The Flyers didn’t make the playoffs so we won’t have any games to relive, revisit or forget this April and May. 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 is a series of games (each cherry-picked) from various eras and playoff rounds, but each game being that game in that particular round of the playoffs.
Round 1, Game 2
Flyers 4, Blues 3 (April 6, 1968)
The Philadelphia Flyers along with five other new franchises played their first season in the NHL in 1967-68, part of a massive expansion idea which doubled the number of NHL teams from six to 12. The Flyers, St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars and Oakland Seals were all added to the league. The alignment also meant that one of the original six franchises would end up meeting one of the expansion franchises in the Stanley Cup final.
The Flyers were the best of what was essentially a bad bunch of teams, ending the 74-game season with 73 points, good enough for first in the West Division but the same record would’ve put them in the bottom of the East Division, three points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs. But in the eyes of new Flyers owner Ed Snider, it was the beginning of a franchise that would reshape the hockey world the following decade.
As for Flyers on the expansion roster that would play a role in their infancy and on their way to being the dominating team they would become, the list included Bernie Parent in goal, Ed Van Impe and Joe Watson on the blueline and Gary Dornhoefer who was second in points that season with 43. But for the most part, the team was a mix of veterans who weren’t tearing up the league with goals but who were serviceable.
After losing their maiden playoff game 1-0 to the Scotty Bowman-coached St. Louis Blues (who would go on to represent the West in the first three post-expansion Stanley Cup Finals), the Flyers played their second-ever post-season tilt at The Spectrum. Pat Hennigan would score the Flyers very first playoff goal while Don Blackburn would score the team’s very first playoff goal with the man advantage. Although the Blues came back to tie it the Flyers scored the go-ahead goal with just over 13 minutes left to secure the win, beating Hall of Fame goaltender Glenn Hall. The Flyers won the game 4-3 but would go on to lose the series to the Blues in seven games.
Although that was the team’s first victory, they have had a few since then. This despite not making the playoffs since 2020. In 56 years they’ve been to the playoffs 40 times which works out to roughly 71 per cent of the time. According to Statmuse they’ve won an additional 230 playoff games since that April night in 1968. So while the Flyers didn’t win anything meaningful until years later, this one win against St. Louis would serve as a forerunner for what the Philadelphia Flyers have been for most of their existence and what they hope to become again under current general manager Danny Briere: a playoff contender.
(Thanks to hockey-reference for the statistical info.)
