Déjà Lose: Teams The Flyers Have Destroyed Twice in Recent History
Over the last 20 years, the Philadelphia Flyers have taken part in 1,524 regular season games. Of those 1,524 games, the Flyers have won 760 games. Of those 760 wins, the Flyers have beaten a team by six goals or more just 16 times. With Philadelphia beating 12 different teams in those 16 games, four teams suffered the devastation of a blowout loss twice at the hands of the Flyers. Ironically, each of these four teams suffered both of their losses in the same cities as well for a dash of déjà vu. Since it’s late in July and there isn’t much else to talk about when it comes to hockey this time of year, let’s take a look at these eight on-ice massacres and see how each team has held up since the Flyers ran them over.
Vancouver Canucks
December 31st, 1997 — Flyers 8, Canucks 0
The result shouldn’t have surprised anyone when the defending Eastern Conference champions met the lowly Canucks in British Columbia on the final day of 1997. With four goals in the first period and another four in the third period, the Orange and Black pounded Vancouver with 44 shots and put home eight of them for a monstrous road win. Hextall stopped 27 shots for his third shutout of the season, while Arturs Irbe was pulled just 10:23 into the game after giving up three goals on 10 shots before Corey Hirsch allowed five goals on 34 shots. John LeClair scored his 30th and 31st goals on the season in the Flyers’ 40th game of the season, while Colin Forbes earned his first of three career 2-goal games in the NHL. Daniel Lacroix ended a 50-game goal drought with a tally a few minutes into the third period off of assists from Janne Niinimaa and Paul Coffey.
To the shock of no one, things got a little out of hand in this blowout, as the teams totaled 117 PIMs. Future Flyers Donald Brashear and Gino Odjick did most of the legwork in this category, as Brashear fought both Brantt Myhres and Dan Kordic while Odjick completed one of his five NHL games with 34 penalty minutes or more. Odjick provided a pair of cheap shots that would have landed him lengthy suspensions in today’s league with a sucker punch on Eric Lindros in the neutral zone and a punch to the back of the head of an unsuspecting Forbes in the corner.
October 10th, 2007 — Flyers 8, Canucks 2
A little less than 10 years later, the Flyers returned to Vancouver and posted eight goals again in another dominant victory for the road team. Coming into the season with a new-look roster after a lowly 56-point 2006–2007 campaign, Philadelphia scored four goals in the first period and seven goals in the first 36:46 of the game as part of the rout. Jeff Carter and R.J. Umberger scored 13 seconds apart in the first period to put the Flyers up 2–0 and Joffrey Lupul scored his first as a Flyer in the second period, while Danny Briere scored his fourth goal of the season in his third game with his new team.
With not nearly as much rough stuff as the 1997 blowout, this Flyers’ win still came with an ugly incident. Up 7–2 late in the game, Jesse Boulerice, who played all of eight games for Philadelphia, crosschecked Ryan Kesler in the face behind the play to earn himself a 25-game suspension. Adding insult to injury, the Canucks found themselves on a 5-on-3 power play a few minutes later when Kimmo Timonen was hit with a delay-of-game penalty for clearing the puck over the glass, but it was Mike Richards who scored in this situation. This was Richards’ second goal while killing a 5-on-3 and he ultimately set the record for goals in this situation when he scored his third in 2009 against the New York Rangers.
SAME PLAYERS: There wasn’t a player who took part in both of these games for either team, but Vinny Prospal came relatively close. After he took part in the 1997 game, Prospal spent time with four different teams before being dealt back to the Flyers from the Tampa Bay Lightning on February 25th, 2008 in exchange for Alexandre Picard and the Flyers’ second-round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, which became Richard Panik.
EXPERIENCE BETWEEN LOSSES: Unfortunately for the Canucks, not a lot of great things happened for them between December of 1997 to October of 2007. They drafted Daniel and Henrik Sedin second and third overall respectively in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, but they were also the victims and the aggressors in two of the ugliest on-ice incidents in hockey history. Vancouver also only managed to win a pair of playoff series in this time span.
VANCOUVER’S REVENGE: The closest the Canucks came to exacting revenge on the Flyers was their 3–0 win in Philadelphia on December 3rd, 2009. This loss ended John Stevens’ tenure with the team, and featured a unique fighting approach by Kevin Bieksa, but it led way to Peter Laviolette being named head coach.
Toronto Maple Leafs
November 1st, 2003 — Flyers 7, Maple Leafs 1
Since the 2003–2004 Maple Leafs’ team was the last Toronto team to be considered dangerous before this past season’s team, it is a little surprising the Flyers were able to handle them for a 7–1 victory. Sami Kapanen had a pair of goals and was one of five Flyers with multi-point games, as Philly embarrassed Ed Belfour for a .682 save percentage on 22 shots against. Darcy Tucker made it a 4–1 game a little over seven minutes into the second period on a power-play goal, but Tony Amonte deposited a power-play goal of his own just 3:23 later to restore the Flyers’ four-goal lead. On top of being trounced in front of their home crowd despite putting up the same number of shots as the Flyers, the Maple Leafs failed to redeem themselves in their first meeting against Philadelphia since Game 7 of the 2003 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, where the Orange and Black eliminated Toronto with a 6–1 win.
The win seemed to mystify both sides, as Jeremy Roenick told ESPN that the Flyers, “caught them on an off night,” while Torontos’ head coach Pat Quinn seemed baffled by the outcome as he said, “the harder we tried the more mistakes we made.” The Leafs’ fans didn’t seem to care much for either teams’ attempt to say the home side was unlucky, as they booed Toronto heavily during the defeat.
March 29th, 2012 — Flyers 7, Maple Leafs 1
In their seventh straight season of missing the postseason, the Maple Leafs endured another 7–1 loss to the playoff-bound Flyers. Brayden Schenn scored two goals in the first 11:01, as both Wayne Simmonds (who scored a weirdly impressive-yet-uncontested leisurely wraparound goal) and Jaromir Jagr registered three-point games. Briere recorded his only four-assist game in the NHL while Matt Read scored shorthanded and Eric Wellwood potted his fifth goal of the season in the win.
It was apparent early in the evening that the Leafs were in for a long night, as Jonas Gustavsson took a shot off his left knee in warmups and was unable to play in the loss. Instead, Jussi Rynnas made his only start as a Maple Leaf and allowed seven goals on 30 shots for a .767 save percentage.
Similar to their loss nine years earlier, the fans in Toronto weren’t to happy with the performance by the Maple Leafs. After helping Flyers’ fans celebrate a goal in the midst of the rout (see 5:03 in the video above), Leafs’ fans booed their team off the ice at the end of the game. Fortunately for Toronto, their fans saw postseason hockey the following season.
SAME PLAYERS: No player took part in both of these tilts.
EXPERIENCE BETWEEN LOSSES: Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, the only time they made the postseason between 2004 and 2012 ended with Jeremy Roenick’s overtime goal in Game 6 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
TORONTO’S REVENGE: The Maple Leafs provided a pair of painful moments for the Flyers and their fans in 2011 and 2012. On October 24, 2011, Mikhail Grabovski’s errant stick railed Chris Pronger right in the eye and essentially ended his career. Almost eight months later to the day, Toronto was able to steal James van Riemsdyk from the Flyers in exchange for Luke Schenn. The trade has worked out well for the Maple Leafs, as JVR has produced a 30-goal season and two 25-goal seasons with the club while Schenn is about to endure his second season with the Arizona Coyotes.
Washington Capitals
November 3, 2005 — Flyers 8, Capitals 1
Thanks to a three-goal first period and four-goal second period, the Flyers pounded the Capitals for an 8–1 win to drop Washington to 4–8–0 early in the 2005–2006 campaign. Carter and Simon Gagne provided two goals each, while Jon Sim also found the back of the net twice for one of his six two-goal games in the NHL. Peter Forsberg produced a goal and two helpers for his eighth multi-point game in Philly’s 14th game of the season, while Joni Pitkanen posted his second career three-point game and Mike Rathje experienced his only three-point contest as both blue liners registered three assists.
After Chris Clark put the Caps up 1–0 just 3:40 into the contest, the Flyers scored eight unanswered and experienced a stretch in the game where they outshot the Caps 28–8. Despite four players with three-point games and seven players with a multi-point game, it wasn’t all gravy for the Orange and Black, as Eric Desjardins left the tilt with a concussion that forced him to miss the next eight games.
Then Capitals’ head coach Glen Hanlon didn’t seem too surprised by the outcome as he told CBS Sportsline.com his squad was, “playing against bigger, strong players. We’re young men. They’re big men. It wasn’t a lack of effort. It wasn’t a lack of execution.” It was only Washington’s 12th game of the season, but it was the fourth time they allowed seven goals or more and the fifth time they lost by four goals or more. The Flyers went on to finish with 101 points in 2005–2006, while the Caps finished 27th in the NHL with 70 points.
December 20, 2008 — Flyers 7, Capitals 1
Unlike the first blowout, the Flyers found themselves being massively outplayed by Washington for a good chunk of this 7–1 win, but came out on top thanks to Antero Niittymaki’s brilliance early. Despite being outshot 25–6 in the first period, and at one point being outshot 23–2, the Flyers left the first stanza up 1–0 thanks to Niitymaki, who finished with 47 stops in the win. Carter and Lupul earned four-point games for Philly, while Scott Hartnell had a hat trick and tacked on an assist for a four-point affair as well. Timonen and Matt Carle also produced multi-point games, as the duo of puck-moving defensemen each had two assists.
After Lupul’s lone goal in the first, Carter scored his goals just 54 seconds apart to let Philadelphia pull away. The third period featured four goals in an 11:40 span from the Flyers and a pair of fights, as Josh Gratton provided maybe his most memorable moment with the organization. Brashear, much like his impact in Vancouver’s 1997 loss, had a big hand in the mayhem in this game, as he totaled 26 of the total 78 penalty minutes called. Five of those minutes came after he put an absolute beatdown on Riley Cote.
SAME PLAYERS: Since these two games took place just three years apart, there were plenty of players that experienced both of these drubbings. For the Flyers, the quartet of Carter, Gagne, Richards, and Mike Knuble were on the winning side twice. For Washington, the group of Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Tomas Fleischmann, and Shaone Morrisonn were members of each losing team. Brashear had the unique twist of being on the Flyers for the 2005 seven-goal victory, but then switching to the losing side for the 2008 contest.
EXPERIENCE BETWEEN LOSSES: From November of 2005 to December of 2008, the biggest positive for the Capitals was probably the hiring of head coach Bruce Boudreau in November of 2007. The most memorable game for the Caps during this stretch of time may have been another loss at the hands of the Flyers.
WASHINGTON’S REVENGE: For Washington, they have returned the favor to Philly on a few occasions. After they destroyed the Flyers for an 8–2 loss in Philly in Laviolette’s first game as head coach, the Caps also beat Philly 7–0 on November 1, 2013 in one of the Flyers’ more infamous losses in team history, as Ray Emery jumped Braden Holtby in the midst of a violent game. Washington did also eliminate the Flyers in the opening round of the 2016 NHL postseason, which also featured another infamous loss in Philly history.
Columbus Blue Jackets
November 5th, 2011 — Flyers 9, Blue Jackets 2
In the only game they notched more than eight goals since the start of the 1997–1998 season, the Flyers ran up the score on their future starting goaltender in a 9–2 win against the Blue Jackets. Jakub Voracek and van Riemsdyk each provided a goal and a pair of assists, while Sean Couturier had a two-goal game on a day where Philadelphia scored the first eight goals. The only three skaters for Philadelphia who didn’t register a point in the win were Hartnell, Andreas Lilja, and Zac Rinaldo.
After being pulled towards the end of the first period, Steve Mason returned to the crease to start the second period of a game where he allowed seven goals on 28 shots. It’s one of only two games in the NHL where Mason allowed 7 goals or more, both of which came with Columbus. Mason never saw a night quite as rough as this game with Philadelphia, as he only had one game with the Flyers where he allowed six goals or more, which came on November 11th, 2016 in a loss to the Maple Leafs. Allen York provided perhaps his worst appearance of his 11 games in the NHL, as he stopped three of the five shots he saw in just 6:51 of work.
In the midst of a five-goal first period for the Flyers, Simmonds decided he may as well rough up Derek Dorsett. Harry Zolnierczyk also fought James Wisniewski, but it was more clutching and grabbing rather than an actual fight.
March 5th, 2016 — Flyers 6, Blue Jackets 0
Playing a completely different role in this Flyers’ blowout, Mason stopped all 19 of the Blue Jackets’ shots to help the home team blank Columbus 6–0. Hartnell failed to record a point in this Philadelphia blowout as well, but this time he was skating for the Blue Jackets. Radko Gudas had a career night, as he set career highs for a single game with two goals, four points, and seven shots on goal. Gudas also came away with the highlight of the night, as his first goal as a Flyer came from about three feet behind the red line to beat Columbus netminder Curtis McElhinney.
With the help of all six goals being scored at even strength, this game featured the unique fact that every Blue Jacket finished with a negative rating while every Flyer finished with a plus rating.
SAME PLAYERS: Similar to the Capitals’ games, there were several players who took part in both of these games due to the fact they weren’t played that many years apart. The crew of Couturier, Giroux, and Simmonds took part in both victories for Philly, as Matt Read missed the game in 2012 with an upper-body injury and Voracek missed the game in 2016 due to a lower-body injury. Cam Atkinson, Matt Calvert, and Fedor Tyutin suited up for Columbus in both shellackings, while Hartnell and Mason switched sides to experience both a win and a loss.
EXPERIENCE BETWEEN LOSSES: The time between November of 2011 and March of 2016 saw some interesting moments for the Blue Jackets. Rick Nash was dealt to the Rangers in July of 2012 by general manager Scott Howson, who was fired by the organization the following February. Jarmo Kekalainen replaced Howson and helped Columbus to their first playoff win in franchise history, as Calvert put in a rebound in Game 2 of their first-round matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kekalainen has made some big trades as GM of the Blue Jackets, the biggest of which might be sending Ryan Johansen to the Nashville Predators for Seth Jones.
COLUMBUS’ REVENGE: The Blue Jackets essentially stole Sergei Bobrovsky and Hartnell from Philadelphia. Bobrovsky has a .923 save percentage over five years with Columbus and has won two Vezina Trophies, while Hartnell provided a pair of 20-goal seasons before being bought out by the team earlier this summer.
A big win can take place any night in the NHL. Sometimes a team that has been playing really well for a stretch of games meets up with a team struggling with performance and injuries. Other times, a team just gets all the bounces. No matter the reason, the Flyers have had their share of these games, as they have found themselves on both the right and wrong side of the scoreboard.
