Philadelphia Flyers Top 5 Teams That Never Won a Cup

Number 5 – 2003/2004

This is the last Flyers team that I thought had a legitimate chance to win a Stanley Cup. Even though the 2010 team went to the Finals, they had caught a lot of breaks on their way there with all of the top seeds in the east getting knocked out in the early rounds of the playoffs. Even though the Flyers were the seventh seed in the East, they had home ice advantage in the Conference Finals because they were playing the eighth seeded Montreal Canadians. And when they did reach the finals, they were a heavy underdog to the Chicago Blackhawks.

The 2004 team was a veteran laden team with the likes of Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte, Eric Desjardins, Sami Kapanen, Keith Primeau, John Leclair and Mark Recchi with some young players like Simon Gagne and Joni Pitkanen sprinkled in with them. The Flyers won the Atlantic Division under coach Ken Hitchcock that year and were primed to make a long playoff run. They easily handled the New Jersey Devils in five games in the first round of the playoffs.

In round two, they handled the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. The Maple Leafs series was a hard fought, bitter series with a lot of bad blood on both sides. The OT and series winner by Jeremy Roenick was a microcosm of the whole series. After receiving a cheap shot elbow to the head from Darcy Tucker, instead of just lying on the ice,  Sami Kapanen heroically stumbled his way to the Flyers bench to be replaced by Roenick. Soon after he stepped on the ice, Roenick found himself on a two on one and roofed a shot past the Toronto goalie for the series winner. it is considered one of the greatest moments in Flyers history.

in the third round, the Flyers were a slight underdog against the Tampa Bay Lighting. The highlight of the series for the Flyers came in Game 6 in Philadelphia. Down 3 games to 2 in the series and down 4-3 in Game 6  and facing elimination, Keith Primeau scored with less than a minute remaining in the game to tie it and then Simon Gagne scored in overtime to win it to force a Game 7. The Flyers fell short in Game 7, losing 2-1.

There were two main factors that contributed to the Flyers losing to the Lightening. The Flyers penalty killing fell way short in the series. When Tampa would go on the PP, it was almost a forgone conclusion that they would score on it. I still remember when the Flyers went a man down early in Game 7, I all but expected Tampa to score on it and sure enough they did on a goal by Rusty Fedotenko.

Another factor and a big reason for the Flyers struggling on the penalty kill was injuries. Top defensemen Eric Desjardins and Marcus Ragnarsson were both injured in the series and both men were key penalty killers for the Flyers. If the Flyers has somehow managed to get by Tampa, both were due back for the Stanley Cup finals. The Flyers would have played against the Calgary Flames in the Finals who they would have been a heavy favorite against. This is why the Game 7 loss against Tampa was so painful and it is why I put the 2004 team ahead of the 2010 team even though the 2010 advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Next: Number 4