Look back at the Philadelphia Flyers history, and you'll find massive brawls, a team that nobody wanted to play in their early days, and an arena opponents still don't want to play in. Hey, the Original Six may have storied histories, but the Flyers have enough lore that one could write multiple books on it and still have accounts to talk about.
And one of those accounts could be a full-length work on what happened during the 1979-80 season, when the Flyers did something that hadn't been matched since: They went 35 games without losing. Yeah, you read that right: 35 games.
No, it wasn't a 35-game winning streak, since 10 of those contests ended in ties. And, if ties didn't exist, as is the case in today's game, then maybe I wouldn't be writing this. But you can play the 'what-if' game all you like; it ain't gonna matter.
You can revise, but can't retcon history books like so many distinguished fictional franchises do every time they create a new plot hole, and that's the beauty of sports. Anyway, let's talk about this 35-game undefeated streak.
The Philadelphia Flyers set some milestones during an unprecedented 35-game streak
Their official record during the streak stood at 25-0-10, with their longest winning streak clocking in at nine games between October 25th and November 15th. That streak officially ended two days later on November 17th, when the Flyers and Blues played to a stalemate in a 3-3 tie.
As for the undefeated streak itself, it lasted all the way until January 6th, when the Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-2. Then, on January 7th, the Minnesota North Stars got the best of them in a 7-1 beatdown.
But hey, all good things come to an end, and everyone's gonna have a bad game at some point. Still, during that 35-game run, the Flyers put up 155 goals, good for 4.4 per contest. They allowed just 98, or 2.8 per.
And they did all of this with one more penalty minute per game than their opponents, averaging 19.7 minutes to 18.7. Their opponents also outscored them 30 to 20 on the power play, even if the Flyers managed nine short-handed goals in that span.
So, overall, chances are that you won't see numbers like these happen again unless there's a team out there that finds a way to load half their lineup with stars. But even then, one bad game, or even one bad moment in a close contest, can end a streak like this.
That said, the Flyers may just have something unique to NHL history. Only time will tell, but I'm not anticipating anything.
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