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.