1994–95 Philadelphia Flyers season

NHLTeamSeason
Season=1994–95
Team=Philadelphia Flyers
Conference=Eastern
ConferenceRank=2nd
Division=Atlantic
DivisionRank=1st
Record=28–16–4
HomeRecord=16–7–1
RoadRecord=12–9–3
GoalsFor=150
GoalsAgainst=132
GeneralManager=Bob Clarke
Coach= Terry Murray
Captain=Eric Lindros
AltCaptain=Rod Brind'Amour
Craig MacTavish
Arena=CoreStates Spectrum
Attendance=17,160 [FlyersHistory.net, [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/attend.cgi All Time Team Attendance] ]
GoalsLeader=Eric Lindros (29)
AssistsLeader=Eric Lindros (41)
PointsLeader=Eric Lindros (70)
PIMLeader=Shawn Antoski (61)
PlusMinusLeader=Eric Lindros (+27)
WinsLeader=Ron Hextall (17)
GAALeader=Dominic Roussel (2.34)
DivisionWin=yesThe 1994–95 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers 28th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers snapped their five-year playoff drought and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Bob Clarke returned again for 1994–95, this time as both President and GM, and immediately began putting his stamp on the team. New head coach Terry Murray replaced Kevin Dineen as team captain with Lindros prior to the start of training camp. In order to shore up the defense, Ron Hextall was re-acquired from the Islanders and high-scoring winger Recchi was traded to Montreal for John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne early in the abbreviated season. Lindros and LeClair teamed with Renberg to form the Legion of Doom line, a mix of scoring talent and physical intimidation. Lindros came in second to Jaromir Jagr by a tiebreaker in the race for the Art Ross Trophy, the NHL scoring championship, but made up for it by capturing the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's MVP. The playoff drought was finally over as the Flyers won their first division title in eight years and clinched the No.2 seed in the Eastern Conference. After dispatching Buffalo in five and sweeping the defending Stanley Cup champion Rangers, the Flyers lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the New Jersey Devils in six games.

Regular season

After a 3-6-1 start to the season, including a shutout loss to lowly Ottawa on February 6, Clarke dealt high-scoring winger Mark Recchi to the Montreal Canadiens for Eric Desjardins, Gilbert Dionne and John LeClair. In the following game, at home against Florida, the team lost 3-0, but Lindros and LeClair was placed on a line with sophomore forward Mikael Renberg to form the "Legion of Doom" line, a mix of scoring talent and physical intimidation. The line registered its first point on Saturday, February 11, 1995, in a game against the New Jersey Devils at the Meadowlands. The line made an immediate impact, as it helped the Flyers defeat the Devils 3–1.

Less than two weeks later, Lindros recorded a hat trick in what would be his final game in Quebec City against the Nordiques, but the Flyers wasted a three-goal lead into a 6-6 tie. Two nights later in Montreal, LeClair blitzed his former club in his return with a three-goal performance in a 7-0 thrashing which saw the Flyers score five times in the third period.

During the season, the Flyers had two long winning streaks: one was eight games from March 5-20, the other was nine games from April 2-22. The final contest in that streak, on April 22 at New Jersey, saw LeClair net the overtime winner which clinched the Atlantic Division.

The end of the season saw Lindros go down with an eye injury in the penultimate game against the New York Rangers, as a shot he took ricocheted off Rangers defenseman Jeff Beukeboom and struck him in the face.

Lindros, who scored 70 points, came in second to Jaromir Jagr by a tiebreaker in the race for the Art Ross Trophy, the NHL scoring championship, but was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's MVP.

eason standings

Game log

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Playoffs

Lindros missed the first three games of the Flyers' Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Buffalo Sabres. His presence wasn't needed as Karl Dykhuis netted the overtime winner in Game 1 and the club took a 2-0 series lead on the road. Following a narrow Game 3 defeat at The Aud, Lindros returned with a vengeance, and the reunited Legion led the club to a 4-2 win. In Game 5, Philly rolled to leads of 4-0 and 5-2 before closing with a 6-4 victory.

More overtime magic came in the semifinal series with the defending Stanley Cup champion Rangers, who upset the Nordiques in the first round. Game 1 at The Spectrum saw New York race out to a 3-1 lead, only to see the Flyers storm back to go up 4-3. A late goal from Pat Verbeek sent the game into an extra session, where Desjardins won it with a right-circle shot.

The next night, Brian Leetch recorded a hat trick but Kevin Haller struck with under 30 seconds played in OT off a feed from Renberg to give the Flyers a 4-3 win and 2-0 series edge. The Rangers brought more of a vicious edge to Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden but the Flyers didn't budge, capitalizing on multiple mistakes and turnovers. After 5-2 and 4-1 victories, the cinderella team advanced to the conference finals against the equally-surprising Devils.

Jersey controlled long stretches of the first two games, winning 4-1 in Game 1 and overcoming an early deficit with a four-goal blitz to take Game 2, 5-2. The Devils were on the verge of going up three games to none at the Meadowlands, but a Rod Brind'Amour floater in the third period and Lindros' wrister in overtime brought the Flyers back. Philly controlled Game 4 and coasted to a 4-2 win, but the Devils continued to use the neutral zone trap to control the Legion in Game 5. Although Dineen scored early in the third to tie the game, Claude Lemieux's 50-foot blast got by Hextall and gave New Jersey the shocking 3-2 win and left the Devils one win away from the Cup finals.

In Game 6, Jim Montgomery got the Flyers on the board early in the first period, but the Devils stormed back with four consecutive scores to ice the game. The 4-2 win on June 13 ended a great run but the sting of the loss was magnified when the Devils went on to upset the Detroit Red Wings and win the Cup.

Game log

Player stats

katers

"Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes"

Transactions

The Flyers were involved in the following transactions before/during the 1994–95 season.

Trades

Farm teams

The Flyers were affliated with the Hershey Bears of the AHL and the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL. [FlyersHistory.net, [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/otheraffiliates.cgi Non-AHL Affiliates] ] Mitch Lamoureux led the Bears with 85 points as Hershey finished 2nd in their division and lost in six games to the Cornwall Aces in the first round. [FlyersHistory.net, [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/ml-season.cgi?1994-95 AHL Season Overview: 1994–95] ] Johnstown finished 4th in their division and lost in the first round to the South Carolina Stingrays.

ee also

*1994–95 NHL season
*1995 Eastern Conference Finals (NHL)

References

*General: [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/season.cgi?1994-95 1994–95 Flyers season] on FlyersHistory.net
*Regular season game log: [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/games.cgi?1994-95 Philadelphia Flyers regular season game log] on FlyersHistory.net
*Playoffs game log: [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/poffs.cgi Philadelphia Flyers playoffs game log] on FlyersHistory.net