goal, two assists) each recorded three points to pace the Flyers to a 6-1 victory over the Hartford Whalers at the Spectrum.
Craig MacTavish, Russ Romaniuk, and Rob DiMaio also scored for Philadelphia, and Eric Desjardins added a pair of assists.
Renberg's second goal of the game (10th of the season) chased Hartford starter and current-Flyers goalie coach Jeff Reese at 8:23 of the middle frame to give Philly a 3-0 lead. Sean Burke finished the contest for the Whalers. Garth Snow stopped 21 of 22 shots, allowing only a Geoff Sanderson marker in the second period.
1999: Eric Lindros and Daymond Langkow each scored a goal and assisted on another and Mark Recchi added a couple of helpers to lead the visiting Flyers to a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. John LeClair also scored for Philly.
Philadelphia dominated play, outshooting the home team by a 32-16 count. John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 15 shots, losing his shutout bid with 1:26 left in regulation on a goal by Alexander Korolyuk.
2002: John LeClair beat Kevin Weekes at 1:56 of overtime to lift the visiting Flyers over the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1.
Justin Williams gave Philadelphia a 1-0 lead early in the middle frame before former-Flyer Rod Brind'Amour knotted the score with a power play tally less than three minutes later.
Roman Cechmanek made 17 saves in the winning effort, while Weekes finished with 29 stops.
2005: Simon Gagne figured in on all four goals -- including his second career hat trick -- Peter Forsberg added a goal and two assists, and Robert Esche made 28 saves as the Flyers topped the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-3, at the Wachovia Center.
It was the third consecutive game with at least one goal for Gagne (total of six in those three contests), and the hat trick gave him an NHL-leading 15 after just Philadelphia's 12th game of the season. The pair of helpers gave Forsberg a league-high 21 assists, while the third member of the Flyers top line, Mike Knuble, chipped in with two assists.
2011: Rookie Sean Couturier scored twice -- including his first career shorthanded goal -- and seven other Flyers lit the lamp in a 9-2 rout of the hapless Columbus Blue Jackets at the Wells Fargo Center. 15 of the 18 Philadelphia skaters recorded at least one point, and six skaters other than Couturier posted multiple point games.
It was the first nine-goal offensive output for Philly since February 6th, 1997 again the Montreal Canadiens.
Goals by James van Riemsdyk, Jaromir Jagr, Maxime Talbot, Claude Giroux, and Jakub Voracek staked the Flyers to a 5-0 lead at the first intermission, and tallies by Couturier, Wayne Simmonds, and Matt Carle made it an 8-0 game after two.
Rookie defenseman Erik Gustafsson led all skaters with a +6 rating, while Carle was a +5.
Columbus actually outshot Philly, 35-33, for the contest -- including a whopping 21-6 margin in the third period, but Ilya Bryzgalov was solid in making 33 saves.
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. The sides are reportedly set to resume negotiations again early in the week.
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.