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 3
Maple Leafs 5, Flyers 4 (April 15, 1976)
After back-to-back Stanley Cup championships the Flyers returned to the post-season yet again in 1975-76, this time against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Flyers dominance through a rough-and-tumble approach made the Broad Street Bullies moniker stick for decades after their heyday in the early to mid 1970s. However the fighting and brawls at times proved to be too much for some, with this game being something of a turning point in Flyers history.
Despite the nine goals scored, the fights and brawls during the game made national and international headlines. The Flyers’ Dave Schultz and the Leafs’ Kurt Walker fought before the game was four minutes old as signs such as “Don’t Feed The Animals” could be seen around Maple Leaf Gardens. Shortly thereafter Bobby Clarke and Orest Kindrachuk joined Schultz in the tightly packed sin bin (with little to no separation between the Flyers and the Leafs fans). The chippiness continued most of the first but the powderkeg didn’t blow.
It would in the second period, with Toronto’s Scott Garland and Philadelphia’s Andre “Moose” Dupont fighting after the Leafs made it 4-1. Roughly halfway through the period the Flyers’ Don Saleski, in the penalty box, turned to confront a fan. A police officer tried to intervene but he was allegedly jostled by Saleski and some other Flyers.
The incident was enough for Ontario’s Attorney General, Roy McMurtry, to charge Saleski, Mel Bridgman and Joe Watson with various offences. According to the New York Times Saleski had two charges of common assault and a dangerous weapon (hockey stick) charge, Bridgman had one charge of assault causing bodily harm and Watson with two charges of assaulting a police officer, two common assault charges and a dangerous weapon charge. All three players were later photographed and fingerprinted as part of being processed at a Toronto police station. In April, 1977 the charges against Saleski and Bridgman were dismissed while Watson paid a $750 fine according to the New York Times. Additionally a week later in Game 6 of the same series Bob Kelly tossed a glove into the stands, hitting a female attendant in the eye. Kelly would be charged with common assault and fined $200.
As for the rest of Game 3, another melee broke out late in the second period with a Leaf and a Flyer (Jack McIlhargey) tossed out. And at the end of the game Gary Dornhoefer and Saleski received game misconducts. The Flyers would go on to win the series but were swept in the finals by the Canadiens, ending their drive for three consecutive Stanley Cups. This game seemed to exemplify the fact that while the Flyers would not change their style of play for some time, various judicial officials and politicians would try to make an example of them.
