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Quick Hits: December 5, 2020
1) The latest return-to-play news per Elliotte Friedman and Pierre LeBrun is that January 15 is the new target circa date to begin the belated 2020-21 NHL season. The financial divide over escrow and/or deferred compensation still exists between the NHLPA and the NHL but there could be movement soon. There is also momentum reported on non-financial issues regarding pandemic-related procedures, policies and scheduling logistics. Training camps would start right after New Year's under the new targeted timetable.
2) Flyers NCAA Prospect Updates:
* In a Friday night game featuring two Flyers draftees, North Dakota prevailed over Denver, this time by a 4-3 score in overtime. Flyers 2019 second-round pick Bobby Brink earned his first two assists of the season, including a gorgeous saucer pass through traffic on an even strength goal that temporarily gave Denver a 2-1 lead in the opening minute of the third period. Earlier, he had a power play primary assist on the game's first goal.
For North Dakota, Flyers 2018 sixth-round pick Gavln Hain once again started on second-line left wing. He generated a pair of shots on goal in Friday's game. Denver plays St. Cloud State on Saturday, while North Dakota plays Western Michigan, featuring Flyers 2019 third-round pick Ronnie Attard, on Sunday. On Tuesday, North Dakota rematches with Denver. On Thursday, the Fighting Hawks take on Minnesota Duluth, featuring Flyers 2017 fifth-round pick Noah Cates.
* Flyers 2018 first-round pick Jay O'Brien will make his official debut for Boston University on Dec. 11 when the Terriers start a weekend home-and-home on Friday against UMass. O'Brien, who played in the BCHL last season while in the NCAA transfer protocol from Providence to BU, is a sophomore this season for NCAA-eligibility purposes.
3) Goalie Week: In the newest interview installment for Flyers Goalie week, Jason Myrtetus interviewed Michael Leighton for Flyers Daily. During the 39-minute podcast, future AHL Hall of Fame shoo-in Leighton discussed his long pro career, his two Flyers' stints, the highs and lows of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, why he became a goaltender as a youngster, and tips for young goalies to work on their games.
Yesterday, Jason and I did a tandem interview with Flyers alum goaltender and longtime hockey broadcaster Bobby Taylor. Chief has seen and done it all in his career on the ice, in the broadcast booth and in the TV studio spanning well over 50 years. His passion for and knowledge of the game is boundless. Our 30-plus minute interview spanned a wide array of topics, from Taylor's own career, the ways the goalie position has changed, the greatness of Bernie Parent, his memories of Pelle Lindbergh and a young Ron Hextall, working with Gene Hart, the state of the game today and much, much more. The interview will air on Flyers Broadcast Network next week.
This weekend on the Flyers official website, we will kick off the profile article portion of Goalie Week with a look at the legacy of the legendary Jacques Plante passing on his knowledge to Bernie Parent and, later, Parent passing on his own knowledge to Pelle Lindbergh. The cool "hook" to this story is that Plante was Parent's childhood idol and, later, his Toronto Maple Leafs teammate and Flyers goalie coach. Parent was Lindbergh's childhood idol and, later, his Flyers goalie coach, dear friend and confidant.
4) The Flyers, Flyers Alumni and United Heroes League teamed to provide hockey equipment to local children of U.S. service members impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the holiday season initiative, the Flyers and United Heroes League invited the families of seven youth hockey players to Pure Hockey in North Wales, PA to take part in a private hockey gear fitting. At no cost to their families, the players were outfitted head-to-toe with complete hockey gear including skates, helmet, gloves, pants, shoulder pads and shin pads. All of the youth hockey players at this private fitting also received a gift bag of Flyers swag.
Flyers Alumni Bob "the Hound" Kelly and Brad Marsh were on hand help the kids select properly fitting gear.
In total, the special program created by the Flyers and United Heroes League will provide 90 local youth hockey players with free head-to-toe equipment this holiday season.
The Flyers Alumni have done events with the kids of United Hero League in each of the last three years. Last year, the Flyers Alumni Association selected United Heroes League as one of the recipients of our 12 Days of Christmas Season giving program. The donation was made toward a fundraiser that former Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Kurtis Gabriel created on behalf of United Heroes League.
5) This will be discussed at length on Dec. 11, but it is worth noting now that we are a week away from one calendar year after Flyers left winger Oskar Lindblom was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma. There has not been much in the way of good news or cause to celebrate in 2020 but here we are, nearly one year later, and Lindblom is now cancer-free and getting himself ready for an NHL training camp three months after his heartwarming return to the Flyers' lineup during the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Islanders.
6) Today in Flyers History: Handzus' Overtime Penalty Shot Goal
One of the most dramatic finishes in the regular season history of the Philadelphia Flyers took place on December 5, 2002, when the team defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 on an overtime penalty shot goal by Michal Handzus at 4:23.
Referee Kevin Pollock awarded Handzus a penalty shot after being hooked on the arm during a partial breakaway by Rangers' defenseman Tom Poti after Handzus forced a turnover near the offensive blueline. Moving in a straight line on Rangers' goaltender Dan Blackburn, Handzus suddenly cut to his right, pulled the puck to the backhand and deftly flipped the puck over the goalie's pads.
Occurring several years before the NHL's adaptation of the shootout in 2005, Handzus' goal was the first in franchise history to directly conclude a game under penalty shot or similar conditions. In fact, he was only the second player in NHL history to accomplish the feat. The first was Nashville Predators forward David Legwand, who beat the Rangers on Dec. 23, 2000, at Madison Square Garden with an overtime penalty shot goal against Kirk McLean.
Mark Recchi (power play goal, assist) and Jeremy Roenick tallied in regulation for the Rangers. Booed every time he touched the puck throughout the game, New York Rangers center Eric Lindros scored the tying goal to erase Philadelphia's lead. Roman Cechmanek eventually earned a 24-save win, including two crucial saves in overtime.
7) Flyers December 5 highlights through the years:
1971: Doug Favell notched a 27-save shutout and Gary Dornhoefer had a goal and an assist as the Flyers blanked the California Golden Seals at the Spectrum, 3-0. Larry Keenan and Jim Johnson opened the scoring with first-period power play goals for Philadelphia.
1974: Bernie Parent and Tony Esposito took turns making spectacular saves before the Flyers prevailed in a hard-fought 3-2 game at the Spectrum. Jimmy Watson, Rick MacLeish and Reggie Leach scored for the Flyers, while Dave "the Hammer" Schultz had a memorable second-period fight with Chicago's Phil Russell.
1976: Rick MacLeish scored a hat trick and linemates Bobby Clarke (two goals, one assist) and Bill Barber (one goal, one assist) enjoyed multi-point games as the Fyers cruised to a 6-2 wins over the visiting Cleveland Barons. The game featured four fights, including bouts between MacLeish and Greg Smith and a pair of fights involving Mel Bridgman.
1981: The Flyers skated off with a 5-2 road win in a brawl-filled tilt with the Detroit Red Wings. Ken "the Rat" Linseman lit the fuse with a first period sucker punch on Detroit's Greg Woods and later went on the rack up a power play goal and two assists much to the opponent's dismay. Bill Barber (one goal, one assist) and Brian Propp (two assists) also had multi-point efforts, while T.J. Gorence, Bobby Clarke (shorthanded goal) and Bob Hoffmeyer also tallied for the Flyers. The game featured a line brawl at 17:35 of the second period and another multi-player tussle in the final seven seconds the game after John Barrett speared Philadelphia's Ron Flockhart, Over the course of the game, Paul Holmgren racked up 33 minutes worth of penalties -- a fighting major, two separate 10-minute misconducts at 3:19 and 15:24 of the second period, a roughing minor, a high sticking minor, a boarding minor and a first-period hooking minor -- and was still around to assist on a Linseman goal in the third period.
1997: After the Flyers underwent some recent line changes, including the temporary splitting of Eric Lindros and John LeClair, the changes paid dividends in a 4-4 tie with the New York Rangers. LeClair rolled to his 21st and 22nd goals of the season, with new linemates Chris Gratton and Dainius Zubrus chipping in one point apiece. The line of goal-scorer Rod Brind'Amour, along with Lindros and Trent Klatt also got on the board, whle Vaclav Prospal chipped in a power play goal. Unfortunately, the Flyers were unable to hold a 4-1 lead and ended up settling for a tie. Brian Leetch scored a pair for the Rangers.
1998: A pair of PPGs by Rod Brind'Amour powered the Flyers to a 2-1 home win against the Washington Capitals. Ron Hextall (22 saves) provided shutout goaltending for 50-plus minutes before Brian Bellows' power play goal cut Washington's deficit in half. The game also featured a first-period fight between the Caps' Craig Berube and Flyers' defenseman Luke Richardson.
2003: Former Coyotes goaltender Robert Esche outdueled his old goal and won a head-to-head matchup against two-stint Flyer Sean Burke (whom the Flyers reacquired later this season). Defenseman Jim Vandermeer and forwards Tony Amonte and John LeClair scored for Philly.
2005: In a trade the organization would later deeply regret but at the time was considered a fairly minor swap of struggling young players in need of a fresh start, the Flyers swapped Patrick Sharp to the Chicago Blackhawks for Matt Ellison. The deal also saw Eric Meloche head to Chicago while the Flyers obtained a 2006 third-round pick. The draft pick was subsequently traded to the Montreal Canadiens, who used it to select forward Ryan White (himself later a Flyer). Ellison dressed in seven games for the Flyers over parts of two seasons, primarily playing for the AHL's Philadelphia Phantoms during his time in the organization. Sharp went on a few years later to become an all-star caliber player in Chicago.
2010: Trailing 2-1 midway through the third period, the Flyers rallied for a pair of goals to secure a 3-2 regulation road win against the New York Islanders. Andreas Nodl (power play) tied the game before Danny Briere notched the game-winner with 5:44 remaining in the third period. Briere's linemates Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell assisted on the final goal. Matt Carle scored a first period goal to open the scoring. Sergei Bobrovsky (28 saves) earned the win.
2015: Two goals by Nick Foligno and a power play tally by ex-Flyers left wing Scott Hartnell built an insurmountable lead for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 4-1 road load for the Flyers. Ex-Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky turned back 30 of 31 shots, while Steve Mason made 30 saves against his former Columbus teammates.
2019: The host Flyers held the visiting Arizona Coyotes to just 18 shots for the game but suffered a 3-1 setback. Matt Niskanen tallied the lone Philadelphia goal, whil Phil Kessel had power play and even strength goals for the Coyotes. Brian Elliott took the loss in goal for the Flyers.
8) Happy 50th birthday wishes go out to Flyers Alum defenseman Kevin Haller, who was born on Dec. 5, 1970 in Trochu, Alberta. Haller was one of the swiftest-skating defensemen of his era.
Haller was originally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round (14th overall) of the 1989 NHL Draft. A member of the Montreal Canadiens' 1992-93 Stanley Cup winning team along with fellow future Flyers Eric Desjardins, John LeClair and Gilbert Dionne, the Flyers acquired Haller from the Habs in a 1994 offseason trade for Yves Racine in a one-for-one swap.
Although he did not offer as much offensive prowess as Racine, Haller proved to be a defensive upgrade. When the Flyers made the famed blockbuster trade of Mark Recchi to Montreal in February 1995, Flyers head coach Terry Murray reunited the newly acquired Desjardins with Haller.
For most of the remainder of Haller's stint with the Flyers, Desjardins was his partner on the Flyers' top defensive pairing. Speed was the duo's hallmark, along with Desjardins' two-way savvy and poise as well as Haller's sometimes chippy streak with his stick. At one point during the fall of 1995, the Desjardins and Haller duo went nearly a full month without being on the ice for an opposing even strength goal.
Haller, who had his share of injury issues during his time in Philadelphia, posted a plus-13 rating in 36 games (two goals, 10 points, 48 penalty minutes) during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign. That season, all NHL teams played 48 regular season games. Haller missed 12 games as a result of two separate groin pulls.
During the 1995 playoffs, Haller played arguably his best stretch of hockey as a Flyer. In 15 games, he notched four goals, eight points and a plus-seven rating. Perhaps the most famous moment of his Flyers career came in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals as Haller scored the game-winning goal on the first shift of overtime. The tally gave the Flyers a 4-3 win and a two games to none lead en route to sweeping the defending Stanley Cup champion Rangers.
In 1995-96, Haller posted five goals, 14 points, 92 penalty minutes and a plus-18 rating in 65 games. He missed 13 games that year with a chest muscle injury sustained in December and was sidelined in the playoffs by broken thumb suffered in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He returned for the final game of the playoffs, as top-seeded Philadelphia was eliminated in six games by the underdog Florida Panthers in the second round.
Haller's play dropped off early in the 1996-97 season after sustaining another groin pull. Struggling for multiple games upon his return, he was moved down in the defensive rotation by Murray and even sat out a mid-November game as a healthy scratch. He dressed in 27 games, posting five assists, 37 penalty minutes and an even plus-minus rating.
On December 15, 1996, the Flyers traded Haller to the Hartford Whalers as part of the trade that brought aging Hall of Fame offensive defenseman Paul Coffey to Philadelphia. The deal also saw Philadelphia trade their 1997 first-round draft pick and a 1997 seventh-round pick to the Whalers with a 1997 third-round pick (Kris Mallette) coming back from Hartford.
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