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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.
The Flyers have a collective 8-7-4-0 mark -- which includes a current three-game winning streak, and a sub-.500 2-4-3-0 record at home -- on December 13th over the course of franchise history.
Philadelphia has scored 64 goals, while yielding 66 to their opponents in the 19 contests played on this day.
Some of the more memorable moments and brief recaps in Flyers history that took place in December 13th games:
1970: Wayne Hillman beat Glenn Hall with 4:33 remaining and Bernie Parent stopped 28 of 30 shots to lead the Flyers to a 2-2 deadlock with the St. Louis Blues at the Spectrum.
Philadelphia led 1-0 at the second intermission courtesy of a Joe Watson second period tally, but St. Louis put additional pressure on Parent in the final frame, outshooting the home team, 14-8. That pressure paid off early in the period with goals by Jim Lorentz and Tim Eccelstone 1:28 apart to give the Blues a 2-1 lead before Hillman's late game-tying marker.
1974: Rick MacLeish's power play goal with 1:33 left in the third period lifted the Flyers to a 3-2 triumph over the Atlanta Flames at the Omni.
Atlanta twice took leads, only to have Philadelphia come back to knot the score.
Curt Bennett gave the Flames a 1-0 lead in the opening frame, but Reggie Leach answered for the visitors. Buster Harvey staked Atlanta to a 2-1 lead by beating Bernie Parent 36 seconds into the middle stanza, with Bob Kelly forcing a deadlock heading into the third.
Parent made 21 saves in the win, while future-Flyers netminder Phil Myre stopped 35 Philly offerings in defeat.
1975: Reggie Leach scored a pair of goals as the Flyers built a 6-1 lead early in the third period and held on for a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
Orest Kindrachuk opened the scoring midway through the first period, but Marcel Dionne tied the game before the first intermission.
Despite being outshot in the second period, 11-9, Philadelphia scored all three goals in the session. Gary Dornhoefer and Dave Schultz each connected within a 22-second span before Leach tallied for the first time to make ir 4-1 with 2:43 on the clock in the second.
Leach notched his second of the contest early in the third -- giving him multiple goal games in three of the last four outings for six goals and seven points over that stretch -- and Rick MacLeish made it a five-goal lead with 12:28 remaining in the game.
Bobby Clarke finished with two assists in the triumph.
Wayne Stephenson stopped 27 of 31 shots to pick up his 19th win of the season, while Gary Edwards made 25 saves and was collared with the loss.
1979: Reggie Leach and Bill Barber each scored twice as the Flyers overcame a 3-1 deficit midway through the third period en route to a 6-4 win over the Quebec Nordiques at the Spectrum, keeping their undefeated streak alive and well at 25 games (18-0-7). The victory left the Orange-and-Black just three gamess short of the 1977/78 Montreal Canadiens for the NHL's longest unbeaten streak of all-time.
The pair of goals gave Leach 24 for the campaign, and six goals and eight points during a four-game point-scoring streak. His first came early in the second period to tie the game at 1-1 at the second intermission, but Quebec took a 3-1 lead midway through the third on tallies by Michel Goulet and Paul Baxter.
Philadelphia would score five times in an 8:26 span, with Dennis Ververgaert, a pair from Barber, Leach's second of the contest, and an empty-netter by Al Hill to seal the deal with 42 seconds remaining.
Kenny Linseman chipped in with three assists, and Bobby Clarke added a pair of helpers to the winning cause.
Rookie goaltender Pete Peeters ended the night with 20 saves to run his record to 11-0-2 for the year, while Michel Dion made 34 saves in the loss.
1980: Mel Bridgman scored the game-winning goal early in the third period and Bobby Clarke recorded his fourth career hat trick as the Flyers overcame a four-goal effort by Paul Gardner and a 5-2 deficit in the latter stages of the second period in an eventual 6-5 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Civic Arena.
Trailing 3-1 at the first intermission, Clarke beat Greg Millen for his first of the contest just 22 seconds into the middle stanza to pull the visitors to within one goal. But Gardner scored another pair -- giving him four for the contest -- with 9:37 remaining in the second period to give Pittsburgh a seemingly-comfortable 5-2 margin.
Brian Propp made it 5-3, Clarke scored his second of the game -- this one shorthanded with Bill Barber in the penalty box -- and Clarke completed his hat trick 1:30 later to knot the contest at 5-5 heading into the third period.
With the momentum fully on their side, the Flyers outshot the home squad by a 15-4 count in the final frame, with Bridgman's marker giving Philly their first lead of the battle.
The three goals extended Clarke's point-scoring streak to four games, in which the club's all-time leading scorer posted four goals and nine points.
Behn Wilson added a pair of assists.
Phil Myre made 23 saves for his third win in a row and fourth without a loss (3-0-1), while Millen stopped 32 of 38 Flyer shots in dropping the decision.
1987: Murray Craven's goal while Philadelphia was skating three-on-five with 5:34 left in regulation broke a 3-3 tie as the Flyers defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 4-3, at Winnipeg Arena.
Goals by Peter Zezel, Kerry Huffman (first NHL goal), and Derrick Smith staked the visitors to a 3-1 lead after two periods, but the Jets got goals from Paul MacLean (his second of the game) and Dave Ellett in a 39-second span midway through the third to tie it at 3-3.
Things looked bleak for Philadelphia when Ron Hextall received a tripping minor just 44 seconds after the Ellett goal, then the goalie was tagged with a delay of game infraction 21 seconds later to give Winnipeg a late two-man advantage.
With Jets fans expecting to see a go-ahead goal, Craven turned their anticipation into disbelief as he netted the two-man shorthanded marker.
Hextall turned away 39 of 42 Winnipeg shots in earning the hard-fought victory, while Eldon "Pokey" Reddick made 28 saves in the loss.
1998: Eric Desjardins' goal with 24 seconds remaining in regulation snapped a 1-1 tie and appeared to give the Flyers a late-game victory, but Boris Mironov beat John Vanbiesbrouck with just seven seconds left to give the Edmonton Oilers and Philly a 2-2 draw at the First Union Center.
Marc Bureau's first tally in a Flyers uniform held up as the game's lone goal until late in the third, when Marty McSorley's first of the year knotted the contest with 5:26 on the clock to set up the frantic last minute of play.
Vanbiesbrouck finished the game with 22 saves, while Mikhail Shtalenkov stopped 17 of 19 Flyer offerings in the deadlock.
2000: Simon Gagne beat Patrick Roy with just eight ticks remaining on the clock in the third period to give the Flyers a 3-3 tie with the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.
An opening period marker by Eric Desjardins and one from Greg DeVries in the second sent the teams to a third frame deadlocked at 1-1, when Justin Williams gave Philadelphia a lead 4:47 into the stanza.
But Colorado struck right back only 26 seconds later on an Eric Messier tally to tie it up, and Milan Hejduk connected for a power play goal to give the Avs their first lead at 3-2 lead with 8:15 left in regulation time.
Daymond Langkow assisted on all three Philly goals.
Brian Boucher made 22 saves and Roy stopped 28 of 31 Philadelphia shots to earn the tie.
2005: Jeff Carter's early second period goal snapped a 1-1 tie and propelled the Flyers to a 3-1 triumph over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
After Jan Hrdina put Columbus up 1-0 on a power play, Peter Forsberg notched his 10th goal of the season 1:13 later. The goal made it three straight contests in which 'Foppa' appeared that he had scored -- including both contests after returning from a six-game absence due to a groin injury -- and gave the Swede a whopping 42 points in his first 23 games in Philadelphia.
Carter knocked in a loose puck 2:00 into the middle stanza, and Sami Kapanen hit the empty net with Marc Denis pulled for an extra attacker.
When the Jackets needed to mount an offensive charge in the third period, the Flyers shut them down in a frame that saw Philly outshoot the home club, 10-3. Also in shutdown-mode was the Flyers penalty-killing unit, as they quashed seven of eight power plays, including more than three minutes of two-man advantage time.
Robert Esche stopped 23 of the 24 Columbus shots he faced to post his third win in a row and 11th of the year.
2008: Mike Knuble scored a pair of goals and the Flyers mounted a 5-1 lead after two periods on the way to a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Wachovia Center. The triumph gave Philly a scorching 12-1-3 mark over the course of their last 16 outings.
Philadelphia notched four power play goals in the win, including two in the first period from Joffrey Lupul and Knuble.
After Jordan Staal cut the Flyers lead in half, Mike Richards, Scott Hartnell, and Knuble -- with his 200th career marker -- made it a four-goal lead heading into the third stanza.
Jeff Carter scored his 21st goal of the year in the final session and along with his two assists on the evening, the three points gave him three goals and seven points in his last four games.
In addition to his goal Richards also had a pair of assists, while Kimmo Timonen assisted on four Philly tallies. Matt Carle added a pair of helpers.
Martin Biron stopped 23 of 26 shots to chalk up the win.
2011: Marc-Andre Bourdon's first NHL goal midway through the second period proved to be the game-winner and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 31 of 32 shots as the Flyers ran all over the Washington Capitals, 5-1, at Verizon Center. The victory ran Philly's road record to a sparkling 11-3-1 for the season.
Philadelphia grabbed a lead in the opening period via a Scott Hartnell tally late in the session -- making it six consecutive contests with a goal for number 19 -- then made it 4-0 at the second intermission after goals by Bourdon, Wayne Simmonds (third straight game with a goal), and Maxime Talbot.
With Caps starter Tomas Vokoun pulled for Michal Neuvirth to start the final period, Jakub Voracek extended the lead to 5-0 early in the third before Jeff Halpern spoiled Bryzgalov's shutout bid with 6:01 remaining in regulation.
James van Riemsdyk and Matt Carle each added a pair of helpers in the win.
Other Notable December 13th Flyers Moments:
2003: The New Jersey Devils blank the Flyers, 2-0 at the Wachovia Center to put a halt to Philadelphia's 14-game home unbeaten streak (12-0-2) to start the season, which was the second longest such streak to begin a campaign to the 1979/80 stretch of 26 straight home contests without a defeat (19-0-7).
December 13th Flyers Trade:
On this day in 1995, Philadelphia sent 'Crazy Eights Line' winger Brent Fedyk to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Trent Klatt. Fedyk scored 59 goals and posted 124 points and 160 penalty minutes in 200 games with the Flyers, playing a lot of his time on a line with a young Eric Lindros and Mark Recchi. His best season was 1992/93 when he notched 21 goals and 59 points, and had 10 goals and 15 points in 24 contests when he was dealt to Dallas in 1995. Klatt's most productive year was his first full season in 1996/97, when he posted 24 goals and 45 points. He went on to put up 41 goals and 98 points in 209 games with Philadelphia before being dealt to the Vancouver Canucks after just two contests in 1998.
As For The Present:
With the lockout now well into its third month and Monday's announcement that games are now canceled through the end of the calendar year, the official count of games the team has lost all-time due to lockout is now at 153 -- 36 in the shortened 1994/05, the entirety of the 82-game schedule in 2004/05, and 35 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
December 1 FLYERS @ Florida Panthers
December 4 FLYERS @ Tampa Bay Lightning
December 6 San Jose Sharks @ FLYERS
December 8 FLYERS @ New York Islanders
December 9 New York Islanders @ FLYERS
December 11 New Jersey Devils @ FLYERS
December 13 FLYERS @ Washington Capitals
December 15 Carolina Hurricanes @ FLYERS
December 19 New Jersey Devils @ FLYERS
December 21 FLYERS @ New Jersey Devils
December 23 FLYERS @ Ottawa Senators
December 27 FLYERS @ Nashville Predators
December 29 FLYERS @ St. Louis Blues
With the league and NHLPA meeting Wednesday with the aid of U.S. Federal mediators, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said there was "nothing new to report" in the latest round of talks, and the union's executive director Donald Fehr echoed those sentiments. "I can't say any progress was made."
Approximately 43% of the season has already been wiped out in the latest labor dispute. At this juncture, there is really only two ways the gridlock can end, either with a shortened, condensed calendar like the 1994/95 lockout -- where an agreement was finally reached in the second week of January and games began on January 20th in the 48-game schedule -- or watching the entire campaign go up in flames as it did in 2004/05.
While there is still hope that sanity will somehow prevail and there can still be something to salvage of a 2012/13 NHL season, it is unfortunately looking like the sides may just be content to self-destruct.