Philadelphia Flyers: The Best Teams That Didn't Win the Cup

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The Best Flyers Teams That Didn’t Win the Cup

I have to admit, it’s always been a pet peeve of mine when people throw out the number that the Philadelphia Flyers haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1975. The statement is factually true, but what bothers me is what Flyers naysayers take it to represent. They often use it as evidence that the Flyers have been failing for 40 years.

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The truth is that the Flyers have been successful by every measure other than Stanley Cup wins. How is that possible? For starters, starting in 1975-76, the so-called period of Flyers failure, the Flyers and Canadiens are tied for the best cumulative winning percentage at .568%. As for the playoffs, only Montreal and Detroit have won more playoff games over the same time period.

The problem for the Flyers has been getting over the hump from contender to champion. The Flyers have had some great teams, but something has always conspired against them to rob them off the ultimate prize. Most often, that thing has simply been the bad fortune to run into dynasties.

Here I will recount the stories of the Philadelphia Flyers 5 best teams who didn’t win the cup.

Next: Honorable Mentions

Honorable Mentions

There are two teams who didn’t make my top-5 Flyers teams, even though they made it all the way to the NHL finals.

The 1984-85 Flyers, aka “Keenan’s Kids,” turned a lot of heads around the league. Mark Howe, probably the best defensemen the Flyers have ever had, was the old man of the team at 29 years old.

Pretty much everyone else was between 19-25 years old, including 25 year old goalie Pelle Lindbergh, who would be awarded the Vezina for his season. On top of that, they were led by an NHL rookie coach in Mike Keenan.

It was a time of massive transition for the organization. The old guard of Clarke, Barber, MacLeish and Parent were gone, with Clarke moving up to the GM office.

None of those factors mattered, and the Flyers had a furious 113 point regular season, best in the NHL, and still stands as the 3rd most points any Flyers team has ever achieved.

The dream, however, was not meant to be for Keenan’s Kids. They were overmatched by Wayne Gretzky and the dynastic Oilers in the Stanley Cup finals, losing 4-1.

The other team worthy of an honorable mention is the 2009-10 Flyers. They were a bit of Jekyll and Hyde team, enduring a roller coaster season. They found their game when it mattered most, however, and made it all the way to game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals.

That season had been one of great expectations, as the Flyers added Chris Pronger in the offseason and the Hockey News made them their preseason cup pick. Things didn’t turn out that smoothly.

The Flyers looked good on paper, with a very good top-4 defense and a solid top-9 group of forwards. The Flyers, however, were plodding along and out of a playoff position when they fired coach John Stevens in early December, replacing him with Peter Laviolette.

Laviolette hardly waved a magic wand, and the team continued with a 28-24-5 record under Laviolette. It would take a shootout victory on the last game of the season to clinch a playoff spot, a rather miraculous result given that the Flyers had an awful shootout record.

The playoffs were no less a roller coaster, with Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton trading the starting job due to injuries. In the second round, the Flyers made a historic comeback against Boston, fighting back from a 3-0 deficit in the series, as well as in game 7, to win.

As often happens, many Flyers fans will look back at their eventual loss to the Blackhawks in the finals and blame the goaltending (and THAT goal, below), but it was hard to ask for much more from an 88-point regular season team against the now 3-time cup winning Blackhawks.

Next: #5

#5) 2003-04

Regular Season: 101 points, 1st in division, 7th in NHL
Playoffs: Beat NJ 4-1, Beat Toronto 4-2, Lost to TB 4-3
Coach: Ken Hitchcock
Leading Scorer: Mark Recchi
Goalie: Robert Esche

The big question entering the 2003-04 season was goaltending. The Flyers decided to part ways with talented but enigmatic goalie Roman Cechmanek in the offseason, leaving the job to unproven Robert Esche and veteran Jeff Hackett.

It was supposed to be a two-man effort, but that didn’t last when Hackett retired suddenly due to vertigo. Some would whisper that he couldn’t stand playing under the uber-demanding coach Ken Hitchcock.

Despite this uncertainty, the Flyers veteran roster was doing very well. While the Flyers weren’t pouring on

the goals, all the 30-something players such Recchi, LeClair, Amonte, Roenick and Primeau were winning games. The Flyers doubled down on veterans, trading away young Justin Williams and other pieces to bring in more veterans like Danny Markov, Mattias Timander, Sean Burke and Alexei Zhamnov.

At the end of the season the Flyers won their division, and faced a first round matchup with the stubborn Devils. The Flyers were able to dispatch the Devils in 5 games. After that, the Flyers played a vicious series against the Maple Leafs, winning it on one of the more memorable goals in Flyers history. Jeremy Roenick scored a pretty OT winner less than a minute after Darcy Tucker devastated Sami Kapanen with a monstrous hit. The fans in Toronto barely knew what him them.

The Flyers came into the conference finals riding solid goaltending from “Silent Bob” Esche, so nicknamed because of his vow of silence with the media during the playoffs, and a heroic performance from “Conn Smythe Keith” Primeau leading the team. On the other hand, the Lightning entered the same series having cruised past the 2 worst Eastern Conference teams in the playoffs, beating the Islanders and Canadiens in 5 and 4 games, respectively.

In an extremely hard-fought series, the Lightning beat the Flyers in game 7, 2-1. The Flyers simply ran out of gas. It would come out that several Flyers were playing hurt, and a double-digit number of players required offseason surgery. Maybe it was their age, but I’ll never able to shake the feeling that the heavily unbalanced schedule the NHL was using at the time cost the Flyers the Cup this season.

Maybe it was their age, but I’ll never able to shake the feeling that the heavily unbalanced schedule the NHL was using at the time cost the Flyers the Cup this season.

The Lightning were the higher seed, getting them home ice for game 7 and dramatically easier matchups in the first 2 rounds. The Lightning earned that higher seed by virtue of having 5 more regular season points, which can be accounted for and then some by having the good fortune of playing in the shockingly awful Southeast division.

Most Flyers fans don’t remember this team with any particular nostalgia, but for me, had the Lightning not played ⅓ of their games against 4 of the worst teams in the league, they wouldn’t have been the higher seed. With different seedings and matchups, I think that series would’ve looked a lot different, and the Flyers could very well have been 2004 Cup winners.

Next: #4

#4) 1996-97

Regular Season: 103 points, 2nd in division, 4th in NHL
Playoffs: Beat Pittsburgh 4-1, Beat Buffalo 4-1, Beat to NY Rangers 4-1, Lost to Detroit 4-0
Coach: Terry Murray
Leading Scorer: John LeClair
Goalie: Garth Snow/Ron Hextall

The Legion of Doom were at the height of their powers, but the 1996-97 Flyers had plenty to prove. The Flyers underwhelmed the previous postseason, having to work hard to beat the lightweight Lightning, and then being bounced rudely by Florida’s suffocating defense and goaltending in the second round. Opening their new building, then called the CoreStates Center, the Flyers need to reassert themselves.

With Eric Lindros missing the first 6 weeks of the season due to groin issues, the Flyers started the season very slowly. As Lindros got up to speed, the Flyers got very hot and went undefeated in the month of December. The Flyers found their stride behind one of the league’s best offenses, albeit they were a bit too top-heavy. The offense didn’t have a ton of depth after Lindros, LeClair and Brind’Amour. Still, when LeClair is scoring 50 goals and Lindros is racking up 79 points in only 52 games, it is enough.

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As if playing to the stereotype, the Flyers biggest issue going into the playoffs down the stretch was goaltending. Hextall appeared to be the #1 for the playoffs, but he struggled down the stretch. In the final game of the season with first place in the division on the line against the Devils, Hextall was miserable, allowing 4 goals on 11 shots. Garth Snow came in and the Flyers had a big come back win, leading to Snow getting the call for the playoffs.

In the playoffs, it didn’t matter much who was in the net. The Flyers bulldozed through the playoffs, beating the Penguins, Sabres, and Rangers in 5 games each. While these brief series may have lacked suspense, there was some comedic value when Sabres coach Ted Nolan accused Garth Snow of using illegal shoulder pads, and even talked about Snow using pieces of wood to make his shoulder pads bulkier. Snow, however, lost the #1 goalie job after giving up 5 goals in a game 4 loss to Buffalo, then allowing 5 goals on only 10 shots to the Rangers in game 2 of the conference finals.

As the finals approached, the Flyers were generally favored against the Red Wings. Everyone looked forward to the clash between Lindros (11 goals, 12 assists in 15 playoff games) and the Wings’ Vladimir Konstantinov. Instead, Scotty Bowman used the lightweight pair of Niklas Lidstrom and Larry Murphy against Lindros and LeClair, and things went south quickly for the Flyers. There was no doubt about it as the Wings swept the Flyers, winning their first of 3 Cups in 6 years. Lindros finished the series an ugly -5.

It was a devastating loss for the Flyers. Flyers fans could console themselves that Lindros was only 24 years old, so many more shots at the Cup would follow. A smooth road forward was quickly made much bumpier when coach Terry Murray infamously described the Flyers finals collapse as a “choking situation.”

Murray was fired in the offseason, which began a carousel of coaches over the next few seasons. Eric Lindros suffered his first concussion in 1998, and his Flyers career was never the same. Lastly, the era of the trap and the goalie was in full swing, and the Flyers had no one like Belfour, Roy, Hasek or Brodeur to backstop them. In hindsight, it was pretty sudden u-turn from when glory for Lindros and the Flyers seemed a question of when, not if.

Next: #3

#3) 1979-80

Regular Season: 116 points, 1st in NHL
Playoffs: Beat Edmonton 3-0, Beat NY Rangers 4-1, Beat to Minnesota 4-1, Lost to Islanders 4-2
Coach: Pat Quinn
Leading Scorer: Ken Linseman
Goalie: Pete Peeters

By the time the 1979 season rolled around, the Flyers had lost their mojo. The heyday of the Broad Street Bullies was rapidly vanishing in the rearview mirror. Fred Shero resigned after the 1978 season, and his replacement Bob McCammon lasted less than one season as coach. The 1979-80 season would be first time NHL coach Pat Quinn’s first full season.

The Flyers officially turned one page for the organization by retiring Bernie Parent’s number on opening night, then injected youth onto the ice. Ken “The Rat” Linseman would spend his first full season in the NHL, while Brian Propp made his debut. The Rat seemed a perfect fit for the Flyers, with tremendous quickness and a cantankerous attitude on the ice. Brian Propp was nearly the opposite, quiet but very skilled. They were equally effective; Linseman played on a line with Bill Barber and Paul Holmgren and led the team with 79 points, while Propp added 75 more points playing with Clarke and Leach.

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The 1979-80 season is best remembered for the Flyers unbeaten streak. The Flyers developed a knack for comeback wins and an offense that couldn’t be held down. In an “only in Philadelphia moment” the Flyers blew multiple leads and tied the Blackhawks. When the scoreboard announced the Flyers 24-game unbeaten streak with the tie, the second best in NHL history, some fans booed. Undaunted, the Flyers refused to lose.

A few weeks later the Flyers extended their streak to 29 games. It was a new NHL record, but the Flyers set their sights on the pro sports record of 33 games by the 1971-72 LA Lakers. The Flyers did it, extending their streak to 35 games, before crashing down in a 7-1 loss in Minnesota on January 7. It was the Flyers second loss of the season.

A week after the 35 game streak ended, the Flyers began another 11 game unbeaten streak. As impressive as it was, the real test would be the playoffs. The Flyers entered the playoffs on a less impressive 3-5-5 run, and would face Wayne Gretzky in the first round. It took overtime victories, but the Flyers swept the Oilers 3-0. With their feet back under them, the Flyers cruised past the Rangers and North Stars to face the Islanders in the finals.

In game 1 against the Islanders in Philadelphia, the Flyers lost on the first ever OT power play goal in playoff history. While the Flyers would protect their home ice from then on, they couldn’t find a way to win on the road. Again coming up short in overtime, the Islanders won game 6 and the series.

The win would launch the Islanders dynasty, and four consecutive Cups. It was the 2nd time in 5 years the Flyers were the victim of a team launching a dynasty.

Next: #2

#2) 1986-87

Regular Season: 100 points, 1st in division, 2nd in NHL
Playoffs: Beat NY Rangers 4-2, Beat NY Islanders, 4-3, Beat Montreal 4-2, Lost to Edmonton 4-3
Coach: Mike Keenan
Leading Scorer: Tim Kerr
Goalie: Ron Hextall

In 1984-85, the Flyers took the NHL by storm with a new look roster of youngsters. At the time they weren’t up to the challenge of the Gretzky and the Oilers, but more chances were inevitable for such a young team. The 1985-86 team was rocked by the sudden death of Pelle Lindbergh and were upset in the first round of the playoffs after a 110 point regular season, but the 1986-87 team would be a year older and wiser.

The biggest change for this season was when rookie goalie Ron Hextall won the starting job in training camp. Hextall made in his NHL debut against the Oilers, and after stopping Gretzky on a breakaway, Gretzky asked “who the hell are you?” Hextall replied “who the hell are you?” Keenan stuck with Hextall, and Bob Froese, the previous season’s starter, requested a trade. The Flyers received giant Kjell Samuelsson in return from the Rangers.

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Amongst the skaters, Tim Kerr and Mark Howe led the way. Tim Kerr scored 58 goals for his fourth consecutive 50 goal season, a Flyers record. Mark Howe, paired with Brad McCrimmon, carried the load for the defense corps and were a combined +102 (in the previous season, the pair were an astronomical combined +186). Ultimately Kerr finished second to Gretzky in goals, and Howe was the runner-up to Bourque for the Norris.

Come playoff time, it would be the second consecutive season where the Oilers were #1 and the Flyers were #2. The Flyers might have been #1 if so many players weren’t coming in and out of the lineup with injuries. The playoffs wouldn’t be easier.

Come playoff time, it would be the second consecutive season where the Oilers were #1 and the Flyers were #2

The Flyers had a first round matchup with the Rangers, who had a knack for knocking off the perpetually higher seeded Flyers. After some early jitters, the Flyers defeated the Rangers in 6, but were without captain Dave Poulin, Murray Craven and Ron Sutter for their second round matchup with the Islanders. The Flyers would take a 3-1 series lead, but required 7 games to finish off the Islanders.

By the time the Flyers reached the conference finals against the Canadiens, Kerr’s sore shoulder forced him out of the lineup. With Kerr out and Poulin limited, the Flyers still managed to beat the Canadiens in 6. The most memorable thing about the series was a pre-game brawl before game 6. Claude Lemieux had a pre-game ritual of shooting the last puck into the opposition net after everyone else had left the ice, but the Flyers had been playing cat-and-mouse games to disrupt this ritual.

Before game 6, backup goalie Chico Resch and Ed Hospodar waited until Lemieux left the ice, but Lemieux and Shayne Corson returned to the ice and put the puck in the Flyers’ net. Resch and Hospodar didn’t like that one bit, and chased Lemieux and started a fight. Word of a fight spread the locker room, and it created the absurd scene of half-dressed players coming out of the locker room to brawl.

With the Canadiens defeated, it was time for the main event of a finals series against the Oilers. When the Oilers took the first two games in Edmonton and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in game 3, the Flyers were surely having flashbacks to the 1985 sweep by the Oilers. This time the Flyers dramatically stormed back and won game 3. The Oilers bounced back to win game 4, in a game best remembered for Hextall’s mistaking Kent Nilsson’s leg for a piece of wood.

Despite the 3-1 series disadvantage, the Flyers had a little more magic left. The Flyers quickly fell behind 2-0 in the potential elimination game, but they came back to win 4-3. Back in Philadelphia for game 6, Edmonton again claimed a 2-0 lead. Late goals by Propp and little-used defensemen JJ Daigneault caused the Spectrum to erupt, and the Flyers won 3-2. It all came down to a game 7 in Edmonton.

Early on the fates appeared to be on the Flyers side. For the first time all series, the Flyers scored first. Edmonton, however, flipped the script and came back to claim a 3-1 win and their3rd Cup in the last 4 years. Flyers fans could hardly have asked for more from this team, despite coming up a game short.

Next: #1

#1) 1975-76

Regular Season: 118 points, 1st in division, 2nd in NHL
Playoffs: Beat Toronto 4-3, Beat Boston 4-1, Lost to Canadiens 4-0
Coach: Fred Shero
Leading Scorer: Bobby Clarke
Goalie: Bernie Parent

Entering the 1975-76 season, the Flyers were pretty much on top of the hockey world. They had won two consecutive Stanley Cups, had perhaps the league’s best player in Bobby Clarke (MVP 1973, 1975), a dominant goalie in Bernie Parent (Vezina and Conn Smythe 1974, 1975), several key supporting players like Reggie Leach, Bill Barber, and Rick MacLeish, and perhaps the best home ice advantage in hockey history. Their only apparent weakness was their “no-name” defense.

The season began with an ill-omen, as Parent complained of pain in his neck and elbow one week before the season started. Muscle-relaxants didn’t work, so he had surgery. In his absence, Wayne Stephenson took over, and it really didn’t matter who was in net. The Flyers dominated the opposition, and were 22-4-8 at Christmas.

The Flyers dominated the opposition, and were 22-4-8 at Christmas

The Flyers season also took an interesting detour with a game against the Soviet Union in January. The Soviets went 2-0-1 in their tour against New York, Boston and Montreal, and it was down to the reviled Flyers to finally win one for the NHL. The key point of this high-profile game came in the second period when Ed Van Impe elbowed Valeri Kharlamov (the very same victim of Clarke’s infamous slash in the 1972 Summit Series), and Kharlamov was slow to get up. Upset, the Soviets stormed off the ice.

The Soviets refused to return to the ice until Ed Snider told them they weren’t getting paid if they didn’t play. The Soviets did come back out, and it took all of 17 seconds for the Flyers to score. It was all downhill from there for the Flyers, who outshot the Soviets 49-13 and won the game easily, 4-1.

After the game with the Soviets, Parent returned to the lineup. He wasn’t 100%, but doctors said he wouldn’t hurt it more by playing, so he did. Parent, however, was not sharp. He struggled, and he gave up a few bad goals in a game against Detroit. Had the Flyers won that night it would’ve extended their unbeaten streak to 24 games, which would have been a new NHL record.

The “LCB” was having a historic season. The trio would end up scoring 141 goals that season, setting a new NHL record

Another bad break for the Flyers was Rick MacLeish tore up his knee, ending his season. The top line of Leach-Clarke-Barber would just have to do it all themselves. Fortunately, the “LCB” was having a historic season. The trio would end up scoring 141 goals that season, setting a new NHL record. Leach scored 61, still a Flyers record, while Barber added 50 himself.

The Flyers finished the season with 118 points, the franchise record, but with cause for concern. Parent did not look like his usual self, and they would have to play without their leading playoff scorer of both Cup runs, MacLeish. The Flyers went on to have a close call in the first round against Toronto. The Flyers won the first two games, but Dave Schultz was speared in game 3, and the Flyers lost their cool and conceded 16 power plays to the Leafs. Even worse, Flyers Don Saleski, Mel Bridgman and Joe Watson were charged by the Toronto attorney general in connection with a fan altercation ear the penalty box. The Flyers would survive the series, but only barely in 7 games.

The Flyers lost the first game against a Bobby Orr-less Bruins in the next round, after which Parent took himself out of the lineup. He knew he wasn’t performing the way the team needed. The Flyers turned back to Stephenson, and got back on track. The Flyers won the next 3, and closed the series out on the back of Reggie Leach’s 5 goal performance in game 5. (Leach was hung over for the game–he missed the morning skate and his teammates found him passed out at home and convinced Shero to let him play anyway).

Matched against the Canadiens in the Finals, the Flyers blew a 2-0 lead and lost game 1. Game 2 turned on one of the most famous checks in NHL history, as Larry Robinson hit Gary Dornhoefer so hard it dented the boards. The torch had been passed to the Canadiens, who would go on to sweep the series. It was would be the first of 4 consecutive Cups for them.

The Flyers of this season hit new highs with their regular season point total and for production by the LCB line. Leach was even better in the playoffs, scoring 19 goals in 16 games and becoming the only skater to win the Conn Smythe for the losing team. Like so many other Flyers teams on this list, they simply ran into a dynasty that were en route to winning several championships.

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