Two weeks later, I have finally finished perusing each of the individual discs, and bathed myself in the proud tradition of yesteryear, which sadly seems so much more distant now that the Flyers have continued their ineptitude into calendar year 2007. This collection purports itself to be the cream of the crop, selected by the fans themselves from an initial list of 20 games the organization picked and gave its faithful to vote on from the team's website this past Summer.
In case anybody's interested in picking up these gems, either to indulge in nostalgia or get the most-complete dose of team history up to this point*, I took the liberty of reviewing each game for its own merits, weighed against the selection criteria and also compared to other moments in Flyers history.
- May 20, 2004 - Flyers 5, Lightning 4 (OT) Game 6, Eastern Conference Finals: This veteran club faced the end of its season on home ice to a bunch of skilled upstarts, and did not fail to create excitement and extend their season by one more game. I hadn't seen the game except for the third period, as on that same night, I worked across the street for MLB.com as the Phillies played the Dodgers. Turns out, except for the flurry of goals (seven in the first two periods), the tension of whether or not the Flyers would get the tying (then winning goal) is the only thing that kept my interest. You know what my eyes keyed on instead of the action? 20,000 home fans all dressed in orange T-shirts. Watching the last two goals, you realize just how close the Flyers came to not reaching overtime - how incredibly lucky it was that Primeau directed the puck across the crease with the top of his skate boot and also how close Gagne was to being the goat, basically chipping the puck into Khabibulin's armpit despite having a half-empty net at which to shoot. Game Excitement: 6 - it was a typical grinding game of the old era punctuated with goals. Emotional Content: 7 - the way things are going, it's the last memory this town will have of some postseason excitement. What the Game Lacks: Local broadcast. I didn't need to be reminded just how forced Gary Thorne sounds and how stunted the chemistry was between Thorne and Bill Clement. I would have loved to hear Tim Saunders' desperate, high-pitched emotional goal calls throughout.
- May 9, 2004 - Flyers 3, Maple Leafs 2 (OT) - Game 6, Eastern Conference Semifinals: Roenick's Revenge made this game sweet, as his overtime winner sent the Flyers into the Eastern Finals against Tampa. Aside from the Flyers opening up a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission, the game was boring as hell - waiting in a doctors' office boring - until the Leafs two goals in the last half of the third jolted the home crowd and the players to life. Even then, the final minutes saw the Flyers trying not to cough up that third goal until overtime offered them some refuge. The overtime, though, was a rare classic right up until JR's clincher. Game Excitement: 5 - why was this picked over some classic Lindros-era games? Emotional Content: 4 - You're better off fast-forwarding from the end of the first period right through until the last half of the third. What the Game Lacks: The cutaways we saw of Sami Kapanen trying to regain consciousness and gain his footing back to the bench after being absolutely destroyed on a hit by Darcy Tucker. It was all over ESPN and Comcast after the game, but
since Roenick's goal happened seconds after the check, the camera followed the action and there were no hit replays included in the game broadcast disc. - May 4-5, 2000 - Flyers 2, Penguins 1 (5OT) Eastern Conference Quarterfinals: Two teams with so much offensive potential in a death-battle for two-plus games stretched over two days. Thousands will remember this because they had to make up some pretty good excuse to miss work on that Friday because they were up into the wee hours hoping the Flyers would win. Keith Primeau's first best moment in orange and black, an unexpected punctuation to a game I'm sure fan and broadcaster alike suspected would go on until daylight. After the Flyers lost the first two games at home, they rebounded with a pair of overtime wins to knot the series at 2-2 and seize momentum going back to Philly for Game 5. I missed most of this game because I was on a train coming home from Boston, but got to my house just in time to see John LeClair get credit for a goal where the puck deflected off his helmet. I saw every bit of overtime and was on the phone with friends trying to guess who would get the winning score. I lost, but every Flyers fan who persevered won. Game Excitement: 7.5 - if this game had gone one OT, it would have been dropped off the list entirely as the two regulation goals were the only exciting thing about the first 60 minutes. The razor-sharp tension and the deepening implications as the overtimes unfolded added the drama we recall. Emotional Content: 8.5 - seriously, this game could have ended at any time with the Flyers outshooting Pittsburgh in the first four OT's, only to have the script flipped in the fifth - and just when you're nodding off to sleep...finally...zzzz....SCORE! Total Euphoria. What the Game Lacks: A shot on goal by Keith Jones. Seriously, how could that happen?
- May 28, 1987 - Flyers 3, Oilers 2 1987 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6: Staring down the barrel of an Edmonton Oilers club ready to blast them out of the Spectrum and skate home with their third Cup in four seasons, the Flyers respond on pure emotion to erase a two-goal deficit, win the game, and send the Finals to its first seventh game in 16 years. So many iconic moments during the night culminating with the immortal call from Gene Hart: "There's a pass trying to find Propp again...the Oilers to the point...Daigneault a shot...SCOOOORREE!!!!" Until Comcast put on their "Classics" series, I had never seen the broadcast. As a nine-year old in South Philly, staying with my grandparents that night, the buzz was beyond electric, trying to listen to Hart and Bobby Taylor's call of the game on radio as the collected ecstasy of the Broad Street corridor stretched all the way down to the Spectrum - making it impossible to hear the words as 17,222 fans in attendance drowned out the sound. When I finally did get around to matching the visuals with the aural memory I had of that night...well, let's just say it got very dusty in the room. With the full PRISM broadcast at my disposal on the DVD, I had a hard time putting it aside to move on to the other games I had to review. The last nine minutes of the game, as the Flyers pressed for the tying goal and then stood firm with a 3-2 lead stand as the finest display of the team's ethos, spirit and philosophy - more so than any point in the two Cup wins. Missing their leading scorer. Missing their captain for large chunks of time. Players so tired and so numb to injury that adrenaline was all that remained. For any Flyers fan under 35, this is the last shining moment, the real lone reminder of what the team is capable of doing when the occasion demands. Game Excitement: 10. Until the Flyers get to the Finals and stare down the greatest offense in NHL history again, there's no topping this. Emotional Content: 10+++ Until the Flyers get to the Finals and trail in every game of the series, and trail by at least two goals in four straight games, and keep winning despite facing elimination two straight nights, there's no topping this. Everybody also forgets that Ron Hextall almost cost the Flyers the game, when his clearing attempt with 11 seconds left found Mark Messier, who broke in alone on Hexy, and missed on two point-blank shots in the frantic final seconds. What the Game Lacks: Nothing, except maybe the chance that it could have been the Cup clinching win for Philly, if only they had finished off Game 2 or Game 4. That, and maybe Ronald Reagan and the Pope coming to Pattison Avenue and personally congratulating the Flyers for one of the best games in NHL playoff history.
- April 13, 1985 - Flyers 6, New York Rangers 5 Patrick Division Finals, Game 3: Tim Kerr basically beats New York with a four-goal last-half of the second period. 1980's hockey at its finest - 11 goals, Flyers-Rangers, who cares that there was a 51-point difference between the clubs? The Flyers hadn't advanced to the second round of the playoffs since 1981, and the Rangers could still put a scare into teams in the old 1-4; 2-3 division playoff format. The swings in the game were fantastic - New York leads 2-0, then 2-1 after one; lead 3-2 midway through the second until Kerr steps up and shreds the Rangers defense to give the Flyers a 6-3 lead after two periods; The desperate comeback by the Rangers, which included two goals in the first four minutes of the third, and the remaining 16 minutes where Keenan and the Boys try to milk the clock. Puckheads will be amazed at how small and fast the players are, and how much room there was on the ice back then. Flyers fans get to recall the greatness that was Kerr in his prime. Game Excitement: 8 - in 1985, every shift could have brought something special, and Kerr's second period proves it. That third period is classic, with the MSG crowd lustily chanting for the tying goal and continuation of Flyers playoff misery. Emotional Content: 7.5 - it was only a first-round series after all, but if you loved Pelle Lindbergh, this is your only chance among the 10 games to see him in action. This ranks a bit higher for me since 1984-85 was the first year I followed hockey, and the Flyers' success bonded me to them to this day. What the Game Lacks: The full 60 minutes of play. I swear the original replay of the game on Comcast's "Hungry for Hockey" in 2004 had the end of the third period on it, but this picks up 11 minutes into the first and ends with 30 seconds left in the game. Did Coatesy spill some beer on the reel-to-reel in drunken celebration? Who knows. Also, the graphics from Channel 29 would have been a great touch - with the mini team logos and each team color coded. I had a tape of this game years ago, and an intermission interview with Ilkka Sinisalo is priceless - a laconic Finn with minimal grasp of English staring blankly at Bobby Taylor who's trying to ask him easy basic English questions.
* - The Flyers are desperately trying to erase the memory of the 2006-2007 season by pumping out a bunch of merchandise linked to its distant, great past. The next collection will be the 40th anniversary DVD, coming out right about the time people won't be caring that the Flyers aren't in the playoffs this year.
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