Flyers win their first Stanley Cup with 1-0 win in game 6 over Bruins - NhungD

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.

BOS@PHI: Foerster grabs a 3-2 lead late in the 3rd

Here then are some of the more memorable playoff games in Flyers history. Some of them memorable for good reasons, some of them memorable for not so good reasons.

Round 4, Game 6

Recap: Flyers 1, Bruins 0 (May 19, 1974)

The 1973-74 regular season for the Flyers saw a huge improvement over the previous year, ending up with 112 points based on 50 wins and only 16 losses. The team also were the hardest to score against in the league while also having one of the top offenses, resulting in a +109 goal differential. The team was led by Bobby Clarke and his 87 points but also had three additional 30-goal scorers (Rick MacLeish, Bill Barber and Ross Lonsberry). They also had one 20-goal scorer in, er, Dave Schultz. Meanwhile Bernie Parent was a huge workhorse, ending up with a miniscule 1.89 goals against average in 73 games.

The playoffs started with the Flyers sweeping Atlanta before edging the Rangers in the semis in seven games. The Stanley Cup Finals saw the Flyers against the Boston Bruins (who lead the league in goals and were third in goals against during the season). After losing the opener the Flyers won the next three to take a commanding lead. But Boston refused to see the Flyers lift the Cup in the Boston Garden in game five, routing the Flyers 5-1.

So with the sold-out Flyers crowd at The Spectrum anticipating a championship, the Flyers entered game six knowing what could happen but hoping to focus on the next 60 minutes (or more) of play. After taking an early penalty the Flyers held the Bruins scoreless as Parent stoned both Bobby Orr and later on Terry O’Reilly in the slot. The only rough stuff in the period was some jostling between the Flyers’ Bill Clement and the Bruins’ Dave Forbes but the officials nipped any possible fight quickly. The Flyers nearly made it 1-0 when a shot by Rick MacLeish hit the inside of the post but stayed out. They did make it 1-0 with just over five minutes to go when an Andre Dupont shot from the point was deflected by MacLeish and past Bruins goalie Gilles Gilbert.

The second period was much like the first, with the Bruins having a few good opportunities but Parent there when it counted. The Flyers meanwhile had few golden chances to increase the lead, the best being by Terry Crisp whose point blank shot was turned aside by Gilbert. Philadelphia for the most part finished their checks, kept the puck to the perimeter and when needed blocked anything they could in front of Parent. After two periods it remained 1-0 Flyers. Twenty minutes from glory.

The third mirrored much of the second with the Bruins having a decent opportunity to tie it early and later on the Flyers with a stellar chance by MacLeish for the insurance goal. But neither chance resulted in a goal. The most dangerous Bruin player was defenseman Bobby Orr who despite having knee issues managed to put up 18 points in the 1974 playoffs. But even Orr was unable to solve the Flyers rather smothering checking and Parent.

With just over five minutes to go the Bruins’ Johnny Bucyk took a tripping penalty which gave Philadelphia an advantage on the ice and more importantly on the clock. The Bruins killed the penalty and had their best chance of the game to tie on a Ken Hodge slapshot that Parent just got a piece of. Meanwhile seconds later Orr would take a holding penalty with 2:22 left to play and Boston down a man for two minutes of it. The Flyers were content with keeping the puck deep in the Bruins zone and didn’t score. Orr came out of the penalty box and one last gasp as the puck was shot down the Flyers end, but it was over. The Flyers had won their first Stanley Cup, becoming the first expansion team to hoist the trophy.

Parent won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs Most Valueable Player and would win it again the following season when the Flyers defeated Buffalo for their second Stanley Cup. The Hockey News, in a 2014 in-depth feature, revisited that era of Flyers hockey. Flyers forward Bob Kelly noted how the Bruins series was won in large part by how the Flyers and head coach Fred Shero approached playing Orr, namely letting him have the puck as much as possible.

“We said, ‘Why the hell would you give Bobby Orr the puck? That’s the last thing you want to do,'” Kelly recalled. “But it worked out. He just said, ‘I want you to work him, pressure him. By no means spear him or hurt him, but just bump him, make him skate around you, tire him out. As the series wears on, it’s going to be tough on him.’ And Freddy was right.”