Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer
Much is being made of the President’s Trophy winning Boston Bruins first round exit from the playoffs at the hands of the Florida Panthers. Many are calling it one of the biggest upsets in hockey history. Stacks of brackets were torn up and thrown in the trash after the Wild Card Panthers won game 7 in dramatic fashion. The Bruins set an NHL record in the regular season with 65 wins, finishing with 135 points, 43 points ahead of the Florida Panthers. Boston was only the 28th NHL team to give up a series after leading three games to one. Still the Bruins are no stranger to being on the wrong side of an upset. This week marks the anniversary of two memorable examples that Flyers Fans may enjoy digging into.
2010 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals
During the 2009-10 regular season Boston and Philly were pretty evenly matched with the Bruins finishing only three points ahead of the Flyers. Throughout the season Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Zdeno Chara sat at the top of the Bruins stat sheet. For the Flyers it was Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Chris Pronger. Nothing about this series was too out of the ordinary until Boston went up three games to none. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette lamented that it would be easier to take if his team were not playing well but they were, they were just weren’t winning.
On the brink of being swept every one of the next four games meant possible elimination for the Flyers. Flyers goalie Brian Boucher was injured in game 5 and Michael Leighton (who hadn’t played in almost two months) took over in the net for the rest of the series. The Flyers held on night after night to bring the series to a dramatic game 7 in Boston. The final game started out just as the series had. Boston scored three unanswered goals in the first period and it was looking like the Flyers unbelievable come-back may have run out of magic. Leighton did not let another Boston shot get by him from that point on. The Flyers tied the score on goals by James van Reimsdyk, Scott Hartnell, and Danny Briere.
Simon Gagne scored the game winning goal on a Flyers powerplay with 7:08 left in regulation. At the time I was crammed standing room only in one of the last blue collar watering holes in Fishtown. There were grizzled older gentlemen openly weeping on the bar when that puck crossed the goal line. Boston was only the 3rd team in NHL history to let a 3-0 series lead slip away. In 1975 the New York Islander gave it up to the Penguins, and in 1942 the Toronto Maple Leafs dropped it to the Red Wings. To their credit Boston bounced back the following year and won The Cup. However May 14th 2010 will always stand out as one of the most satisfying nights in Flyers history.
1974 Stanley Cup Finals
This Friday May 19th will mark the 49th anniversary of the Flyers first Stanley Cup Finals victory over the Boston Bruins. Old stories lose details over time so it may not still be common knowledge just how much of an underdog the Flyers truly were going into that series. Boston finished only one point ahead of Philly during the regular season but the Bruins scoring power was far superior. The Flyers were a young expansion team playing against a line up of legends.
That season the “Big Bad Bruins” featured Hart Trophy winner Phil Esposito 145 points +51, Bobby Orr 122 points +84, and Ken Hodge 105 points +40. Compare that to the Flyers top players, Bobby Clarke 87 points +35, Rick McLeish 77 points +21, and Bill Barber 69 points +33. No one can deny what a force Bobby Clarke was on that team but in comparison Clarke had 35 goals that season Esposito had 68. If Clarke had been a Bruin he would have been their 5th highest scorer.
The Bruins also had home ice advantage in the series. Since joining the league in 1967 the Flyers had won a grand total of one game in the Boston Garden and that win had been almost six and a half years prior. The Flyers had suffered a 27 game winless streak against Boston that lasted from November of 1969 to March of 1974. The Flyers all time record against the Bruins was 4-20-4. On top of all that Boston had just won The Stanley Cup in 1970 and 1972. In the minds of many it was already a done deal, the Bruins were holding all the cards.
One of the Flyers many assets that year was Vezina Trophy winner Bernie Parent. Parent’s 1973-74 regular season stats remain very impressive. He earned a 1.89 goals against average, a .932 save percentage, and posted 12 shutouts. Parent along with coach Fred Shero’s defensive system was able to successfully shut down Boston’s overwhelming offensive prowess. In fact the sixth and deciding game of the series was won by the score of one to nothing. Parent was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs. The Broad Street Bullies had effectively shut down arguably the best offense in the league. The hockey world was stunned. Many hockey “experts” disparaged the Flyers achievement in an attempt to gloss over their failed predictions. Much to their credit the Flyers went on to win The Cup again the following year.
Credit where credit is due
The term “choked” is often thrown around more often than it should be. To say one team choked implies that the other team did not legitimately earn their victory. In the above mentioned examples it is much more accurate to use the word “upset”. Sometimes no matter what may have happened in the past one team digs down and finds a way to overcome the other. Of course history can play a big part in the mental aspect of the game. But a little bit of over-confidence can sometimes go a very long way. So hats off to the Florida Panthers for their terrific achievement. Was it the greatest upset in NHL history? Or even Bruins history for that matter? …Not if you ask a Flyers Fan.
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