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Quick Hits: May 21, 2020
1) Flyers left winger James van Riemsdyk spoke via conference call on Wednesday with members of the Philadelphia media. He discussed the experience of first-time fatherhood, updated his health status and talked about the latest from the NHL/NHLPA return-to-play committee. For a full synopsis, click here.
Specific to the NHL-NHLPA return-to-play committee, JVR said that final decisions are not yet imminent.
"There’s a bunch of different formats being talked about. It’s hard to really say what the leader is just because things can change. Nothing’s really certain until it’s certain. Things can change so quickly and they have on different things, things that were looked at early on, without getting into too much detail, are beyond feasible now," van Riemsdyk said.
"There’s different things that can change, so it’s hard to say that there’s a real leader. We’re trying to keep as many options open and navigate through different things and hopefully come up with a vision that obviously first and foremost ensures the health and safety of everyone. Then from there, it’s trying to find one that keeps the integrity and competitiveness that’s so great about our game and so great about the Stanley Cup."
2) Yesterday, shortly after the JVR conference call, I had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Flyers defenseman Samuel Morin to get an update on the status of his ACL rehab program. He has been skating for about six weeks, and working regularly with Jim McCrossin. A related article will run on Saturday on the Flyers' official site.
3) The final edition of the in-depth player profile series on the Flyers' official website will be published later today, looking at goaltender Alex Lyon's 2019-20 season. For a partial archives of previous profiles, visit the Flyers' official website and click through from the right side of the front page.
4) "Flyers Decades: 1973-74" will stream at 8 p.m. ET on Friday night on the new Flyers Alumni channel on YouTube. Co-hosts Bill Clement and Jim Jackson will be joined by panelists Bob Clarke, Bernie Parent, Bill Barber, Joe Watson and Terry Crisp. There will also be a live chat for viewers during the stream, for which I will serve as the moderator as well as a participant.
5) Today in Flyers History: May 21, 1985 (Game 1, Stanley Cup Final)
Entering the 1984-85 season, the Philadelphia Flyers were expected to have a transitional season. The roster was the youngest in the entire NHL. New head coach Mike Keenan had no previous NHL experience. Franchise icons Bob Clarke (now the team's rookie general manager) and Bill Barber were retired, while Darryl Sittler was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for young forwards Murray Craven and Joe Paterson.
Some pundits predicted the Flyers would finish as low as fourth place in the tough Patrick Division. Instead, the team produced the NHL's best record in the regular season and reached the Stanley Cup Final.
In the series opener at the Spectrum, the Flyers took on the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers boasted an array of future Hall of Fame talent in their primes, including Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and goalie Grant Fuhr. The Flyers, greater than the sum of their parts, had one Hall of Famer (defenseman Mark Howe) and an underrated cast of talent playing in front of the game's emerging best goaltender, Vezina Trophy winner Pelle Lindbergh.
Keenan's Flyers outworked, out-checked, out-goaltended and out-muscled Glen Sather's Oilers. Ilkka Sinisalo opened the scoring with a late first period power play goal. Lindbergh did his part in making the narrow lead stand up and the entire team, especially Ron Sutter in working against Gretzky, frustrated Edmonton by taking away the time and space to make plays. The Flyers out-shot the Oilers 41-26 for the game.
In the third period, goals by Ron Sutter at 5:56 and Tim Kerr at 8:07 created some breathing room for the Flyers. Although Lindbergh's shutout bid was broken up with 3:08 remaining in the game, the Flyers had this one well in hand. Team captain Dave Poulin restored the three-goal margin with a late empty net goal to seal a 4-1 victory.
The Flyers played nearly a perfect 60 minutes of hockey in the opener. Unfortunately, it would be their only win in the series. A winnable Game 2 at the Spectrum got away from the Flyers - a 3-1 loss that was up for grabs until an Edmonton empty netter in the final half minute - before the scene shifted to Edmonton for the next three Games. The Oilers took 4-3 and 5-3 (after the game was tied at 3-3 heading into the third period) decisions in the next two games. The Flyers lost key players Kerr and Lindbergh (torn quadriceps) to injury. The Oilers then romped in Game Five, 8-3, to win the Stanley Cup.
6) Today in Flyers History: May 21, 1995 (Game 1, Eastern Conference Semis)
In Game One of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Flyers hosted the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers. The Blueshirts rode first-period power play goals by Brian Leetch and Petr Nedved to a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
The Legion of Doom started to assert itself in the second period as John LeClair sandwiched power play and even strength goals around a Pat Verbeek marker to cut the gap to one goal through 40 minutes of play. In the third period, LeClair completed a hat trick and Mikael Renberg (two assists) brilliantly set up defenseman Eric Desjardins for a go-ahead goal with 4:49 remaining. The Flyers were unable to nail down the win in regulation, however, as Verbeek tied the game at 4-4 in the final 19 seconds.
In overtime, Craig MacTavish won a right circle faceoff back to Desjardins. The Barry Ashbee Trophy winning defenseman skated to the top of the circle and then wristed a shot that beat a partially screened Mike Richter to make the Flyers the 5-4 victors at the 7:03 mark. Desjardins, who finished with three points in the game, did a little celebratory arm-pumping dance for joy that was replayed for several years to come in the opening montage of Flyers broadcasts.
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