Quick Hits: Dec. 26, 2021
1) Happy Boxing Day to HockeyBuzz readers who live in the parts of Canada and other countries where the day is celebrated. The World Junior Championships (IIHF Under-20 World Championship) annually kicks off on Dec. 26. Today's opening games in Edmonton and Red Deer feature Finland vs. Germany, Russia vs. Sweden (Emil Andrae), Czech Republic vs. host nation Calanda (Elliot Desnoyers), and USA vs. Slovakia. All games will be televised on NHL Network. the Sweden vs. Russia game airs live at 4:30 p.m. ET, while Canada vs. Russia is at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Tomorrow, Team Switzerland (Brian Zanetti) opens its round-robin phase schedule against Russia at 4:30 p.m. ET. Andrae and the rest of the Junior Crowns will play Slovakia at 9:30 p.m. ET.
2) The Flyers (12-12-5) will have an optional practice today at the Skate Zone in Voorhees at 2:00 p.m. ET. Hopefully, Morgan Frost and Max Willman -- both of whom asymptomatically tested positive for COVID-19 and had to enter protocol -- have since been cleared to return to the ice. Ditto Kevin Hayes, who had to leave practice early on Monday of this past week for the same reason. Derick Brassard (hip issue) was close to being cleared for full practice several days ago. The Flyers will leave on Tuesday to begin a four-game road trip. The trip opens on Wednesday against Dave Hakstol's Seattle Kraken (10-17-3).
3) The Flyers played 18 games on Boxing Day in team history. Some of the most notable ones:
* 1971: In the only home game on this date in team history, the Flyers skated to a 6-1 blowout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Serge Bernier (1g, 3a) enjoyed a four-point game while Bobby Clarke had a goal and two assists. Bob Kelly, Ed van Impe, Barry Ashbee (PPG) and Gary Dornhoefer rounded out the scoring. Ron Hextall's father, Bryan Hextall Jr., scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh.
1974: Three goals by the LCB Line - two by Bobby Clarke and one by Reggie Leach - pace the attack in a 4-1 road win over the Washington Capitals. Bill Clement (10th goal of the season) also tallies for Philadelphia, while Bernie Parent stops 19 of 20 shots.
1977: In Dec. 1977, two of the top teams in the Czechoslovakian Extraliga - reigning champion Kladno and former champion Pardubice - played a series of exhibition games against National Hockey League clubs dubbed the Super Series.
While not the equal of the mythic Red Army (CKSA) or the Soviet national team, the Czechoslovakian national team was an international powerhouse in its own right, and a significant number of national team regulars played domestically for Kladno or Pardubice as well as for other traditionally strong teams such Sparta Prague and Slovakian-based Slovan Bratislava.
On December 26, 1977, the Pardubice team paid a visit to the Spectrum to take on the Flyers. The Czech team featured quite a few notable players such as the late Ivan Hlinka the high-scoring line of Vladimir "The Fox" Martinec, Jiri Novak and Bohuslav Stastny (which also played as a trio for the Czechoslovakian national team) and star goaltender Jiri Crha.
Despite the high-end talent that the Czech team boasted, they were no match for the Flyers on their Boxing Day game at the Spectrum. The Flyers sailed to a 6-1 win.
The game was tied 1-1 at the first intermission. After Orest Kindrachuk opened the scoring, Martinec set up Stastny for a goal in the final five seconds of the period to knot the score. Shots in the first period were 14-10 in the opening stanza.
Thereafter, Fred Shero's Flyers dominated the rest of the game. Philadelphia outshot Pardubice by a 28-11 margin (11-6, 17-5) over the final 40 minutes and, more important, outscored their Czech opponents by a 5-0 margin to skate away with a 6-1 victory. Mel Bridgman and Reggie Leach scored in the middle frame. In the third period, Kindrachuk and Bridgman both scored again, sandwiched around a Bob "the Hound" Kelly goal.
Wayne Stephenson and Bernie Parent split the goaltending duties for the Flyers. Stephenson, credited as the winning goalie, started the game and remained in until Bridgman put the Flyers ahead to stay at 9:43 of the second period. He stopped 10 of 11 shots before giving way to Parent. Hall of Fame goalie Parent saw 10 shots, denying all of them. The Flyers went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play.
Chra stopped 36 of 42 shots in a losing cause. It was not the last the Flyers would see of him. Two years later, he defected from communist Czechoslovakia to come to North America. In 1979-80, Chra joined the Toronto Maple Leafs and became the first Czech or Slovak goaltender to play in the National Hockey League. 1979: Flyers rookie sensation Brian Propp and Hartford Whalers star Mark Howe trade off two goals apiece and Philly is unable to protect a 4-2 lead in the third period, settling instead for 4-4 road tie. The road tie nevertheless extends to Flyers' NHL record unbeaten streak to 31 straight games (21-0-10). The legendary Gordie Howe assists on son Mark's first goal of the game.
1982: Two goals apiece by Brian Propp and Mark Howe spark the visiting Flyers to 6-3 win over the Capitals. Propp and Howe each scored one shorthanded goal and one power play goal apiece. Philly also gets from Ilkka Sinisalo and Ray Allison. Rookie goaltender Pelle Lindbergh makes 30 saves and even chipped in an assist on Propp's first goal. "Three" is the magic number on this day, as the Flyers scored three goals in the first and third periods while the Caps score all three of their goals in the middle frame. 1987: Trailing the Capitals 2-0 midway through the game, the visiting Flyers rally for unanswered goals by Scott Mellanby, Murray Craven and, with 2:25 left in the third, by Ilkka Sinisalo to win the game. Mark Howe earns the primary helpers on both the tying and winning goals. Ron Hextall earns a 29-save victory in the 3-2 win. 1992: Eric Lindros scores on a penalty shot against Washington goaltender Don Beaupre with the third-period game clock stopped at 19 seconds remaining in regulation. The goal forges a 5-5 tie and completes the rookie's second career hat trick. 2001: A pair of Ruslan Fedotenko goals sparks the Flyers to a 4-1 road win over the Capitals. Roman Cechmanek denies 22 of 23 Washington shots. 2005: Scoring the first two goals of his NHL career, rookie Ben Eager helps the Flyers erase a pair of one-goal deficits against the host Florida Panthers. The Flyers, playing the second game of a massive 11-game road trip, get a 3-on-1 rush in the final seven seconds of overtime but Florida goalie Roberto Luongo stones Peter Forsberg from point-blank range. In the fourth round of the ensuing shootout, Michal Handzus slides a backhander past Luongo to win the game for the Flyers. Antero Niittymaki (34 saves on 36 shots in regulation, 4-for-4 in the shootout) earns the win in goal.
2009: In the most recent Dec. 26 game in Flyers history, the Flyers saw a 3-0 lead slip away in the third period but went on to defeat the host Carolina Hurricanes via shootout, 4-3 (2-0). Michael Leighton made 37 saves against his former Hurricanes teammates, including 17 in the third period. Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Danny Briere scored in regulation for the Flyers. Briere and Richards also scored in the shootout.