Quick Hits: May 11, 2020
1) On the newest edition of Flyers Daily on the Flyers Broadcast Network, Jason Myrtetus spoke in depth with Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott. The veteran netminder gave his views on what things may look like in terms of the Stanley Cup playoffs if and when the 2019-20 season is resumed. He also discussed what he's been doing during the NHL pause: Listen to the podcast here. 2) ICYMI: The 21st profile in the player-by-player Flyers series on the team's official website looks at Ivan Provorov's 2019-20 season up through the league pause. Next up is trade deadline acquisition Nate Thompson, followed by several players (Connor Bunnaman, Mark Friedman, Morgan Frost, Mikhail Vorobyev, German Rubtsov and Carsen Twarynski) who had stints in the NHL this season with the Flyers. For an archive of the player profiles to date, see the right side column on the front page of the Flyers' official website.
3) Last week, the Flyers arranged for rookie left winger Joel Farabee and Gritty to join with 7th graders from Joseph Greenberg Elementary School for the first-ever Virtual STEM Day as a part of the National Hockey League/ National Hockey League Players Association’s Future Goals initiative. During the online class, the students learned about the science behind creating a sheet of ice (they froze water on baking sheets) and practiced passing angles with household items such as brooms and tennis balls.
4) The American Hockey League held a Board of Governors meeting on Friday. Today, it was made official that the remainder of the 2019-20 season has been canceled.
5) May 11 Flyers Alum birthday: Mike Rathje (1974)
6) Today in Flyers History: May 11, 1997
The Philadelphia Flyers have reached the Stanley Cup Final eight times in franchise history: the most of any team that joined the NHL in its 1967 expansion or beyond. In fact, since the 1967-68 season, only the Montreal Canadiens (11) and Boston Bruins (nine) have earned more trips to the Final among all NHL franchises.
Including seasons where they reached the championship round, the Flyers have made it to the Stanley Cup Semifinals (later called the Conference finals) round 16 times in franchise history. The 12th time came in 1997, as the Flyers closed out the Buffalo Sabres in five games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals against the arch-rival New York Rangers.
Game Five in the Eastern Conference Semifinals took place in Buffalo on May 11, 1997.
The game was scoreless at the first intermission before John LeClair and Eric Lindros forged a 2-0 lead in the second period. Lindros then successfully converts a penalty shot to make it a 3-0 game.
The Sabres pushed back, to their credit, scoring three of the next four goals. Finally, a pair of tallies by Flyers rookie Dainius Zubrus dashed the Sabres' hopes of a comeback. Philadelphia prevailed, 6-3. The Flyers would go on to take out the Rangers in five games, clinching Philly's seventh trip to the Stanley Cup Final in franchise history.