In 1997, Memorial Day fell on May 26. One afternoon earlier, the Philadelphia Flyers closed out the New York Rangers to win the Eastern Conference championship to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

Before a nightmarish Stanley Cup Final against Detroit, the Flyers tore through the 1997 Eastern Conference playoffs. The team needed just five games apiece to dispatch the Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres and the star-laden but aging New York Rangers to win the Prince of Wales Trophy and advance to the seventh Stanley Cup Final berth in franchise history.

The Rangers were a star-studded but aging team. The club featured the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter, Adam Graves, Esa Tikkanen, Luke Robitaille, Russ Courtnall and Ulf Samuelsson. With Paul Coffey and Dale Hawerchuk on the Flyers side, the series featured many of the the remnants the 1980s Edmonton Oilers dynasty as well as many of the top NHL stars of the 80s to early 90s in their final or nearly final attempts to win the Stanley Cup.

In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Rangers, the scene shifted back to Philadelphia's brand new Wells Fargo Center (then called CoreStates Center) after the Flyers prevailed in hard-fought matches in Games Three and Four at Madison Square Garden.

Flyers captain Eric Lindros brought the home crowd to its feet as he opened the scoring with an early power play goal. The Philly fans were briefly silenced by back-to-back Rangers power play goals (Alexander Karpovtsev and Esa Tikkanen) on both sides of a 5-on-3 New York power play. However, the atmosphere was electric again as John LeClair knotted the game on a power play goal and Rod Brind'Amour tallied at even strength to put the Flyers ahead before the first intermission.

Philadelphia dominated a scoreless second period, holding the Rangers to just two shots on goal but the Flyers could not extend their lead against Mike Richter (who finished with 25 saves). Finally, at 6:43 of the third period, Brind'Amour notched his second tally of the game as he provided some insurance with a 4-2 lead.

That was all Ron Hextall needed. He turned away all eight shots he saw in the final period. Ten years after a rookie Hextall brought the Flyers within a narrow Game 7 defeat of winning the Stanley Cup, the Flyers were headed back to the Final.

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