November 9th In Philadelphia Flyers History: MacLeish's 1st Hat Trick, Kerr Naturally Tricks Blues

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 starting out unbeaten in their first eight November 9th contests (7-0-1-0), the Flyers have compiled a 9-7-1-1 overall record -- which includes an awful 2-7-0-1 in their last 10, but an excellent 8-3-1-0 mark at home -- on November 9th over the course of franchise history. Philadelphia has scored 51 goals in the 18 contests (an average of 2.83 GPG), while allowing 45 to their opponents (2.50 GAA).

Part of the problem with the downturn in Philly's fortunes has been their lack of offense. After scoring 36 times in the 7-0-1-0 run (4.50 GPG), the Flyers have managed just eight goals in their last seven November 9th outings, which not so surprisingly has resulted in a 1-5-0-1 record (the only win being a 2-0 shutout of the Edmonton Oilers in 2000).

Some of the more memorable moments and brief game recaps in Flyers history that took place in contests on November 9th:

1968: Doug Favell stopped all 37 shots he faced to record a shutout and Philadelphia got goals from three different players to post a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Civic Arena.

Pittsburgh dominated play from start to finish but Favell was the great equalizer for the Flyers. It would be Favell's lone shutout of the season, a disappointing campaigh in which he would go on to register a poor 3-12-5 mark.

Brit Selby opened the scoring with 3:03 remaining in the second period for his first goal of the season, followed by third period tallies from Earl Heiskala and Jim Johnson.

1972: Rick MacLeish notched the first hat trick of his career and Doug Favell made 33 saves to lead the Flyers to a 5-3 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks at the Spectrum.

A pair of goals by MacLeish and another from Bill Clement staked Philly to a 3-0 lead just 7:33 into the contest before Jim Pappin (late in the first) and Bobby Hull (midway in the third) brought the visitors back to within a single goal.

MacLeish completed the hat trick -- the first of 15 he would record in his NHL career -- at 13:44 to give the Flyers some room at 4-2, before Dan Maloney potted a power play tally with 58 seconds left to make it a nail-biter. Bobby Clarke sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 23 ticks left on the clock.

Bill Barber and Gary Dornhoefer each assisted on two Philadelphia goals.

Blackhawks netminder Tony Esposito made 38 saves in a losing effort.

1974: Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, and Tom Bladon each scored a goal and added two helpers while Rick MacLeish and Orest Kindrachuk scored on a penalty shot and assisted on another as the Flyers steam-rolled the Washington Capitals, 6-2, at the Spectrum.

Ross Lonsberry also lit the lamp for Philadelphia, who carried play to the tune of a 45-27 shots on goal advantage.

Wayne Stephenson stopped 25 of 27 Caps shots, while former-Flyer goalie Michel Belhumeur made 39 saves in defeat.

1975: Bobby Clarke, Rick MacLeish, and Gary Dornhoefer each scored a goal and added an assist as the Flyers scored three times on the power play and once shorthanded in besting the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-4, at the Spectrum.

Dornhoefer also recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal and assist in the first period, and a fight in a wild third period which saw the teams combine for five fighting majors, two 10-minute misconducts, and five game misconducts.

Bill Barber, Don Saleski, and Reggie Leach also scored for Philadelphia, who led 4-1 after the first two periods while outshooting Pittsburgh by a wide 38-15 margin on the way to a whopping 57-30 final count.

Wayne Stephenson stopped 26 shots to pick up the win, while Gary Inness -- who would be dealt to Philadelphia later in the season -- made 51 saves in a losing cause.

1980: Tom Gorence and Bill Barber scored third period goals and Pete Peeters stopped 26 of 27 shots as the Flyers defeated the Quebec Nordiques, 3-1, at the Spectrum.

Jacques Richard had given the visitors a 1-0 lead midway through the opening stanza, but Rick MacLeish tied the game with a man advantage tally 4:08 into the second period before Gorence and Barber provided the late-game markers.

It was Barber's third consecutive game with a goal (four total) and 14th on the season in just the 16th Flyers game.

Losing goaltender Michel Dion allowed the three Philadelphia goals on 27 shots.

1984: Tim Kerr (pair of goals and added an assist), Dave Poulin (goal and two helpers), and Brian Propp (three assists) all notched three points and Pelle Lindbergh turned aside all 29 shots he faced to post the first of two shutouts he would record for the year as the Flyers rolled to a 6-0 whitewash of the St. Louis Blues at the Spectrum.

Ilkka Sinisalo, Murray Craven, and Brad McCrimmon also scored for Philadelphia.

Blues starter Rick Wamsley yielded four goals on just 10 shots in the first 20 minutes before being pulled in favor of Rick Heinz, who stopped 18 of 20 the rest of the way.

1985: Tim Kerr notched a natural hat trick and Rich Sutter scored a pair as Philadelphia beat former-Flyers goalie Pete Peeters and the Boston Bruins, 5-3, at the Spectrum for their 10th consecutive victory.

Kerr -- who broke open a 2-2 tie by scoring twice in the second and once in the third period, all in succession -- continued a blistering pace with points in his 10th straight contest, which included an amazing 14 goals and 17 points over that stretch.

Ron Sutter assisted on both of his twin brother Rich's goals, and Bob Froese made 14 saves in the win.

1995: Mikael Renberg scored twice and Joel Otto added a goal and assist as the Flyers extinguished the Calgary Flames, 3-1, at the Spectrum.

With a 0-0 tie heading into the third period, Otto opened the scoring with an unassisted power play goal at the 3:56 mark. Renberg followed that with his own man advantage tally at 5:53 to make it a 2-0 lead.

After Calgary got back to within a goal, Renberg connected for his second of the night with 6:29 remaining to close out the scoring.

Ron Hextall made 19 saves for the win, while Trevor Kidd gave up three Flyer goals on 30 shots.

2000: Roman Cechmanek stopped 28 shots to post the second consecutive shutout in games he started while Simon Gagne and Paul Ranheim each scored goals to lift the Flyers to a 2-0 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers at the First Union Center.

Cechmanek and Edmonton's Tommy Salo were locked in a goaltender's duel until the latter half of the second period, when Gagne beat Salo at 12:21.

Ranheim added his marker midway through the final frame.

Cechmanek shut out the Buffalo Sabres, 3-0, on November 4th in his previous starting assignment.

2011: Brett Connolly jammed a shot past Ilya Bryzgalov at 2:30 of overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory over the Flyers at the St. Pete Times Forum.

With the success of Tampa coach Guy Boucher's 1-3-1 defense, Peter Laviolette had his defensemen hold the puck at the faceoff circle of their own end in an effort to make the Lightning put forechecking pressure on instead of laying back and creating a turnover at center ice. The tactic slowed the game to a crawl, as much of the early time went by with Chris Pronger stick-handling in his own defensive end while Bolts skaters refused to take the bait as fans rained their outrage down onto the ice surface.

Even though Philadelphia managed just 15 shots for the entire 62:30 of play, they actually grabbed a lead when Scott Hartnell banged home a power play goal midway through the middle session.

But Marc-Andre Bergeron knotted the game with a man advantage goal at 7:41 of the third, setting up Connolly's overtime heroics.

Dwayne Roloson made 14 saves, while Bryzgalov was collared with the loss after making 22 stops.

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 again Wednesday, reportedly discussing core issues. That's great news, but it mystifies as to why it took nearly two months of the ongoing lockout to make any kind of significant attempts to strike a deal.

Even though the sides are reportedly not close to an immediate resolution, it now looks as though there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the league -- and for a change it isn't the headlight of an oncoming train.