Spring is here and for many Flyers fans that used to mean playoff hockey. I’m flipping channels and I turn to the Jets vs Blues, game 7. The camera pans to the stands and I see a sea of white jerseys of fanatical Jets fans rooting and praying their team could have a miraculous comeback. The Jets were down a goal, but then tied it with 1.6 seconds remaining. The crowd went crazy as they forced overtime and then again when they scored in OT to win the series, advancing to the playoffs. It was great theatre, as playoff hockey usually is, but I found myself kind of sad. For the 5th year in a row the Wells Fargo center lights are dark. The Flyers are no longer the consistent contenders they used to be. The last time the Flyers had a legit chance for the cup was in 2010 where they made a run to the Stanley Cup finals after sneaking into the playoffs on the last day of the season. For the rest of the Girouix era the team tried to put pieces around him but they never became real contenders. The closest they got was in the Covid season of 2020 where they lost to the Islanders in game 7 of the 2nd round. They haven’t tasted the postseason since. General Manager Danny Briere came in a couple of years ago to fix the mess that former GM’s Chuck Fletcher and Ron Hextall left. The Flyers have been saddled with bad contracts and a lack of talent. In my opinion Briere has done a good job of tearing things down, acquiring assets and creating cap space. This coming summer will be his first real test at trying to move this team forward. While I’m cautiously optimistic about the future, I’d like to take a look at the past and the team that made me really start to love hockey, the Keenan era Flyers.
My first year of watching sports was in 1986. I was only 8 but my love of sports was just growing. This was an exciting time to be a Philadelphia sports fan, although I had no idea that it was pretty much the start of the “curse of William Penn.” For those not familiar, the city of Philadelphia didn’t win a championship for any of the four major sports from the time the Sixers won in 1983 to when the Phillies broke the spell in 2008. The city had an ordinance that no building could be taller than City Hall. Philadelphia built skyscrapers and didn’t win a championship until I turned 30 with the Phillies despite several close calls. The 1993 Phillies, 2001 Sixers, 2004 Eagles all deserved to be champions. They all showed a ton of heart and character, they were all loved by the city. In fact, even though the 2008 Phillies won the World series, my favorite Phillies team is the 1993 team. Looking back though, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a Philadelphia team show more heart and character then the 1986-87 Philadelphia Flyers.
The 86-87 Flyers certainly had a ton of heart, but let’s not short change the amount of talent that was on this team. The Flyers of the 80’s, particularly the Keenan era from seasons 84-85 through the 86-87 run were dominant. Over the course of the 3 seasons the Flyers had over 100 points in each season, reached the Stanley cup finals twice and had the second most points in that span to the Edmonton Oilers dynasty. Many hockey historians could argue that the Flyers of the 80’s could be regarded as one of the best teams to not win a Stanley Cup. The Flyers fell victim to two separate dynasties of the 80’s, the Islanders in 1980 and the Oilers in 1985 and 1987. The Flyers were a deep, well rounded team that excelled defensively, behind the net, and offensively. In ’86-’87 the Flyers finished second to Edmonton in team shooting percentage and finished first ahead of Montreal in team save percentage. The team had a mix of young, on the rise players and some solid veterans. Offensively the club was led by right winger Tim Kerr who scored 50 goals each season for four straight seasons despite a myriad of injuries. Kerr was acquired by the Flyers as an undrafted free agent in 1980. He was an immovable object in front of the net, and was a force on the power play. I can still envision his quick powerful wrist shot blowing by goalies. He scored 58 goals in the 86-87 season. Unfortunately Kerr would miss the Montreal and Edmonton series in the playoffs. As dominant as the Oilers were, I often wonder if Kerr wasn’t out if he’d have made the difference in the coin flip of a series. The Flyers had many contributors to the offense in 86-87. Young Center Peter Zezel was becoming a force on the team as he scored 33 goals. RW Rick Tocchet was also coming into his own, scoring 21 regular season goals. It was the playoffs where Tocchet really stepped his game up. He had 4 goals and 9 assists in 11 playoff games. He was huge in the big road win in game 5 at Edmonton. Tocchet would later blossom into one of the best power forwards in the NHL of that era. He would go on to have the most Gordie Howe hat tricks in NHL history with a total of 18. For those that aren’t familiar a Gordie Howe hat trick is a goal, assist, and a fight in the same game. He had 3 of them in the 86-87 season. Tocchet brought a fire to the club then, and as it turns out he was just named head coach of the Flyers in May 2025. Here’s hoping he can bring that same fire to the modern day team. We can’t mention the Flyers without discussing the tandem of captain Dave Poulin and Left winger Brian Propp. Poulin and Propp were a famous penalty killing unit. They were among the best, if not the best, tandem in the league. Even though the opposition had the main advantage, those two would strike a level of fear in the opponent. One bad pass and it was a breakaway the other way. Poulin was a great leader and had the heart of a lion. He was named captain in the 84-85 season at the age of 25. He replaced the retired Bobby Clarke as the leader of the team. Clarke would leave the ice but would become the GM in the 84 offseason. This was a great honor, especially for an undrafted player. He played in the 87 playoffs with broken ribs. He won the selke trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward for the 86-87 season but was no slouch offensively either. Poulin would have 25 goals, 45 assists for 70 points. Propp was the most consistent Flyer of the era. He was arguably the best left winger in the NHL in the decade of the 80’s. Propp was ranked first in 10 different categories for left wingers in the 80’s. These consisted of games played (750i) assists (465), plus/minus (+308), game winning goals (55), shots (2529), playoff goals (52), playoff points (112), playoff power play goals (18), playoff shots (267), and defensive point shares (16.0). He would go on to be inducted into the National Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999. Propp would score 31 regular season goals in 86-87 despite only playing in 53 games due to injuries. He was dominant in the postseason finishing second to the Great Wayne Gretsky in playoff scoring. He had 12 goals and 16 assists in the cup run. Plus the man had a great goal celebration called the Guffaw. If you were a kid in the late 80’s in Philly and played hockey or street hockey odds are that was your goal celebration. The club also got many contributions from players like LW Murray Craven, RW Scott Mellanby, LW Ilkka Sinisalo, and Center Pelle Eklund. Eklund was a great passer and had 41 assists in the regular season. He could also score as evidenced by his hat trick in Montreal in the Eastern conference finals. The Flyers may not beat the defending champion Canadians without Eklund’s huge contributions in games 3 and 4 in Montreal. The Flyers forwards didn’t have the household names that the Oilers had but they were a very deep and talented offensive club.
Defensively the Flyers were elite. They were led by the defensive tandem of Mark Howe and Brad McCrimmon. Howe, the son of hockey legend Gordie Howe, was a great player in his own right. Howe was great at the outlet pass and getting the puck out of the zone. Howe was very good on the offensive end as well and in 1986-87 he totaled 15 goals, 43 assists for 58 points in 69 games played. Howe was a great flyer and he joined Propp as the second Flyer of this era in the NHL Hall of Fame in 2011. Brad McCrimmon was his defense pairing and the two of them were a perfect combination. McCrimmon had some offensive plays but he was really good on the defensive end. McCrimmon could allow Howe to occasionally take the offensive chance by covering up defensively. Doug Crossman and Brad Marsh were also a solid combination. During the season the team acquired Kjell Samuelsson from the New York Rangers for Goalie Bob Froese. Samuelsson added a key element as he had a very long reach and was very solid in the defensive end.
Goaltending is what set the ’86-’87 Flyers team apart from the squad that was upset by the New York Rangers in the first round of the ’85-’86 postseason. The 1985-86 Flyers had a great regular season despite the tragic death of star netminder Pelle Lindbergh. At the start of the ’86-’87 season a young rookie by the name of Ron Hextall burst onto the scene in Philadelphia. Hextall was a long shot to make the club but his performance in the four exhibition games forced Mike Keenan to call him up. Hextall was put to the fire immediately, giving up a goal on the very first shot he faced in the opening game vs the Oilers. He would go on to shut the powerful Edmonton team down for the rest of the night leading the Flyers to a 2-1 opening night win at the spectrum. Fiery would be the right word to describe Hextall as well, as he was no stranger to taking out revenge against an opponent, as evidenced by his slashing penalty in game 4 of the finals. Hextall was off and running on one of the greatest rookie seasons for a goalie in NHL history. He would go on to play 66 games, posting a GAA of 3.00 and recorded 37 wins. He was awarded the Vezina Trophy for the best goalie. He would go on to finish second for the Calder trophy behind Luc Robitaille for best rookie. Hextall would later win the Conn Smythe award for most outstanding playoff performance despite not winning the cup. At the time, The Great One, Wayne Gretzky said Hextall was the best goalie he had faced.
Coaching was another strength of the ’86-’87 Flyers. I feel it’s a travesty that Mike Keenan isn’t in the NHL Hall of Fame. He had success in every stop, including breaking the 54 year Stanley cup drought for the New York Rangers in 1994. Keenan began coaching the Flyers in the 1984-85 season. He would win the Jack Adams trophy as the NHL coach of the year that season. He led the Flyers to the finals vs the Oilers where they’d lose that series 4 games to 1. His next season the Flyers would again win the Patrick Division despite the adversity and heartbreak of losing Pelle Lindbergh. That year may have been his best coaching job in the regular season. They were upset in the playoffs by the Rangers. In 86-87 it was Keenan’s leadership and knowing what buttons to push that helped guide this team to being a game away from upsetting one of the greatest dynasties in professional sports despite numerous injuries.
The Flyers sprinted out of the gate in the ’86-’87 season behind the strong play of rookie Ron Hextall. The team started 6-0 and never looked back, winning the Patrick Division with 100 points. This was a great experience as a young sports fan. I had the good fortune of not only watching a great team but also getting to listen to the great Gene Hart as announcer. Hart and Bobby Taylor were a great duo for watching games. I’ll also never forget the first game I got to see at the spectrum in January vs the Islanders. I was at the game when there was a bench clearing brawl and got to hear the spectrum crowd call Islanders defenseman Dennis Potvin a “wife beater”. I still smile when I remember that game. The old Patrick division rivalries were great to watch back then.
In the first round of the playoffs the Flyers started out with a rematch vs the New York Rangers. The Flyers would drop the first game on home ice but rallied to win the series 4 games to 2.
The second round the Flyers took on the New York Islanders. This Islanders team was still a little scary, but a few years removed from the early 80’s glory days. The Islanders came into the spectrum riding high off of an emotional quadruple OT win vs the Capitals in Washington overcoming a 3 games to 1 deficit in the series. The Flyers would get out to a 3-1 lead in the series before the Islanders would force a winner take all game 7 at the spectrum. Luckily the Flyers dominated game 7, 5-1 and moved on to the conference finals vs the defending champion Canadians.
In the Eastern conference Finals the Flyers would go on to beat the Canadians 4 games to 2. The teams split the first 2 in Philly before the Flyers went to Montreal and took games 3 and 4. The Flyers would lose game 5 at the Spectrum before closing the Canadians out in game 6 at the Montreal Forum. This was the first time the Canadians lost all 3 games at home in a playoff series. Game 6 had the memorable pre game fight where the Flyers and Canadians were brawling before the game. Flyers enforcer Dave Brown was without a jersey and was fighting Canadians tough guy Chris Nilan for about 8-10 minutes before the game. Many would consider this a black mark for the league but as a young boy just getting into hockey I thought it was great. The Canadians had a tradition of shooting the puck in the other team’s net after warmups. Ed Hospodar had enough of it and the fight was on. He was suspended for the rest of the playoffs but no other penalties were handed out. Those Flyers teams had a certain pride for wearing the crest and jersey. It’d be nice for this franchise to get back to that.
The Wales conference champion Flyers would play the Campbell conference champion Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in 3 seasons. On paper many thought this could be a mismatch, with the Flyers being really banged up with injuries. Star RW Tim Kerr was out and many others were playing through injuries. The Oilers were in the midst of their dynasty where they would win 5 cups in a 7 year period. This Oilers team was absolutely loaded with 7 hall of fame players and hall of fame coach and GM Glen Sather. The Oilers had the greatest scorer of all time in the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, but also arguably the greatest “leader” of all time in Mark Messier. The Oilers were so good offensively that their Defense and goaltending were often overlooked. Goalie Grant Fuhr is also in the Hall of Fame so if you got by the Oilers defense you still had to deal with him.
The series started out with the Oilers winning the first two in Edmonton. Game one the Oilers took it to the Flyers winning 4-2. The Flyers looked a little beat up and tired. Game 2 was an instant classic. The Oilers won a back and forth game 3-2 in OT behind Hall of Famer Jari Kurri’s goal.
The series shifted to Philadelphia for game 3. The Oilers got out to a 3-0 lead and the series looked over. The Flyers scored 5 unanswered goals and became the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in the finals. The Oilers dominated in game 4, winning 4-1. The series shifted back to Edmonton for game 5 and all looked lost for the Flyers. The Oilers had the parade route ready, the cup was in the house and the champagne ready to be popped. The Oilers jumped out to a 2-0 lead but the Flyers came storming back to win 4-3 behind Rick Tocchet’s 2 goal breakout performance.
The scene shifted to Philly again for game 6 and once again the cup was in the house. Once again the Flyers would have to come back from a 2-0 deficit. Down 2-1 in the 3rd star LW Brian Propp tied the game with 6.56 left in regulation. 1:24 seconds later the Flyers took the lead behind defenseman JJ Daigneault’s goal. The building exploded and many fans say that was the loudest the spectrum ever erupted. Hextall would make a few huge saves to save the 3-2 lead and improbably the Flyers had staved off elimination again to force a game 7 in Edmonton. Many in the Philadelphia area thought this was a team of destiny and the cup would come back to Philly.
Game 7 actually started with the Flyers taking the lead on a Murray Craven power play goal. Unfortunately that was the high point for Flyers fans in game 7. The Oilers carried play the rest of the game and outshot the Flyers in the 3rd period 12-2 setting a new franchise record for fewest shots allowed in a period. The never say die Rocky Like Flyers may have just ran out of gas at the end of the 26 game playoff marathon. The Oilers captured their 3rd cup in 4 years despite the Flyers heroics. I remember being really upset being a little kid of 8 years old at the time but looking back this team had nothing to hang their heads on.
The following season the flyers dipped a bit in the standings finishing 3rd in the Patrick division with 85 points and losing a hard fought game 7 in Washington vs the Capitals. Head coach Mike Keenan was let go shortly after the series and the “Keenan” era was officially over. The following season of 88-89 the Flyers did get hot in the playoffs and made the Eastern conference finals before losing in 6 games to the Canadians in new coach Paul Holmgren’s first season. After that run there was a stretch of missed playoffs all the way to the 94-95 strike shortened season when the “Lindros” era was fully underway.
As a young kid and a new sports fan, I’ll never forget the impact that the ’86-’87 team left with me. I’ve grown up a die hard 4-4 Philadelphia sports fan. I love hockey, but admittedly of the four majors it’s probably my 4th. That said, this Flyers team with the heart and resilience that they showed left a lasting impression on what I feel a “team” is all about. This Flyers squad is my favorite team that I’ve watched in all of my years of watching Philly sports. These guys laid it all on the line and I’ll never forget the memories and lessons that were shown. The Flyers were the embodiment of commitment to a common goal despite the obstacles or the opponent. This team could’ve easily punched out in game 3 down 3-0, game 5 down 2-0 or game 6 down 2-0. They never gave up. I’m sure it’s cliché. especially being from Philadelphia to bring up the “Rocky” comparison but these guys were that. If ever a group of guys deserved a championship it was this group, this year. It’s really sad to see the arena dark, spring after spring. I truly hope that better days are ahead and there’s another young boy out there that’s just getting into sports that can watch a new version of a winning Flyers run. I know this, they’ll have a very hard time duplicating the heart of the champion that the 1986-87 Philadelphia Flyers had.
Here’s to better days ahead!
Let’s go Flyers!!
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