Quick Hits: June 10, 2020
1) Yesterday, the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association nominated Flyers left wing Oskar Lindblom for the Masterton Trophy. The 23-year-old, who was having a breakthrough season in his second full NHL season (third North American pro season) at the time he was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma; a rare form of bone cancer, more typically found in pediatric patients than adults.
In a statement released by the Flyers, Lindblom said, "I am honored to be nominated for this special award. This past season has been a difficult one, for sure, but the positive support I’ve received from my family, my girlfriend, teammates, the Flyers organization, and Flyers fans has been a tremendous help and inspiration through these times."
Every NHL team annually has its own nominee for the Masterton, which recognizes perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. It is not required that PHWA members nominate a player from the team they cover, but it has always been done that way during the first phase of the process. Voters then choose among the 31 nominees.
Lindblom has a legitimate chance to win this year's award. However, it may go instead to veteran St. Louis Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, who experienced a career-threatening cardiac event in a February 11 game against the Anaheim Ducks. Bouwmeester had to have an ICD installed in his chest to regulate his heartbeat. Ottawa's Bobby Ryan, who has battled addiction issues and made a triumphant and emotional return to play, is another high-profile candidate this year.
If Lindblom does not win this year, he can still be renominated next season. If he is diagnosed as cancer-free and is able to make it all the way back to play, he'd perhaps be an even more compelling candidate for the 2020-21 Masterton among the voters outside Philadelphia.
The Flyers actually had two worthy Masterton candidates this year. Defenseman Samuel Morin, who has been able to dress in only a combined 11 games (six in the NHL, five rehab games in the AHL) over the past two seasons, is currently rehabbing his second ACL repair surgery in less than two calendar years. Before the first ACL tear, he missed most of the second half of the 2017-18 season due to a recurring psoas muscle strain.
Through it all, he has persevered in pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming an NHL regular. During the most recent rehab, even amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Morin has worked out seven days a week. He has been skating on his own for about two months (injury-rehabbing NHL players were an exception to the closures of team rinks).
2) Today in Flyers History: June 10, 1969
The Flyers sold the contract of 34-year-old minor league veteran Bob Barlow to the Minnesota North Stars on June 10, 1969 for an undisclosed amount of cash. Several months later, in an Oct. 12, 1969 game against the Flyers, Barlow set an NHL record (since broken) for being the oldest skater in league history to make his NHL debut. He also set a record (still standing) for the fastest goal scored by a player in his first NHL game, scoring against Bernie Parent just six seconds into his first shift.
3) Today in Flyers History: June 10, 1995
The lockout-shortened 1994-95 season was an important turning point in Flyers' history. After five straight seasons of missing the playoffs, the team won the division during the regular season and then came within two wins of reaching the Stanley Cup Final.
It was the year that Eric Lindros won the Hart Trophy and tied for the NHL scoring lead (Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr won the Art Ross Trophy by virtue of more goals scored, although Lindros' points-per-game was higher).
It was also the season that the blockbuster Mark Recchi trade with Montreal that brought John LeClair and Eric Desjardins to the Flyers. The new "Legion of Doom" line took the league by storm. Goaltender Ron Hextall returned to Philadelphia for a second stint on the team. General manager Bob Clarke completely overhauled the blueline, and new head coach Terry Murray restored much-needed structure and a coherent system. Young defenseman Chris Therien captured a spot on the NHL All-Rookie team.
In the playoffs, even with Lindros sidelined for the first three games of the series due to an eye injury, the Flyers dismantled the Buffalo Sabres in five games. In the series clincher at the Spectrum, Buffalo head coach John Muckler called a timeout at one point to plead with his players to stop marveling at the Legion of Doom's forechecking dominance and to try a little hard to actually compete against them.
In the second round, the Flyers swept the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers in four games. The Flyers needed overtime to prevail at home in Game 1 and Game 2. Thereafter, Philly cruised to 5-2 and 4-1 wins at Madison Square Garden to close out the series.
Then came a hard-fought, and ultimately, anguishing Eastern Conference Final against the neutral-zone trapping, clutching-and-grabbing New Jersey Devils backstopped by Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur with Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Stevens anchoring the blueline. The Flyers entered the series as favorites to win, but promptly dropped the first two games on home ice.
Game 3 saw the Flyers come back in the third period to force overtime. Lindros then won the contest in OT, taking a pass from Mikael Renberg and firing the puck past Brodeur to cut the series gap for the Flyers.
Twenty-five years ago tonight, on June 10, 1995, the Flyers tied the series at two games apiece with a rousing 4-2 road win. Goals by Shjon Podein, Renberg, Rod Brind'Amour (shorthanded, game-winner) and Eric Desjardins provided the offense despite Philly being held to 19 shots for the game by the Devils' smothering defensive style. Hextall stopped 32 of 34 shots to earn the win in goal. Legion of Doom right wing Renberg earned first-star honors.
The rest of the series was a heartbreaker for the Flyers. Game 5 at the Spectrum was tied at 2-2 late in the third period when longtime Flyers nemesis Claude Lemieux fired a slapshot from just over the blueline that eluded Hextall. Although the Flyers scored first in Game 6, the Devils went on to skate to a 4-2 win to end the series. After sweeping the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final, Jacques Lemaire's New Jersey team captured the championship and held a parade at Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands. 4) June 10: Flyers Alum birthday Offensive-minded defenseman Brian Benning was born June 10, 1966. Benning was acquired by the Flyers along with Mark Recchi and a 1992 first-round pick (Jason Bowen) in the same 1992 blockbuster deal that sent Rick Tocchet, Kjell Samuelsson and Ken Wreggett to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Benning produced 11 goals and 40 points as well as 128 penalty minutes in 59 games for the Flyers over parts of two seasons before being traded to Edmonton midway through the 1992-93 season for forward Josef Beranek and defenseman Greg Hawgood.