Flyers Go Out in a Blaze of Glory – Notes From the Final Game

Photo Credit: Rob Windfelder

The Philadelphia Flyers 2022-23 season is in the books. Their final game was against the Blackhawks in Chicago. A whole lot has changed since these two teams faced each other in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. We are all very familiar with how things have gone for the Flyers this season. It was not the season we wanted, but you might say it was the season we expected. And it was still better than what Chicago fans had to endure this year. If you take the Blackhawks point total and double it they would still finish 19 points behind the Bruins.

Jonathan Toews

For the city of Chicago this game was all about saying farewell to their long serving captain Jonathan Toews. The Blackhawks will not be re-signing him next year. The Hawks are diving deep into a major long term rebuild. They moved Patrick Kane just before the trade deadline leaving Toews as the last remaining member of their 2010 Stanley Cup winning team. Interestingly the Flyers also have one player on the roster from that Finals series as well. James van Riemsdyk was 20-years-old and still playing in his first stint with the Orange and Black at the time.

Chicago’s rebuild plan is to buy unwanted short term contracts from other teams who need the cap space in exchange for draft picks. The Hawks have let their payroll dwindle to the point where they will have to spend 19 million by next Fall just to hit the minimum cap floor. This send-off for Toews may be the last thing Blackhawks fans have to look forward to for a while. So it’s Chicago’s big night to celebrate and reminisce about their glory days and the Philadelphia Flyers have crashed the party to pee in the punch bowl.

Justin Braun

Flyers defenseman Justin Braun invited family and friends to Chicago to be on hand for this game. John Tortorella even had Braun’s dad behind the bench for the game. The Flyers were feeding him pucks all night long as he started tonight’s game with 199 career points. It doesn’t take a hockey genius to figure out what might be going on here. Before the Flyers final home game this week Braun was awarded the Yanick Dupre Class Guy Award. The honor is given to the Flyer who best illustrates character, dignity, and respect both on and off the ice. He earned it. In 2010 Justin was an NHL rookie playing in his first season for the San Jose Sharks, now he gets to ride off into the sunset

Steve Coates

This game was also Coatsey’s Last Call. Flyers announcer Steve Coates ended his long career with the broadcasting crew after 43 years tonight. He’s been here since his retirement from pro hockey in 1980. When he started this gig he was working along side legendary “Voice of the Flyers” Gene Hart. Coatsey’s final sign off was grateful, upbeat, and emotional. Steve really does love the Flyers and the Flyers Fans just as much as they love him.

This year feels different

Just because this game meant a lot to the city of Chicago it apparently meant a lot to Philly as well. This whole week has had a great feel to it. The Flyers won their final home game in overtime and there are some positive things going on for the team. At the end of last season it was so hard to find a silver lining or even a glimmer of hope. This year is different. The arrival of John Tortorella started the ball rolling and we find ourselves ending this not so great season with some hope for the future.

The Chuck Fletcher era is over. Flyers chairman Dave Scott will be moving aside to make way for Dan Hilferty in a matter of days. The medical staff has been restructured. And John Tortorella has proven himself to be adept and bringing out the best in the young players who will be taking over major rolls on the team. There is a lot of work to be done this off-season but the heavy lifting has already started.

Flyers vs Blackhawks

Tonight’s game was not what you would call a defensive battle. It was a fast loose game between two teams headed towards the exits before the post-season even begins. The Flyers scored within the first minute of both the first and second periods. Travis Konecny scored his 30th goal of the season at 0:26 and his 31st at 6:21 of the first period. Tk had a four point night. Owen Tippett had a goal and an assist. Noah Cates had a goal. Morgan Frost had two assists. All of these players have something in common. They’ve all developed into solid building blocks under Tortorella during this hellish year.

A story book ending

The Blackhawks tied this game at four with their goalie pulled and only two minutes left in regulation to force the overtime. Everything was in place for the city of Chicago to have their story book ending. With just over two minutes left in the overtime period a Flyers breakdown lead to the Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews going in on a breakaway in overtime in the final game his storied NHL career. This was the kind of moment everyone dreams about. …Especially if you are Felix Sandstrom.

“that save”

John Tortorella has been saying all season Felix has to be able to make “THAT SAVE”. It’s a strange expression but it caught on. Felix has played well this year but he just hasn’t been able to make “that save” when you really need it. Well my friends, tonight we finally got to see what everyone has been talking about all season long. Tonight Felix Sandstrom made “that save”, and it broke the heart of every single Chicago Blackhawks fan. It wasn’t real pretty, I don’t know how it didn’t go in. But it didn’t and that’s all that counts. Toews tried to go five hole and the puck kind of went through but ended up going down the back of Sandstrom’s leg and slowly rolling just past the outside of the post.

The big finish

The crowd was still stunned as the Flyers moved the puck up the ice. Travis Konecny threaded a pass to Ivan Provorov who made what can accurately be described as an absolutely magnificent move. He cut through two Blackhawks and around their goaltender dumping the puck into the net before flying over the goalie and sliding behind the net on his back. It was truly a thing of beauty. Flyers win their final game of the 2022-23 season 5-4 in overtime. Fantastic!

Extra Credit: If the Chicago Blackhawks had not pressured the league into basically neutralizing Chris Pronger during the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals that series may have ended very differently. But hey, Flyers Fans never hold a grudge so that is all just water under the bridge at this point. Sure it is.