Quick Hits: Oct. 18, 2020
1) Prospect Update: 2020 fifth-round pick Elliot Desnoyers scored his second goal of the season yesterday in a 5-4 shootout win for the Halifax Mooseheads over the Saint John Seadogs. Desnoyers intercepted the puck in the neutral zone, skating up the left wing. At the top of the circle, he cut in and used a defenseman as a partial screen to beat goalie Creed Jones. Eariler, Desoyers assisted on a power play goal that temporarily gave the Mooseheads a 2-0 lead in the first period. After regulation and OT, Jones denied Desnoyers on a shootout attempt.
Nice little shot right there.
β Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) October 17, 2020
Desnoyers (2) 2:59 2nd period. Unassisted. #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/KbLXgyYzws
2) Today in Flyers History: Oct. 18, 1967
After losing each of their first two games of a season-opening road trip, the Philadelphia Flyers captured a 2-1 road victory over the St. Louis Blues for the first win in franchise history. Team captain Lou Angotti's goal in the final minute of the second period sent the game to intermission tied at 1-1 before the late Ed Hoekstra's second career NHL goal put Philly ahead with 7:40 remaining in the game. Doug Favell (34 saves on 35 shots) took care of the rest.
Earlier in the day, the Flyers traded their 1970 first-round pick to Boston Bruins in exchange for winger Rosie Paiement. Hard-nosed on the ice, fun-loving off the ice, Paiement became an early fan favorite both for the AHL's Quebec Aces and the Flyers. Paiement holds the distinction of scoring the first playoff hat trick in Flyers' history, accomplishing that feat in the 1968 Stanley Cup quarterfinals against the Blues.
More notably, the Bruins used the 1970 first-round pick (4th overall) to select Peterborough Petes center Rick MacLeish. Months later, the Bruins flipped MacLeish to Philadelphia in exchange for Mike "Shakey" Walton to complete a three-team trade that sent Bernie Parent to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for veteran goalie Bruce Gamble, Walton and a 1971 1st-round Draft pick (Pierre Plante). MacLeish, of course, went to become a Flyers' Hall of Fame member, and scoring the series winning goal in Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup Final against Boston.
3) Today in Flyers History: Oct. 18, 1984
In one of the most lopsided victories in franchise history, the Flyers strafed the Vancouver Canucks, 13-4. The 13 goals Philly scored in the game tied a franchise record. Philadelphia scored four times in the first period, five in the second, and four in the third.
Brian Propp and Ilkka Sinisalo both compiled hat tricks in the game, while Tim Kerr tallied twice. Murray Craven, Brad McCrimmon, Dave Poulin, Rick Tocchet and Peter Zezel each rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece.
Propp and Sinisalo's feat marked the third time in team history that two Flyers recorded a hat trick in the same game; accomplished previously by Bobby Clarke/Ross Lonsberry against Detroit in a 12-2 win on Feb. 2, 1974 and Dave Poulin/Sinisalo in a 13-4 trouncing of Pittsburgh on March 22, 1984. Later in the 1984-85 season, Poulin and Kerr did on March 7 in a 9-6 victory over Washington.
On Dec. 18, 1986, Poulin and Kerr combined to do it again in a 9-4 win over the New York Islanders. It was not until Dec. 11, 2006 when Joffrey Lupul and R.J. Umberger each had hat tricks in an 8-2 humiliation of the Penguins that two Flyers combined for the sixth such occurrence in team regular season history.
The first time that it was accomplished by two Flyers in a playoff game came in Game 2 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals (April 13, 2012) when Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux scored three apiece in an 8-5 win over the Penguins.
4) Flyers Alumni birthday: Kjell Samuelsson
Hard-nosed defensive defenseman Kjell Samuelsson was born October 18, 1958 in Tyngsryd, Sweden. Standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 235 pounds, Samuelsson learned how to use his wingspan and positional savvy to his advantage. He also played with a mean streak as part of a physical and courageous style that often saw him sacrifice his body willingly to block opposition shots.
Selected by the New York Rangers in the sixth round (119th overall) of the 1984 NHL Draft, the late-blooming Samuelsson did not debut in the National Hockey League until he was 28 years old but he went on to carve out a solid career that saw him play 813 regular season games (48 goals, 138 assists, 186 points, 1,225 penalty minutes) and 123 playoff games (four goals, 20 assists, 24 points, 178 penalty minutes).
As a Flyer, Samuelsson played 545 regular season games, posting a cumulative plus-103 rating and 141 points (35 goals, 106 assists) to go along with 815 penalty minutes. He dressed in 70 playoff games, contributing 16 points (four goals, 12 assists), 98 penalty minutes and a plus-24 rating.
Nicknamed "Duke" as in the comic strip Marmaduke character, Samuelsson was never noted for his offensive game. However, he possessed a heavy and accurate righthanded shot that was good enough to produce a few goals per season when teams would back off and concede an uncontested shot. He scored as many as nine goals (1990-91) in a season.
On December 18, 1986, the Flyers traded goaltender Bob Froese to the Rangers in exchange for Samuelsson and a 1989 second-round pick (Patrik Juhlin). Samuelsson stepped right into Mike Keenan's lineup as a sturdy defensive presence on a team that fell just one win short of winning the Stanley Cup.
In 1987-88, Samuelsson enjoyed a strong season (plus-28, 184 penalty minutes, 30 points, three power play goals) for the Flyers. Keenan, the coach of the Wales Conference All-Stars rewarded him with a selection to the NHL All-Star Game.
The next season, Samuelsson won the first of his two Barry Ashbee Trophies as the Flyers best defenseman. He duplicated the feat in 1990-91. During these years, Samuelsson formed an effective defense pairing with Hall of Fame defenseman Mark Howe (although Howe was often injured during this phase of his career). Samuelsson and Howe worked out a method of having the big Swede take away an attacker's upper body while Howe went for the puck.
On February 19, 1992, the Flyers traded Samuelsson, Rick Tocchet and Ken Wregget to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a deal that brought burgeoning star Mark Recchi, defenseman Brian Benning and a 1992 first-round pick (Jason Bowen) to Philadelphia. The Penguins went on to win their second their second straight Stanley Cup championship.
Samuelsson rejoined the Flyers as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 1995. Paired with second-year pro Chris Therien, Samuelsson posted a plus-20 rating and 13 points in 1995-96. The next year, neck surgery limited Samuelsson to 34 regular season games (four goals, plus-17) but he returned to play in the Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings. Samuelsson dressed in 49 games during the 1997-98 season. He finished his NHL playing career as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1998-99.
After retiring as a player, Samuelsson embarked on a long coaching career in the Flyers organization, including a stint as the Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL) head coach. In 2012-13, he was named player development coach in charge of working with defense prospects in the organization. Eight years later, he remains a central part of the organization's player development program.
Other Flyers Alumni players born on Oct. 18 include defenseman Mark Alt (1991) and right wing Norm Lacombe (1974). .