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QUARTER CENTURY ANNIVERSARY: HEXTALL GOAL
Twenty-five years ago today, one of the most famous regular season games in Flyers history took place at the Spectrum. In a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins, Ron Hextall punctuated the victory by becoming the first goaltender in NHL history to score a goal by shooting the puck into the opposing net.
Hextall was not the first NHL goaltender who was adept puckhandler, and not the first who was willing to venture far out of his crease to play the puck. But he took it to whole different level both with his skill and aggressiveness. Hextall was eminently capable of triggering the breakout with a long stretch pass or intercepting a dump-in by the attacking team and clearing the right back out of the defensive zone.
And then there was his shooting ability. Hextall was so adept and physically strong that he developed the ability to routinely be able to fire the puck from goal line to goal line using his goalie stick.
From the time Hextall arrived in the NHL in 1986-87, many people said that it was only a matter of time when he became the first NHL netminder to score a goal by shooting the puck. in 1979, the Islanders' Billy Smith was credited with a goal by virtue of being the last Islander to touch the puck on a delayed penalty call in which the Colorado Rockies accidentally put the puck into their own net after an errant pass by Rob Ramage.
Hextall's puckhandling ability became a major asset for the Flyers' defense. The team's defensemen certainly appreciated the goalie's ability not only to stop the puck behind the cage but to take it himself and pass it to safety.
"Hexy really was like a third defenseman out there for us," Mark Howe recalled in a 2009 interview. "He saved me a lot of wear and tear."
Of course, there is an element of risk involved any time a goaltender leaves his crease or tries to play the puck. As skilled as someone like Hextall (or later, Martin Brodeur) was in handling the puck, turnovers do happen and sometimes result in opposing scoring chances or goals.
In the waning seconds of Game 6 of the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals, the Flyers were clinging to a one-goal lead provided by a game-tying Brian Propp goal and a famous go-ahead tally by J.J. Daigneault. With Edmonton goaltender Grant Fuhr pulled for an extra attacker, the Oilers forechecked in the Flyers zone.
Hextall came out of his net, cradled the puck and tried to flip it out of the zone and down the ice to kill off the remaining time on the clock. Had the puck cleared Mark Messier, it actually stood a chance of sliding all the way into the Oilers' net (imagine how berserk the already bonkers Spectrum crowd would have gone if that had happened!). But the puck didn't get past Messier.
Looking a like a basketball center on a tip-off, Messier knocked the puck down. Now one of the most dangerous players in the world had the puck with Hextall caught far out of his net (imagine what an infamous moment in Flyers history that would been if the Oilers scored and later won the game and Stanley Cup in overtime). But somehow, some way, Hextall recovered. He scurried back into the net and the scoring chance fizzled out as time expired.
A little over six months later, when the Bruins paid a regular season visit to Philadelphia, Hextall finally pulled off the long-awaited feat. He corralled the puck near his own net, and saw a clear shooting path down the ice. Hextall measured his aim momentarily and fired a dart that went straight down the ice into the center of the vacated net.
FLYERS BROADCAST: GENE HART'S CALL OF HEXTALL GOAL
BRUINS BROADCAST: THE 'CALLED SHOT'
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QUARTER CENTURY ANNIVERSARY: MARSH INJURY
Ron Hextall's historic goal at the end of the Flyers-Bruins game on Dec. 8, 1987 was not the only memorable event to happen that night. The other one, unfortunately, wasn't a happy memory. Earlier in the game, Flyers defenseman Brad Marsh suffered a frightful head injury.
On the play, the unhelmeted Marsh was on the receiving end of a sandwich check near the offensive blueline by Ray Bourque and Cam Neely. The front of Marsh's head crashed into an unpadded stanchion at the end of the Bruins' bench. He then fell backwards to the ice.
A hush fell over the Spectrum, as Marsh laid motionless on the ice. Both the Flyers and Bruins players showed grave concern for the well-liked Marsh as he received medical assistance.
Marsh was diagnosed with a concussion. He could have died. Instead, he was back at practice within a week and returned to the lineup nine days and four games later.
Twenty-five years ago, not nearly as much was known about concussions as today. There was no such thing as a concussion protocol, nor were concussions classified into different types. If a player got his "bell rung", he still came back and played through it. It didn't matter if he still had migraine headaches. It didn't matter even if he was having double-vision, confusion, inexplicable mood swings, short-term memory loss or any other telltale symptoms. He played.
Marsh was clearly not himself when he came back to the lineup. In fact, he really wasn't himself the rest of the season. He had always been slow afoot but had also been very reliable in his own end of the ice. Marsh still had the same fearlessness in blocking shots and the same willingness to come to the defense of teammates. But the split-second decision making wasn't there. For lack of a better description, Marsh often played like he was still "in a fog" on the ice.
Hockey is a cruel business sometimes. Players are expected to fearlessly risk injury and then play through injury without using it as excuse even if their performance has clearly been affected by it. Marsh was especially mentally tough and hard working, even by hockey standards. Never once did he make excuses for failure, and you would be hard pressed to find someone who cared more about his team than Brad Marsh.
So Marsh never said a word as he struggled after his return. But coach Mike Keenan soon realized something was wrong with the player. "Iron Mike" just wasn't too sympathetic.
Rather than recognizing that the concussion was still affecting Marsh, the coach tried instead to "motivate" the already self-motivated veteran team leader. He did it in classic Keenan fashion: by insulting Marsh in front of his teammates at practice and in the locker room. As Marsh continued to struggle, Keenan then severely cut his ice time.
After the 1987-88 campaign, the Flyers parted ways with Marsh. He had been minus-13 during the regular season (he had been plus-112 for his Flyers' career until that year) and then was minus-eight in the team's first-round playoff loss to the Capitals.
The conclusion of Marsh's time in Philadelphia was an unfortunate close to what otherwise had been seven happy years. No one knew it when it happened, but the injury in the game against Boston was the beginning of the end of his stint in orange and black.
Marsh played five more NHL seasons after leaving Philadelphia, spending time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and expansion Ottawa Senators. He remained a locker room leader and fan favorite wherever he went.
MARSH HEAD INJURY (1:08 to 1:16 of VIDEO)
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Punchless Phantoms Drop Fourth Straight
The Adirondack Phantoms suffered their fourth consecutive loss, dropping a 3-1 road decision to the Rochester Americans last night. The Flyers' AHL affiliate outshot their Buffalo Sabres farm team counterpart by a 42-21 margin but could not solve backup Amerks goaltender Connor Knapp.
The lone Phantoms' tally came from Sean Couturier early in the first period. Couturier potted the rebound of a Jason Akeson shot to tie the game at 1-1 a little over a minute after Brian Flynn's rebound power play tally opened the scoring for Rochester.
As has often been the case when the Phantoms have lost, special teams proved to be their undoing. Adirondack went 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Amerks went 2-for-5. The Phantoms also yielded a breakaway shorthanded goal to Kevin Porter (his second goal of the game) to fall behind 3-1. Shortly thereafter, the Phantoms were unable to convert 1:06 worth of 5-on-3 power play time.
Brayden Schenn went pointless for the fourth straight game, but tied with Couturier for a game-high six shots on goal. Rookie goaltender Cal Heeter was neither spectacular nor awful in turning back 18 of 21 shots. The team could have used a couple momentum saves but he had little chance on two of the goals and the other was scored on a breakaway.
The Phantoms go back at it tonight, when they play host to Syracuse. Tomorrow, the Phantoms have a late afternoon road game in Providence. I will do a weekend recap and analysis in Monday's blog.
Titans Fall in Charleston
The Trenton Titans lost for the seventh time in the last 10 games, coming up on the short end of a 3-2 overtime score in a Friday night road game against the South Carolina Stingays. The Titans outshot the Stingrays by a 31-17 margin, but could only muster goals by Ian Slater and Andy Bohmbach.
Slater's power play goal staked Trenton to an early lead in the first period but the Stingrays' Tyler McNeely responded less than two minutes later. In the middle period, Daniel Koger (goal, two assists) gave South Carolina the lead. Bombach knotted the game again midway through the third period. Defenseman Damon Kipp won the match for South Carolina at the 1:50 mark of overtime.
Marcel Noebels recorded a point for the third straight game, assisting on Slater's goal. Fellow rookie Matt Mangene notched an assist on Bohmbach's game-tying goal. Andrew Johnston (upper body injury) remained sidelined.
New Jersey Devils prospect Scott Wedgewood once again got the nod in goal. Niko Hovinen, who was pulled after one period in his last start and criticized for his effort afterward by Trenton coach Vince Williams, served as the backup goaltender.
The Titans and Stingrays will rematch tonight at the North Charleston Coliseum.
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