The Flyers didn’t make the playoffs so we won’t have any games to relive, revisit or forget this playoff season. However, there are a horde of Flyers playoff games that meant something, whether it was an individual player, to the team or the franchise itself. Here then are some of the more memorable playoff games in Flyers history. Some of them memorable for good reasons, some of them memorable for not so good reasons.
Recap: Chicago 4, Flyers 3 (OT) (June 9, 2010)
In 2007 the Flyers were at their worst with 56 points but with hopes of landing the top pick in that year’s draft. They had the best chance of any team but, as is often their misfortunate, somehow ended up with the second pick. Chicago, slated to pick fifth, ended up sliding up four spots to select at number one. They took Patrick Kane. The Flyers took James van Riemsdyk.
In 2010 the Flyers near miraculous playoff run through the Devils, Bruins and Montreal reached another must win in game six of the Stanley Cup Finals against Kane and the Blackhawks. After Chicago took the first two games at home the Flyers responded in kind, winning game three in overtime 4-3 thanks to Claude Giroux’s first (and thus far only) Stanley Cup Finals overtime goal and then 5-3 in game four. So, after Chicago beat Philadelphia in a rather messy 7-4 drubbing they looked to win their first Stanley Cup since the 1960-61 season. The Flyers looked to take things back to Chicago for a winner-take-all seventh game.
The opening period started with Chicago nearly going ahead on a deflection off Danny Briere. Fortunately Flyers goalie Michael Leighton (who had a save percentage of .867 going into game six) was alert enough and made the save. The Flyers first sustained pressure was courtesy of van Remiesdyk and Giroux who had early chances. But the biggest surprise early was the pace, with both sides freewheeling, creating chances and producing entertaining whistle-free hockey. Philadelphia’s defensive anchor Chris Pronger took a penalty on Marian Hossa nearly nine minutes in. Chicago’s power play hit the post but couldn’t cash in, leaving it scoreless.
Although Chicago at one point had an 11-2 shot advantage, most of those shots were from Chicago’s blueliners. The Flyers had a power play with just under seven minutes to go but were foiled. Shortly afterwards Pronger took a minor against Jonathan Toews. It bit Philadelphia in the backside when Dustin Byfuglien broke the scoreless tie.
The lead was short-lived however as the Flyers capitalize on Chicago’s third minor of the period. Briere’s shot from the side was stopped but Scotty Hartnell was there to pick up the rebound to tie things up.
The second period began with the Flyers’ Simon Gagne stoned by Chicago’s Antii Niemi (.833 save percentage in the Stanley Cup going into this game). The Flyers killed another penalty and the line of Ville Leino, Briere and Hartnell continued to wreak havoc. Eight minutes into the second Leino fed Briere a pass who buried it behind Niemi to put the Flyers up 2-1 and send the Wachovia Center crowd into a frenzy.
The lead was short-lived as Chicago’s Patrick Sharp (who played 66 NHL games as a Flyer before being traded in December, 2005 to Chicago) beat Leighton on a shot that went between Leighton’s legs and took the air out of the building.
The rest of the period had chances by both teams but nothing significant. Late in the second the Flyers’ Matt Carle coughed up the puck in his own end and Mike Richards lost his man in Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson. Hjalmarsson’s shot was tipped by Andrew Ladd to give Chicago a 3-2 lead heading into the third. Chicago put in a furious last two minutes to hopefully give themselves an insurance goal but the Flyers held on despite being outshot 27-13 after 40 minutes.
The third period saw the Blackhawks attempting to double their lead while the Flyers still kept hanging around, not quite dominating the play by any means but not giving up that fourth goal. It took the Flyers over six minutes to get their first shot on goal in the third but then slowly began tilting the ice in their favor. Briere just missed a backhander halfway through the period as Chicago tried to hold on to the lead and a handle on the Stanley Cup. But the trio of Briere, Leino and Hartnell struck again, this time Leino throwing the puck into a crowd in front that Hartnell got a piece of to tie things at three.
With 90 seconds left the Flyers’ Jeff Carter had a prime shot to win it for the Flyers but Niemi stoned him with a diving blocker save. So after sixty minutes of regulation, the game went into overtime.
The overtime began with Giroux having a shot that Niemi stopped and Hartnell almost having a clear shot but the pass was deflected away from him. Four minutes into the overtime Patrick Kane skated down the side with what looked like a horribly bad angle to take a shot. He unloaded the soft but accurate shot that to fans and nearly everyone watching disappeared into the ether. But Kane noticed the puck in the net and it was over.
The play was reviewed and the replay clearly showed the puck going into the net before disappearing under the base of the mesh. Leighton failed to get his stick down quick enough to block it. It was over. Chicago had won the Stanley Cup. It was Leighton’s first home loss in the playoffs after winning six consecutive games. Toews would win the Conn Smythe and Kane, who could’ve been wearing a Flyers jersey had lottery balls in 2007 went a different way, had won his first of what would be three Stanley Cups.
As for the Flyers, trades, injuries and a new direction would see only Giroux, van Riemsdyk, Kimmo Timonen and Hartnell leading the Flyers from the 2010 run into battle in 2012 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 2010 loss wasn’t the closest the Flyers came to not winning the Stanley Cup, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.
