Philly Heartbreak Bracket: Flyers Region

Oh Flyers. Some days they’re the fourth team in the city and every mention of their existence leads to “Nobody cares about hockey!” But there are those rare moments when arguably Philly’s most consistently winning team capture the hearts of the city…only to break them in the end.

The Flyers are actually a rare major pro sports franchise where their glory years are within their first decade of existence. Their rise to greatness thanks to the leadership of founder Ed Snider saw them going from an NHL Expansion team in 1967 to back-to-back Stanley Cup champions within 8 years. The next 45 years? Plenty of winning, but no cups. Year after year, tease after tease, and the Flyers always end up breaking their fans hearts. With the Eagles finally ending their 57 year title drought, the Flyers now have Philadelphia’s longest championship drought and that drought could reach the big 5-0.

While it’s not as easy to make a 16-part region of the Flyers as opposed to the other teams, they provided enough over the past 45 years to fill it. Lets see what all Flyers fans (and their one media representative Jason Myrtetus) pick what their worst moment in franchise history is. Even though we probably know what moment will represent the Flyers in the final four, and it’s not a 1 seed…

 

 

No. 1: 2000 Eastern Conference Finals vs. Devils

In recent Eric Lindros is finally getting the respect he deserves in Philadelphia with an induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame and getting his number retired. But no athlete had a worse moment to end his career with a team that when Lindros suffered yet another concussion in the crucial Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on their home ice against the New Jersey Devils. Losing that game 2-1 with their star player getting concussed in his final game as a Flyer is awful, but wait, there’s more! The Flyer also blew a 3-1 in that series!

 

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No. 16: Kate Smith Gets Cancelled

Okay, this one really isn’t painful unless you grew up watching Kate Smith perform God Bless America during the ’70s. Her performances coincided with the Flyers stretch of winning and became a major tradition throughout the decades. Only problem is that playing Kate Smith recordings became a tired trope thanks in part to the lack of Cups in recent years. So during the time of historical figures getting cancelled Kate Smith of all people had songs with not-so-good lyrics from back in the day. Did she even write those lyrics? Doesn’t matter because her statue was taken down from the Philly sports complex. Is it painful? Maybe not, but it’s definitely not pleasant.

 

 

 

No. 2: Patrick Kane

It would be shocking if this moment doesn’t win the Flyers region in the Philly Bracket of Pain. It’s one thing to give up the Stanley Cup winning goal on your home ice, but the fans were still confused and didn’t know what just happened as the Blackhawks were celebrating. It was the equivalent of a knife piercing Flyers fans intensely, and twisting it on repeat.

 

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No. 15: From Flyers to Kings

Not long after reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010, general manager Paul Holmgren decided to trade Mike Richards to the LA Kings and Jeff Cater to the Blue Jackets in the Summer of 2011. They overhauled their roster and traded their captain and highest goal scorer in one day for unknown prospects. Carter joined LA not long after and The Kings won 2 Stanley Cups in 3 years, and the Flyers haven’t won a playoff series since 2012.

 

 

 

 

No. 3: 1980 Stanley Cup Finals Game 6: The Non-Call

One of the most controversial moments in NHL history was in Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals when Clark Gillies of the Islanders passed to his teammate Butch Goring who scored. The problem was that Goring was offsides and a penalty should have been called. If that didn’t happen the Flyers may have won the 1980 Stanley Cup.

 

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No. 14: 1985 Stanely Cup Finals vs. Edmonton Oilers

There’s not a lot of shame in losing to Wayne Gretzky. . .but it still sucks to lose in the Stanely Cup Finals.

 

 

 

No. 4: Bracelets on Ice

Philly sports fans get undeserved flack from the national media for their passion, but this bracelets incident during the 2016 playoffs deserved huge criticism. And it wasn’t like typical giveaway bracelets, this was in memory of Ed Snider!

 

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No. 13: 1987 Stanley Cup Finals vs. Edmonton Oilers

This rematch of the 1985 Finals was more competitive, but the Flyers fell one win short of capturing that elusive 3rd cup in Game 7.

 

 

No. 5: 2009 Quarterfinals vs. Penguins, Game 6

In Game of the 1st round against the Penguins, the Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 and looked to have Game 7 in sight. But after a fight between Daniel Carcillo and Max Talbot, the Penguins scored FIVE unanswered goals. Pittsburgh went onto win the Stanley Cup.

 

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No. 12: Sergei Bobrovsky Trade

The Flyers have only been looking for a goal forever and hopefully Carter Hart turns out to be the guy. But in the early 2010s they had a potential franchise goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky. He was inconsistent early on and they decided to trade him to the Columbus Blue Jackets where, of course, he wins the Vezina trophy in 2013.

 

 

No. 6: 1997 Stanley Cup Finals vs. Detroit Red Wings

The only Stanley Cup Finals berth of the Lindros and Legion of Doom Era was an unceremonious sweep of the mighty Detroit Red Wings. While some thought this was the beginning of a great run, this was only the peak for this group of Flyers.

 

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No. 11: 2008 Eastern Conference Finals vs. Penguins

There’s plenty of Sidney Crosby in this region, and the biggest win he has over the Flyers is the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals. Pittsburgh took care of business in five games and it was the first time the Penguins won a series against the Flyers. The closer was a 6-0 blowout.

 

 

No. 7: 2004 Eastern Conference Finals vs. Lightning

2004 saw a great playoff run from the Flyers in the aftermath of the Lindros Era, but they fell one win short against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

 

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No. 10: Bernie Parent Injury in 1976

One of the Flyer’s biggest What If’s in history is what if Bernie Parent didn’t suffer a pre-season neck injury before the 1976 season. He was pretty much sidelined for the whole season but the Flyers still made it back to Stanley Cup finals. They were swept by the Montreal Canadians in four close games, so what if the best goalie in the game had been there for them?

 

 

No. 8: 2018 Quarterfinals vs. Penguins

The last playoff game the Flyers played in was especially stupid. Sean Courturier scored a hat trick and the Flyers had a two goal lead late in teh second period. Then Jake Guentzel of the Penguins lost his mind and scored four goals. All of the sudden Pittsburgh was up 8-5 and moving onto the next round.

 

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No. 9: 2001 Quarterfinals vs. Buffalo Sabres

In the first round of the 2001 playoffs the Flyers lost two overtime games to the Buffalo Sabres, but the worst was Game 6 when they lost 8-0.