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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 being blown out in their first two November 6th games (7-1 at Boston in 1968 and 4-1 at home against Montreal in 1969), the Flyers have compiled a 12-6-2-0 overall record -- including an excellent 6-1-1-0 mark at home -- on November 6th over the course of franchise history. Philadelphia has scored 71 goals in the 20 contests (an average of 3.55 GPG), while allowing 59 to their opponents (2.95 GAA).
Some of the more memorable moments and brief game recaps in Flyers history that took place in contests on November 6th:
1975: Ross Lonsberry scored late in the second period to help the Flyers salvage a 1-1 tie with the Los Angeles Kings at the Spectrum.
Both goaltenders were excellent as Wayne Stephenson allowed only a first period goal on 21 total Kings shots, and Gary Edwards stopped 30 Philadelphia offerings to force the stalemate.
1977: Bob Kelly beat Caesar Maniago midway through the third period for what would prove to be the game-winning goal as the Flyers held on for a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at the Spectrum.
Bobby Clarke opened the scoring in the early stages of the second period and also assisted on Kelly's GWG. Orest Kindrachuk scored his first goal of the season for Philly.
The Flyers peppered Maniago with 46 shots in the contest, but the Vancouver netminder was stellar in turning aside 43. Bernie Parent made 28 saves in the win.
1980: Rick MacLeish notched a hat trick and Bill Barber scored twice as the Flyers routed the Los Angeles Kings, 8-2.
The atmosphere in the Spectrum was electric for a couple of reasons:
- It was a battle of the top two teams in the NHL standings, a very intense early-season meeting between two powerhouses from opposite coasts. The LCB Line of Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke, and Bill Barber versus the Triple Crown Line of Charlie Simmer, Marcel Dionne, and Dave Taylor.
- It was also linesman Leon Stickle's first game back in Philadelphia since blowing a blatant offsides call in Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Final on Long Island that cost the Flyers a goal and quite possibly a chance at a Game 7 back at the Spectrum. Banners taunting Stickle's gigantic gaffe adorned every inch of each level's facade and similarly toned chants rained down on the linesman.
Even though the score was 1-1 into the latter portion of the opening period -- Paul Holmgren scoring on the power play for the Flyers -- the outcome wasn't in question for very long.
MacLeish connected on a man advantage marker of his own and Tom Gorence scored before the first frame was completed to give the home team a 3-1 lead at the first intermission. MacLeish beat Ron Grahame again early in the second and Barber made it 5-1 with a power play tally late in the middle stanza before Simmer answered for Los Angeles.
The third period was all Flyers as Barber, Tim Kerr, and MacLeish (to complete the hat trick) all scored as Philadelphia outshot the Kings, 18-3, making it a lopsided 45-22 edge for the game.
Pete Peeters made 20 saves to pick up the win.
1982: Ron Flockhart scored a pair of goals and Rick St. Croix made 25 saves to lead the Flyers to a 6-3 triumph over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. Tim Kerr, Bill Barber, Paul Holmgren, and Bobby Clarke also put the puck behind Roland Melanson for Philadelphia goals.
Trailing 3-2 after a Bryan Trottier tally, Barber scored with just two seconds left in the second period to tie the game heading into the third.
Holmgren wasted little time breaking the deadlock, beating Melanson just 40 seconds into the final frame. Flockhart potted his second of the game at 13:08 before Clarke sealed the triumph with an empty-netter with 1:18 remaining.
1983: Tim Kerr scored a goal and assisted on two others and Dave Poulin and Brian Propp each scored once and added an assist as the Flyers beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-2, at the Spectrum.
Ron Francis scored early in the second to stake the Whalers to a 2-1 lead, but Propp tied it up with 4:31 left in the session. Poulin beat Greg Millen for the game-winner 2:20 into the third before Darryl Sittler iced it with 46 seconds remaining in regulation time.
Bob Froese stopped 21 of 23 Hartford shots to pick up the win for Philadelphia.
1985: Brian Propp and Peter Zezel each scored a pair of goals and Bob Froese made 35 saves to lead the Flyers over the New York Rangers, 5-2, at Madison Square Garden.
Zezel opened the scoring at 14:01 of the first, but late-period goals by Mike Ridley and Dave Gagner gave the Blueshirts a 2-1 lead at intermission.
Propp struck just 16 seconds into the middle stanza and Pelle Eklund scored just as a Tom Laidlaw hooking minor was about to expire to give the Orange-and-Black a 3-2 lead heading into the third.
Propp and Zezel each notched their second of the contest within 38 seconds to close out the scoring.
Froese weathered the early-game storm, as the Rangers threw 20 shots his way. John Vanbiesbrouck made 27 saves in absorbing the loss for N.Y..
1986: Murray Craven scored twice and the Flyers led 5-1 midway through the third period, but the walls caved in on Ron Hextall as the New Jersey Devils scored four times to pry a point away from the visitors in a 5-5 tie at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.
After a Pat Verbeek power play goal gave the home team an early 1-0 lead, Tim Kerr beat Alain Chevrier with the man advantage before Craven and Mark Howe each scored shorthanded markers within a 26 second span late in the frame to make it a 3-1 game at the first intermission.
Craven extended the margin to 4-1 with a power play goal and Brian Propp added an even strength tally to give Philadelphia a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 lead heading into the final stanza.
But Karl Friesen, who relieved Chevrier, wouldn't allow another goal, and New Jersey began the comeback with a Claude Loiselle goal at 10:53. Neal Broten and Greg Adams scored 2:21 apart to bring the Devils back to within one before future-Flyer Doug Sulliman tied the score (with a primary assist to former-Flyer Mel Bridgman) with just under three minutes remaining.
Propp and Dave Poulin each assisted on two Philadelphia goals, and Hextall finished the game with 34 saves while recording the disappointing tie.
1988: Tim Kerr scored twice, Doug Sulliman notched the game-winner late in the second period, and Mark Laforest weathered a furious third period siege as the Flyers held on to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4, at the Spectrum.
Kerr and Scott Mellanby scored in a 2-2 first period, but John Cullen tallied with the man advantage early in the second to give the visitors a 3-2 lead. But Mark Howe and Kerr both connected for power play markers -- chasing Pens starter Frank Pietrangelo in favor of Steve Guenette -- before Sulliman's goal with 4:24 remaining in the middle stanza.
Laforest stood tall in a third period where Pittsburgh outshot the Flyers, 14-3. Randy Cunneyworth was able to beat the horn for a power play goal with just one second left in regulation to close out the scoring, but Laforest's 23 saves earned the win for Philly. Guenette was the hard-luck loser, surrendering just one goal (Sulliman's) on the six Flyers shots he faced.
1990: Rick Tocchet and Ron Sutter scored third period goals and Pete Peeters stopped 25 shots as the Flyers came away with a road victory by defeating the Winnipeg Jets, 4-2.
Derrick Smith and Murray Baron scored goals within 1:10 of one another early in the opening frame to stake Philly to a 2-0 lead, but power play goals by Phil Housley in the first and Pat Elyniuk midway in the second tied the game at the second intermission.
After being outshot, 22-10, through the first two periods, Philly turned the tables by sending 16 shots at the Jets cage and Peeters had just five come his way.
Future-Flyer Stephane Beauregard made 22 saves on 26 Philadelphia shots.
1997: John LeClair posted five ponts -- two goals, three assists -- and the Flyers power play clicked for four goals in five opportunities as Philadelphia blitzed goaltender Bob Essensa and the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2, at the CoreStates Center.
Dainius Zubrus and Chris Gratton each added a goal and two helpers apiece, and Garth Snow made 18 saves in the triumph.
The Flyers outshot Edmonton 11-2 in the first period and 32-20 for the game.
1999: Eric Desjardins scored a goal and assisted on two others, John LeClair and Mark Recchi each posted a goal and an assist as the Flyers skated into Los Angeles and came away with a 5-3 victory over the Kings.
Mikael Andersson (shorthanded) and Mark Greig also hit the score sheet for Philadelphia, and John Vanbiesbrouck faced just 18 L.A. shots to record the win.
The Flyers were relentless over the first two frames -- outshooting the Kings by a 26-9 total -- and 33-18 for the contest. Stephane Fiset made 27 saves in a losing effort for the visitors.
2003: The Flyers stormed out of the gates, outshooting Washington in the first two periods by a 27-11 count and mounting a 3-0 lead, as Philadelphia went on for a 4-2 victory over the Capitals at the Wachovia Center. With a 4-0-2 record in Philadelphia, the Flyers remained one of two NHL clubs still unbeaten at home for the campaign (Vancouver was the other).
Tony Amonte and Jeremy Roenick each notched a goal and assist, and the Philly also got markers from Justin Williams and Keith Primeau. For Amonte, it was his fifth goal in the last nine games.
Robert Esche stopped 20 of 22 Caps shots to win his fourth straight decision, while Olaf Kolzig made 32 saves in suffering the defeat.
2009: Daniel Carcillo scored two goals and Ray Emery made 28 saves as the Flyers won their third straight game by beating the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2, at HSBC Arena.
Chris Pronger added a goal and an assist, and Philadelphia -- which defeated Buffalo for a fifth straight time -- also received offensive support from James van Riemsdyk and Darroll Powe, while Ian Laperriere added a pair of assists.
2010: Andreas Nodl snapped a 1-1 tie late in regulation and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 of 32 shots as the Flyers downed the New York Islanders, 2-1, at Nassau Coliseum to extend Philadelphia's win streak to six games.
Captain Mike Richards scored on a redirection of a Chris Pronger point shot that got through New York starter Dwayne Roloson, and also assisted on Nodl's GWG. It was the second straight game with a goal for Nodl and third in his last four contests, after lighting the lamp just one time in his first 50 NHL games.
It was the 17th Flyers victory in the last 18 outings against the Isles, and New York's seventh loss in a row overall for the season.
Matt Moulson was the only Islander to beat Bobrovsky, when he notched a power play tally in the second period -- a frame of 20 minutes in which the home team dominated the Flyers to the tune of a 14-5 shots on goal differential.
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 thus far in the 50+ day lockout. The sides are reportedly set to resume negotiations Tuesday after having a couple of days to review the weekend discussions.
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.