Spectrum Memories: Playing Not to Lose Always Makes You Lose

Courtesy of ThePinkPuck.com

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Facing a second consecutive death struggle in their second consecutive playoff series against a team from the Sunshine State, the Philadelphia Flyers had a prime chance to wrest control of their best–of-seven set against the Florida Panthers during a Game 5 Sunday matinee at the Spectrum.

From the drop, despite drawing even with a controversial overtime win less than 72 hours earlier, the Panthers did everything they could to give their hosts an advantage.

And unlike Cup challenging and Cup winning teams before them in the building, the Flyers never really took it.

Just 147 seconds after the opening faceoff, Panthers defenseman Paul Laus injected his elbow firmly into the mush of Flyers winger Pat Falloon, drawing a major penalty. The Flyers, who became flustered with Florida’s series-long commitment to perfect positional hockey in all three zones and in all situations, could only muster 2 shots on Panthers goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck. 

It took two more calls 27 seconds apart in the first 6 minutes of the second period for the Orange and Black to punch through. The Big Guy.

Stranger still, they were unable to build on that slender advantage by playing hesitantly. 

Stu Barnes managed to slip a squeaker home early in the third period to dampen any thoughts of extending that slim 1-goal edge. Second-year defenseman Chris Therien had to think quickly and clear a Tom Fitzgerald chance off the goal line early in the first OT.

And when journeyman grinder Mike Hough finally ended things before the midway point of the fifth period for a 2-1 result, as it was portrayed on all the TV stations, it looked like the hosts, nestled in the safety of their lockers, were tired and filled with relief they didn’t have to carry the anvil on their backs any longer.

“We were scared to make a mistake instead of going at them in overtime,” Dale Hawerchuk said later to Jay Greenberg of the Daily News.

Hawerchuk, having just completed his 15th NHL season and long since eclipsed the 1,000-game mark, still had yet to advance past the second round in 14 tries with either the Jets, Sabres or Philadelphia.

After beginning the 1995 summer playoff session with a 5-0 home record, they finished up a dismal 3-6 through the next 3 rounds. The Panthers limited the Flyers to just 11 goals across 6 games, their lowest total for a best-of-seven series which lasted at least that long since the Canadiens held them to 8 scores in a 6-game Wales Conference final in 1989.

So May 12, 1996 officially stands as the last meaningful Flyers game contested in the Spectrum, even though captain Eric Lindros put on his Mark Messier mask in the postgame and half-assedly assured a road win and Game 7 on home ice. 

“We’re coming back home,” he said. “We’re going to win.”

(Narrator voice) They did not, in fact, win.

Two nights later in Miami, the Panthers closed out the series thanks to 4 separate episodes of rat droppings. Less than one calendar year after so much emotion fueled a surprise run to the Eastern finals, Philly GM Bob Clarke was mystified at his team’s maddening fluctuations.

“Keeping our emotional level up has been a constant battle right from the beginning (of the playoffs), Clarke was quoted in Full Spectrum. “How can you be so high one game and so low the next?”

Over their 29-year tenure in the brown sardine can, the Orange and Black finished 79-52 in the postseason with two Stanley Cup championships, six trips to the Finals and 11 entries into the semifinal round.

The Flyers moved into the new building across the parking lot and the NHL schedule makers crafted a cruel reunion between the teams, with the first regular-season home date for Terry Murray’s club was a rematch with Doug MacLean’s defending Eastern Conference champions.

Florida went ahead and won that one, too, by a 3-1 count. And then won the second meeting in Philly a little over 3 weeks later, 3-2. The Panthers challenged the Oilers’ record of 15 games from the start of a season without a loss, but the Flyers rose to the challenge and won, 3-2, on Nov. 2, ending Florida’s run at 8-0-4.

“I’ve been around this game too damn long and I’m getting sick of this,” goaltender Ron Hextall said after the Game 6 defeat. “I want to win the last game, not lose.”

Hextall lost the last game in ‘96, then the last game in ‘97 in Detroit. He also lost the last game he ever started, Apr. 5, 1999, a 5-1 home defeat to the New York Rangers where he gave up a center-ice goal to hot-shooting Chris Tamer.

Ed Snider boldly predicted the Flyers would win the Stanley Cup during the first year in the CoreStates Center, and they at least reached the final round, without having to plow through the Panthers or New Jersey Devils. To this day, these franchises have not enjoyed a postseason rematch.

To review the previous editions of Spectrum Memories which recalled the Flyers' final season in the Spectrum 30 years ago, hit the links below.

From October, a rousing start to a hopeful season in Montreal.

In November, the Russian Five couldn't overcome an entire team.

For December, pounding the Penguins and whistling while they work.

January's edition, snatching a tie from the jaws of victory.

From February, as true now as it was then...Claude Lemieux still sucks.

March finds the Flyers given new life with an old No. 1 pick.

April's regular-season Spectrum sendoff.

Eagles, Cowboys to renew hostilities on Thanksgiving

In advance of the release of the National Football League's master schedule for the 2026 season, anticipated to occur on Thursday night, certain matchups have already been leaked.

One of those made known to the public late Monday afternoon, is the Dallas Cowboys' opponent on Thanksgiving.

This year, it will be the defending NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles.

The Cowboys have hosted the late afternoon start on the 4th Thursday in November almost every year since 1966, excepting 1975 and 1977. 

Philadelphia has been chosen as their foe twice previously, in 1989 and 2014, winning both.

The Cowboys have won each of their last four Thanksgiving matchups. Last season, it was a 31-28 triumph over the three-time Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. The Las Vegas Raiders were the last club to top America's Team on America's holiday, a 36-33 overtime decision on Nov. 25, 2021.

Distaste between the two NFC East franchises, simmering for decades, reached a boiling point at Texas Stadium in Irving, TX on Nov. 23, 1989. Retroactively nicknamed "Bounty Bowl I" for Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan instructing several Cowboys players to be targeted, including former kicker Luis Zendejas, the Birds won, 27-0. That marked the first time Dallas was shutout on the holiday.

In that blowout victory, Eagles QB Randall Cunningham finished 21-of-33 for 234 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Cris Carter. The visitors' defense forced 5 Cowboys turnovers and held rookie QB Troy Aikman to 54 yards through the air on 7-of-21 completions. 

Flash forward to 25 years later, Nov. 27, 2014 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Embattled signal-caller Mark Sanchez -- who infamously was victimized by the "Butt Fumble" two years prior while playing for the New York Jets against the New England Patriots -- led the Birds to a rousing 33-10 victory. 

Sanchez ended the day 20-of-29 for 217 yards, one score through the air and another on a rush. LeSean McCoy rolled for 159 yards on 25 carries and another ground TD. Conversely, Dallas QB Tony Romo was picked off twice and sacked 4 times and the hosts committed three turnovers.

For the Eagles, this will mark the eighth time the bellwether franchise has been selected to play on Thanksgiving, having gone 6-1 previously. Their only defeat came in their last Thanksgiving matchup, in Detroit, a 45-14 walloping by the Lions in 2015. Between 1968 and 2014, they bested the Pittsburgh Pirates (1939, 1940), the Lions (1968), Cowboys and Cardinals (2008). 

The remainder of the 2026 schedule for all NFL teams is expected to be revealed this Thursday, May 14, at 8 pm on NFL Network.

Flyers' narrowed focus didn't help in season-ending setbacks

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Ahead of Game 4 on Saturday night, the first question Flyers winger Travis Konecny faced from assembled media was based on a quote the previous day from goaltender Dan Vladar, regarding how they can properly focus when facing elimination.

Vladar reportedly said, according to the writer who posed the question, “win the first five minutes, win the first period, win the second period” as a key to asserting control against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Here’s the problem as the Orange and Black stared into the abyss: they already *did* that. And still lost.

They owned the first five minutes of Game 2 in Raleigh on Monday night, scoring twice within 39 seconds. Even after giving up a power-play goal, they won the first period, headed to intermission with a 2-1 lead. They also won the second period, holding the hosts off the scoreboard. They still lost, 3-2 in overtime.

With the home crowd fully behind them on Thursday night back in Philadelphia, they owned the first five minutes. They owned the first 10 minutes. They even owned the first 15 minutes but “lost” the first period on a Jordan Staal power-play goal. They went on to lose the second period two goals to one and eventually fell by a 4-1 count. 

As for Konecny’s public face, these are apparently just blips on the radar, hiccups on the road to optimal execution.

“I think last game, there was a few breakdowns and obviously (the failure of) special teams,” He said offhandedly. “But, the way the game started, the 5-on-5 play, if we can replicate that start I think we’ll be in a good spot.”

I’m stuck on how any member of the Flyers, front-facing or otherwise, couldn’t fully understand they need to win in ALL aspects of the game – not just at even strength – to take not just the opening 20 minutes, but the whole of Game 4 and beyond. The officiating has been needlessly close-to-the-vest for both sides and was expected to continue this way, so intentionally trying to avoid the zebras’ notice really wasn’t on the table. 

The power play ended 1-for-18 against Carolina, 3-for-35 for the postseason as a whole. The penalty kill is less quantifiable, at 19-for-22 in this series and 35-for-41 overall, however, the failure is in the eye test as the kill has been mired by the near inability of Flyers checkers to match the Hurricanes’ speed and intensity. The chief reason the ‘Canes didn’t score more than 3 on the advantage is due to a high volume of errant or deflected passes.

Also in that pregame session, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet had little to offer about the precipice of season’s end except some tried-and-true cliches.

“The worst thing to think is you’re down 3-0, how do you come back,” Tocchet said. “That’s all negativity. We gotta think positively. I had a good talk with the young guys. They’re excited about playing this game. They should be."

He added another well-worn but hollow maxim: “Somebody told me you can’t climb Mount Everest without getting to the first camp base, right?” 

On Saturday, the Flyers started running up that hill from the puck drop, as they did 48 hours earlier. But the effort wasn’t sustained, again. They didn’t win the first five minutes. When Tyson Foerster recorded his first goal and point of the entire postseason less than 8 minutes in, it was the hosts’ third shot on ‘Canes goalie Frederik Andersen. 

They were ahead, 1-0, after the first period but did they really *win* it, despite an 8-5 shot edge and even territorial advantage? They definitely didn’t win the second period. Outscored 1-0. Outshot 15-4. Worse still, another glaring goose egg in the shots on goal column with a five-forward set during a 40-second 5-on-3 advantage before the midway point of regulation. 

“They had the puck a lot. It was a bend don’t break (situation),” an optimistic Tocchet said when asked if he was proud of the way his club responded with discipline from the Game 3 setback. “I was proud of the way we tried to keep them on the outside and get scoring on our chances.”

Courtesy of TSN.ca

The game was tied heading into the third period, but it might as well have been a Carolina lead, so confident was its pushback all series.

Even after a goalie interference call negated a potential Hurricanes go-ahead score early on, Logan Stankoven one-timed a Taylor Hall pass and the one-goal edge felt like two. Alex Bump broke his playoff cherry 99 seconds later to draw the Flyers even but, again, even a 2-2 tie felt like a Carolina lead. 

Going into overtime, the inevitable felt closer than ever.

Jackson Blake put an end to any questions of the Flyers’ ability to rise from the grave once more, 5 ½ minutes in. It’s exceedingly difficult to win any portion of a playoff game when you can’t possess the puck long enough for sustained attack, or win more than a 5-minute portion of any period, when you rarely score more than one goal at a time during an offensive burst, when outshot 40-17, battered in the battle of total shot attempts, 82-38. 

“This team’s played well for eight months,” said Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour about his 53-win squad. “They didn’t just get hot at the end or just start (in the playoffs). It’s been night in, night out. That’s the biggest takeaway for me.”

And about Konecny’s supposed confidence in their 5-on-5 play, how ‘bout this red flag: shot totals 37-15 in favor of the Hurricanes.

However, if you’re gonna lose, may as well make it memorable and historical. 

Saturday’s Game 4 loss was the Flyers’ first playoff series-and-season-ender decided at home and beyond regulation since 2002 when they absorbed a 5-game Eastern quarterfinal loss to Ottawa. They hadn’t suffered a season-ending loss in a sweep as the host since dropping the last of 3 straight defeats to the Washington Capitals in April, 1984.

It had been almost 50 years since an opponent finished off a 4-game sweep in Philadelphia – that honor falling to the Montreal Canadiens who won the first of 4 consecutive Cups here on May 16, 1976.

In the offseason, the focus for Tocchet and his coaching staff, as well as the Flyers’ front office, has to run both narrow and wide. The problems across the board exposed in defeat are obvious; the solutions yet to be determined. Part of the price of optimism of what may be in the coming years, is the cautiousness of believing they will be addressed to satisfaction. 

"It's a great experience, but it's something that you have to do year after year now," Flyers captain Sean Couturier said about the youth movement gaining momentum and experience. "I think we're back on the map and the expectations are we're gonna be in the playoffs every year, with the young group that we have."