Philadelphia Flyers Top 5 Teams That Never Won a Cup

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Number 4 – 1985/86

Another team that failed to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals but, still one of the best teams the Flyers ever put on the ice. If it had not been for a tragedy that struck early in the season, it could have been their best team ever. The Flyers were coming off a year in 1984/85 where they finished with the best record in the NHL and advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals with the youngest team in the league. They eventually lost to the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers in five games but the future could not have been any brighter entering the 1985/86 season.

After a slow start, the Flyers got on a roll and won 10 straight games. They were first in every major NHL statistical category except for goals scored where they were second behind only the Edmonton Oilers. After their tenth straight win against the Boston Bruins,a game i attended, Ed Snider turned to his wife at the time Martha as he was walking out of the Spectrum and said, “this is the best Flyers team we have ever assembled, Including the Cup teams.” And then tragedy struck.

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In the early morning hours of November 10, Vezina Trophy wining goaltender Pelle Lindbergh crashed his Porsche in Sommerdale, NJ and the team was never the same. They still managed to win 53 games and finish with the second best record in the league but, they weren’t the same though. The death of Lindbergh took a lot out of the team and it showed in their first round playoff loss to the Rangers. The Flyers were sluggish and inconsistent. They won Game 4 of the best of five series in a blowout to tie the series at two game a piece only to return to the Spectrum to lose Game 5 with a very uninspired effort. Lindbergh’s replacement Bob Froese, had a terrible series and it was another reason the Flyers fell short against the Rangers.

Even though the 04 team advanced further in the playoffs, I still rank the 86 team ahead of them because before the death of Lindbergh, the Flyers were the most dominant team in the league, even more dominant than Edmonton. The Flyers were a more complete team than the Oilers were and in my opinion if not for the Lindbergh tragedy, they would have beaten even the Oilers if they had met them in the Finals. As good as the 04 team was, they weren’t even the favorite in their third round matchup against Tampa Bay. So coming in at Number four, the 1985/86 Flyers.

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