Today in Philadelphia Flyers history: Kerr's four gives St. Louis the Blues, Carter OT-winner, a Ghostly debut

An almost-daily column that takes a look back at how the Philadelphia Flyers have fared on this day, recalling some of the more memorable moments, achievements, and events that shaped the organization throughout the club’s storied history

The Flyers have managed an 8-11-2-1 record in 22 all-time contests that took place on October 25 heading into tonight's contest against the Buffalo Sabres at the Wells Fargo Center.

October 25 has been a day associated with streaks for the franchise -- they were winless in their first five games played on this day (0-4-1, 1970-1975), then reeled off five consecutive wins (1979-1984). Philadelphia was a dreadful 2-7-1-1 in their last 11 October 25 tilts until they defeated the Detroit Red Wings on the date in 2014.

Some of the more memorable October 25 moments in franchise history:

1970 -- Leading 2-0 at the first intermission on goals from Simon Nolet and Bobby Clarke, Boston outshot the Flyers 22-3 in the middle period and 33-10 over the final 40 minutes and scored four straight goals -- by Ted Green, Phil Esposito, John Bucyk, and John McKenzie -- to beat the visiting Flyers 4-3 at Boston Garden.

Boston notched all three tallies in the second stanza, and McKenzie's midway through the third made it a 4-2 game before Nolet beat Eddie Johnston for his second of the contest with just under eight minutes remaining, but the Flyers could not get the equalizer.

Former-Bruin Bernie Parent turned away 37 of the 41 shots he faced in the loss.

1975 -- Goals by Jimmy Watson, Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeish, and Ross Lonsberry staked the Flyers to a 4-0 lead early in the second period, but the Pittsburgh Penguins mounted a comeback capped by two power play goals in the final 1:45 -- by Colin Campbell and culminating with Pierre Larouche's game-tying marker with just 0:04 remaining in regulation in a tough-to-swallow 4-4 deadlock at the Igloo.

1979 -- Reggie Leach scored twice and posted four points, rookie Brian Propp added a goal and a pair of helpers, and rookie netminder Pete Peeters stopped 18 of 20 shots as the Flyers erased a two-goal second period deficit and rallied for a 5-2 triumph over the New York Rangers at the Spectrum.

Goals from Lucien Deblois and Mario Marois gave the visitors a 2-0 lead at the first intermission, but it was all Philadelphia after that as they outshot John Davidson and the Broadway Blue Shirts by a 24-10 count the rest of the way.

Bob Dailey and Leach struck in the middle frame to even things up heading into the final frame, where goals from Propp and Leach within a span of 0:12 midway through the period snapped the tie and kickstarted the Bullies on the way to victory.

Bobby Clarke beat Davidson just over five minutes later to insure the victory.

The win made it five consecutive games without a loss (4-0-1) as the Flyers pushed towards what would eventually become a record-setting 35-game unbeaten streak.

1980 -- Gary Morrison's first and only NHL goal 2:28 into the third period snapped a 1-1 tie to back Pete Peeter's 20-save performance to help the Flyers defeat the New York Islanders 3-1 at Nassau County Coliseum.

Bill Barber and Reggie Leach (empty net) also scored for the visitors, while Bobby Clarke contributed two assists to the winning cause.

1981 -- Brian Propp posted a pair of goals and three points, while Rick St. Croix turned away 28 of 29 shots as the Flyers cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.

Kenny "The Rat" Linseman added a goal and three points, and rookie Ilkka Sinisalo scored his third of the year in the victory.

St. Croix's shutout bid was spoiled as the third period neared the midway point when Detroit defender Willie Huber scored to make it a 3-1 contest.

1983 -- Ray Allison scored one goal and set up another and Pelle Lindbergh made 18 saves as the Flyers skated to a 4-2 triumph over the Quebec Nordiques at Le Colisee.

Tim Kerr, Rich Sutter, and Paul Holmgren also lit the lamp for the Orange-and-Black, who improved their record to 7-2-1 in the early season.

1984 -- Tim Kerr scored four times -- including a natural hat trick within a 2:27 span in the third period -- and Bob Froese made 23 saves as the Flyers bombed Mike Liut and the St. Louis Blues 7-2 at the Spectrum.

Kerr's trio of markers in 2:27 established a new team record for fastest three goals by one player, and gave the big goal-scoring machine 10 goals in the club's first eight games of the season.

Dave Poulin beat Mike Liut just 0:14 after the opening faceoff, and goals from Lindsay Carson and Kerr made it a 3-0 lead for the home team at the first intermission.

The Blues cut the lead to 3-1 heading into the final stanza on a second period Doug Gilmour power play strike, and that's when the Flyers' big guns went to work.

With Ed Hospodar in the sin bin early in the third and St. Louis threatening to pull to within a goal, Brian Propp provided a dagger with a shorthanded tally to extend the lead to 4-1.

Kerr then notched his quick three markers to put the contest out of reach, before Bernie Federko beat Bob Froese with only three seconds left on the clock to set the final score.

Following his first-ever 50-goal season, this was the first four-goal performance of the hulking forward's career.

1995 -- John LeClair, Mikael Renberg, and Rod Brind'Amour each scored within a 2:57 stretch of the second period to erase a 1-0 deficit and lift the Flyers to a 3-1 triumph over former-Philly netminder Tommy Soderstrom and the New York Islanders at the Spectrum.

Mick Vukota had given the visitors a 1-0 lead 2:28 into the middle session, but that was quickly erased just over four minutes later when LeClair and Renberg each beat Soderstrom in the span of 0:59 to give Philadelphia starter Dominic Roussel a lead he would not relinquish.

With Brent Fedyk serving an interference minor and the Isles looking for the tying marker midway through regulation, Rod Brind'Amour beat Soderstrom for a shorthanded goal that sealed the deal for the Flyers..

2003 -- Mark Recchi's shorthanded goal late in regulation salvaged a point for the Flyers in a 4-4 deadlock with the Carolina Hurricanes at the Wachovia Center.

With Keith Primeau in the penalty box, Eric Desjardins sent Recchi and Sami Kapanen away on a two-on-one shorthanded break, and when Recchi found his passing lane cut off, whipped a wrist shot past 'Canes goalie Jamie Storr with 3:10 remaining in regulation.

Down 2-0 late in the second, Philadelphia knotted the game on goals from Jeremy Roenick and Michal Handzus within the span of 41 seconds, but Radim Vrbata was able to give Carolina a 3-2 lead heading into the third

Eric Chouinard evened things up again for the Flyers 7:59 into the final frame, but Hurricanes blue liner Niclas Wallin beat Jeff Hackett just over two minutes later to set the stage for Recchi's late-game heroics.

2008 -- Jeff Carter extended his goal-scoring streak to four games by deflecting an Ossi Vaananen shot past Martin Brodeur with 1:16 remaining in overtime to give the Flyers a sweep of a home-and-home series with the New Jersey Devils in a 3-2 thriller at the Wachovia Center.

Carter's goal came shortly after it appeared Simon Gagne had won the game, but video replay showed his deflection had hit the cross bar. The eventful extra period was also briefly delayed when a fan threw a smoke bomb onto the ice surface.

Scott Hartnell and Mike Knuble also scored for Philly, who received a strong 29-save effort from Martin Biron in the victory.

2014 -- Brayden Schenn's power play goal with 8:38 remaining snapped a 2-2 tie, and Ray Emery turned aside 35 of 37 shots to lead the Flyers to a 4-2 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings at the Wells Fargo Center.

It was the ninth consecutive regular-season victory for the Flyers against the Red Wings on home ice, dating back to Jan. 25, 1997.

Detroit carried play throughout, outshooting the home squad in each period and by a wide 37-17 margin for the contest.

The clubs traded goals over the first two frames, with the visitors opening the scoring with a Riley Sheahan tally late in the first, and Philadelphia tying it up in the final 1:31 of the middle stanza off the unlikely stick of Nicklas Grossmann, when he snuck in back door and put a beautiful Chris VandeVelde feed past Jonas Gustavsson to send the clubs to their respective locker rooms all tied up at the second intermission despite the fact that they were being outshot by a wide 24-8 count.

Michael Raffl gave the home team their first lead of the tilt early in the third when he took a feed from Jakub Voracek and beat Gustavsson, but Pavel Datsyuk answered just 42 seconds later for the Wings.

Voracek also was the catalyst on the game-winner, when he was set up at the right circle with Niklas Kronwall in the sin bin and the Flyers on a man advantage. Schenn one-timed Voracek's pass from the high slot, beating Gustavsson through a massive Wayne Simmonds screen in front and giving Philly the late lead.

Raffl hit the empty net with 0:31 remaining -- marking his first career two-goal game -- and he also tied a career-best with three points with an assist on Grossmann's second period strike.

The game also marked the much-anticipated NHL debut of speedy, offensively-talented defender Shayne Gostisbehere, who registered one shot on goal and had a -1 rating in 12:27 of ice time.

October 25 Flyers free agent signing

1979 -- Tim Kerr was signed as a free agent on this day in 1979. The 6' 3", 225-pound right winger was an immovable object in front of the opposition net, and went on to become one of the most prolific scorers not only in Flyers' history, but in NHL history, as well.

Kerr's four straight 50-goal seasons (54, 54, 58, 58 from 1983/84 through 1986/87) remains the best stretch ever for any Philadelphia scorer, and his career totals of 370 goals in 655 games represents the NHL's seventh-best goals per game rate all-time. 363 of those goals came in 601 contests during his time in Philadelphia, where he almost certainly would have reached Hall-of-Fame status if not for an epidemic of injuries brought on by the abuse he took from defensemen in their failed attempts to stop him from scoring.

Kerr suffered three knee injuries and a broken leg in his first four NHL seasons, then missed significant time during the Flyers' 1985 and 1987 runs to the Stanley Cup Final in which they lost both times to the great Edmonton Oilers dynasty teams. He played in only three games in the 1985 Final due to a knee injury -- a five-game loss -- and didn't appear in a playoff game in 1987 past the second round with a severe shoulder injury that would cost him all but eight games of the next regular season. Kerr was a scoring machine during the postseason, as well, as he netted 10 goals in 12 contests in 1985 and eight in 12 games in 1987. His scoring touch would have no doubt had an impact on the outcome of both series, especially in 1987 when Philadelphia took the greatest team ever assembled to a Game 7.

In 1988/89, Kerr had an amazing comeback year as he piled up 48 goals in 69 regular season contests. His scoring touch only heightened in the postseason that spring, when he accounted for 14 goals in the first 12 playoff games before taking a slash from a frustrated Pittsburgh Penguin after Kerr had torched the Pens for 10 goals in a seven-game victory. The slash came after Kerr had notched nine goals in the last five tilts and broke his thumb. Rendered ineffective without being able to grip the stick, Kerr wouldn't score a goal in a six-game loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the following round.