The boos raining down from the rafters of the Big Bank Building on South Broad Street during a 1-0 loss Thursday to Buffalo in the Flyers' playoff opener brought to mind some other initial postseason turkeys on home ice.
April 4, 1968...Blues 1, Flyers 0 - Hall-of-Fame goaltender Glenn Hall needed to make just 14 saves in Philadelphia's first-ever playoff contest. Later down 3-1 in the series, the Flyers rallied to force a Game 7 -- at home -- before losing.
April 4, 1973...North Stars 3, Flyers 0 - Cesare Maniago made 33 stops as Minnesota got the jump in the best-of-seven set. The franchise recovered to win the series in six, and even got a statue out of the effort.
April 10, 1979...Vancouver 3, Flyers 2 - Gary Bromley halted 28 shots as the Canucks shocked the Bullies in Game 1 of a best-of-three preliminary set. Pat Quinn's club snapped back to attention and won the next two.
April 8, 1987...Rangers 3, Flyers 0 - John Vanbiesbrouck tortured the Flyers again, making 26 stops to open the Patrick Division Semifinals, for the first time a best-of-seven enterprise. Ron Hextall rebounded to blank New York twice in a six-game triumph.
April 17, 2002...Flyers 1, Senators 0 (OT) - Held scoreless through regulation in an Eastern Quarterfinal opener, Ruslan Fedotenko managed to beat Patrick Lalime at 7:47 of overtime to win Game 1. The Flyers didn't score on Lalime again until Game 5.
April 9, 2003...Maple Leafs 5, Flyers 3...Alex Mogilny records a hat trick and the Leafs win despite 15 shots on goal. Philly loses defenseman Eric Desjardins for the playoffs with a broken foot, but wins the series in 7.
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