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Flyers Anniversary Special: The Worst Loss We Ever Suffered

By Colin Newby

EDMONTON, ALBERTA - AUGUST 16: Patrick Kane #88 of the Chicago Blackhawks skates in warm-ups prior to the game against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Four of the Western Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on August 16, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
EDMONTON, ALBERTA - AUGUST 16: Patrick Kane #88 of the Chicago Blackhawks skates in warm-ups prior to the game against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Four of the Western Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on August 16, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images) /
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The Philadelphia Flyers, after a lost season in 2006-07 in which they finished dead last in the NHL in points, experienced more unfortunate luck during the ensuing offseason when the Chicago Blackhawks fortuitously leapt over them in the NHL Draft Lottery for the first overall selection in the upcoming draft.

The Blackhawks selected highly coveted top prospect Patrick Kane, an OHL star from Buffalo, NY. The Flyers selected winger James van Riemsdyk second.

Kane’s development accelerated quickly while JVR took some time to grow into the player he is today. However, nobody realized the true irony of Philadelphia’s misfortunes until a fluky goal broke the hearts of Flyers fans on June 9, 2010.

Kane’s heroics topple Flyers’ Cinderella hopes for the Stanley Cup

The 2009-10 Philadelphia Flyers had an ability to fight back from seemingly insurmountable odds. They climbed the standings during an imperfect playoff push that culminated in a shootout victory against the New York Rangers on the last day of the regular season in a virtual play-in game for the final bid in the Eastern Conference.

The Flyers came back from a 3-0 series deficit to defeat the Boston Bruins in a decisive Game 7 in which they ironically rallied from a 3-0 deficit. They rode a record-breaking performance from a journeyman goalie claimed off waivers mid-season, Michael Leighton, to defeat the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Final. They clawed their way back from a 2-0 series deficit against Kane and the Blackhawks to tie up the Stanley Cup Final.

They even tied the score in the final minutes of regulation time in Game 6, when a goal by winger Scott Hartnell assured Flyers fans that their team was at its best while staring in the face of elimination. It was just then that the magic ran out.

Just over four minutes into the overtime period in Game 6, Kane flipped a bouncing puck on Leighton. It was the type of shot that an NHL goalie would barely consider to be a save, and pretty much everyone in the (then) Wachovia Center assumed Leighton had it in his pads. He didn’t.

Kane stormed down the ice, throwing his gloves in the air in celebration. Looks of astonishment hung on the faces of the Flyers players and fans in the building that night while the Blackhawks carried the Stanley Cup on Philadelphia’s home ice, and June 9, 2010 became a day to live in infamy in Philadelphia Flyers history.

Flyers Franchise Woes

The series loss marked the sixth time the Flyers had been defeated in the final round since their last Stanley Cup victory in 1975. The Blackhawks won their first of three Stanley Cups in a six year span, continuing the trend of the previous five Flyers’ finals opponents who enjoyed prolonged success as NHL dynasties. Philadelphia, meanwhile, has struggled to recapture the type of chemistry needed in the NHL playoffs that existed during their Cinderella run in the spring of 2010.

You won’t see the puck that Kane squeaked by Leighton on display in any Blackhawks trophy cases. It was somehow lost in the pandemonium of the celebration. Despite controversially carrying game pucks off the ice in two other Chicago victories during the series, former Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger has denied any involvement in the mysterious disappearance of an artifact that represents the worst loss in Flyers history.

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