BOSTON, Mass – In 1974, the Philadelphia Flyers inserted a goaltender with a lackluster lifetime playoff record of 5-12 into their goal. By the time the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals had finished that goaltender—Bernie Parent—had turned in a remarkable 22-10 over the course of two playoff years and had two Stanley Cups to show for his efforts. Parent stumbled during the club’s 1976 playoff run as he went 4-4 with a 3.38 goals against average. The back-to-back Conn Smythe Trophy winner even found himself on the sidelines with Wayne Stephenson picking up all the starts when the Montreal Canadiens swept the Flyers in the Finals.
Philadelphia has had four more kicks at the Cup and they have fallen short each time. In 1980, they lost in six games to the New York Islanders, lost in five games to the Edmonton Oilers in 1985 and in seven games to the Oilers in 1987. The club was also swept in 1997 by the Detroit Red Wings.
In 1980, Pete Peeters played decently in five games in the Finals and lost three times with a 3.86 goals against average (Billy Smith who won the series had a GAA of 3.93). Phil Myre played the other game for the Flyers and was lit up for six goals.
Pelle Lindbergh (3.57 GAA) and Bob Froese (4.70 GAA) were the victims in the ’85 series against Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers while Ron Hextall (3.09 GAA) fell in 1987. Conversely Edmonton goaltender Grant Fuhr clearly outplayed the Flyers goaltenders while posting goals against averages of 2.60 and 2.39 respectively during those series.
The 1997 Finals were the summit of the Flyers disadvantage in goal.
While Detroit’s Mike Vernon was limiting the Flyers to 1.50 goals per game, both Flyers goaltenders gave up an average more than four goals per game. Hextall was in goal for three of the contests and gave up 4.04 goals per game. Garth Snow was inserted to change the momentum in Game 2 and was tagged for four goals and a 4.11 average. Those in attendance for the first game of the Finals in Philadelphia were deflated as they could see their club could skate with the Wings, but the goaltending was not close. No matter how well the Flyers skated up front they would eventually lose due to their goaltenders.
Solving the goaltending issue has not been for a lack of trying by Philadelphia general managers. Since the glory years, Flyers management has struggled to find a goaltender who could lead their team to another Stanley Cup. The Flyers always seemed to have a stacked club, yet when it came to goaltending the team never had the horse to ride to ultimate victory.
One-by-one goaltenders such as Hextall, Lindbergh, Froese, Peeters, John Vanbiesbrouk, Roman Cechmanek, Robert Esche, Tommy Soderstrom, and Antero Niittymaki have been held up as the men who would provide the heroics Parent once performed. Yet one-by-one they have fallen by the wayside.
This season the club turned to Ray Emery as their starter with Brian Boucher in reserve. Emery went down to injury after appearing in only 29 games. Fortunately for the Flyers, Michael Leighton became available on waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes. Leighton had a solid regular season, but suffered an injury down the stretch and was replaced by Boucher.
Both netminders have been solid in the postseason. After Game 1 of the Finals Leighton leads the league in goals against average while Boucher is second. Leighton also sits in first in save percentage while Boucher ranks fourth in the category.
Yet it seems like the bad old times in goal. Leighton was strafed for five goals in the first game and Boucher gave up the game-winning goal in relief.
The 2010 Chicago Blackhawks are by no means the 1985 Edmonton Oilers, but unless the Flyers can get better netminding the ‘Hawks might as well be.
Contact Tom.Schettino@prohockeynews.com
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