1987 Philadelphia Flyers' Road to the Finals

[industrialsun]

Game 7 in 2nd round series vs Islanders was last game for HoFer Mike Bossy.

[DaveTV2]

@industrialsun Looking at it from strictly a Flyers point of view, I never realized that. I have that game on tape. Bossy was a great player. Guess it goes without being said.

[Purpleoj27]

That was a great video, I liked it! Wasn't that the year Hextall charged Chellios?

[DaveTV2]

@Purpleoj27 It was actually two years later in 1989 that he attacked Chelios in game 6 of the semi-finals.

For the record I did not do anything on this video other than to string them together. These were from ESPN. I created the other series on my page highlighting just the 87 Finals. 7 Videos. 1 for each game.

[foppa123]

what's he mean when he said the Habs didn't have a chance to repeat since 1974??

[DaveTV2]

@foppa123 I think what he said was that they were the "first Stanley Cup champions not to have a chance to repeat since 1974". Meaning every team that had won the cup between 1974 and 1987 at least got back to the finals the following year giving themselves a "chance to repeat". Not just the Habs.

[journeythruthepast]

In layman's terms, the Habs of 86-87 were the first team not to even get a chance to be repeat champs since the Habs of '74. Everyone after that either repeated as cup champs or got a chance to do it again.

[DaveTV2]

@journeythruthepast Ummm, Yes. I am aware of that. Isn't that what I had said in my reply to "foppa123" when he asked the question?

[journeythruthepast]

@DaveTV2 I was just trying to see if I had it right. Guess I did, haha.

[industrialsun]

@DaveTV2 Tom Mees comment about Habs not having chance to repeat is either unclear or incorrect. 1979 Habs and 1985 Oilers were defending Champs that lost in 2nd round of playoffs following year. He may have been referring specifically to Montreal teams that won Cup since 1974. Maybe he meant to say that 1987 Habs were first defending Champ after 1974 to lose in Conference Final, later on so did Oilers in 1991, Avs in 1997 & 2002 (also with Roy). In any case, his comment is confusing.

[DaveTV2]

@industrialsun You know you are right. I always gave Mees the benefit of the doubt and assumed that he meant that every team since 74 that won at least got back to the finals and had a chance to repeat. I just looked it up and apparently I was wrong to assume that.

I think his statement is just flat out incorrect because even if he was speaking just in regards to Canadians teams, it would make no sense to go back as far as '74 because they were not in the finals in 74 or 75. WTF Meese?

[industrialsun]

@DaveTV2 This is what Mees was saying, Cup Winners from 1972 to 1988:

1972 Bruins

1973 Habs

1974 & 1975 Flyers

1976-1979 Habs

1980-1983 Isles

1984 & 1985 Oilers

1986 Habs

1987 & 1988 Oilers

He said 'team' meaning 'franchise'. Habs loss in 1987 Conf Final made Montreal first franchise since 1974 to only win a single Cup instead of consecutive Cups. I can't believe I did not spot that the first time. Mees was a great sportcaster so he never would have made a mistake about that. RIP Tom.

[DaveTV2]

@industrialsun Ahhh! Nice work. After seeing your initial message I went back to confirm my incorrect assumption and completely missed that pattern.

Yea, Mees was great which is why I did not double check it in the first place. His choice of words on that one sucked. His saying "not to have a CHANCE to repeat" sets the bar at merely making it back to the finals and giving the team a "chance" to repeat. He should have just said "first team not to repeat as champions since 1974". Much clearer.

[HISTORYBUFFPA]

RIP Tom Meese

Great hockey voice.

[pimpmasterdac]

Flyers were an awesome team in '87 its just too bad that they played so many playoff games, 27 games in 54 days is nuts, while the Oilers had a cakewalk to the finals

[grnmle]

Randy Wood

[ECWnWWF]

Was Patrick Roy the Canadiens' goaltender for that series? I would've loved to seen him drop the gloves on Hextall if he was.

[DaveTV2]

Roy was on the team but was not the starter yet. Hextall was locked in the locker room by Mike Keenan anyway. The Starting goalies were the only ones not on the ice for the brawl.

That said, Hextall would have killed Roy in a fight. Roy had his chance in '89 and all he do was wait till Hextall was restrained by the refs and only THEN skate out to between the faceoff circles and yell at him. If the roles were reversed imagine how fast Hextall would have been down there protecting his teammate.

[JasonVoorhees83]

Yeah Hexy would have killed Roy, but still Roy's a big guy, it would have been quite a fight but ofcourse who back then could take Hexy hehehe just awesome

[guspappas1]

@DaveTV2 Patrick Roy was the starting goalie for the majority of the season and playoffs, and Bryan Hayward was more than a capable backup...Philadelphia had some great teams in the 80's, three times in the finals but didn't win the cup...it was a better league then and not wattered down like today. By the way Hextall got punched out badly by little Felix Potvin of the Leafs, Hextall's bark was worse than his bite.

[DaveTV2]

@guspappas1 "MAJORITY of the season and playoffs"? Regular season: Roy 46GP vs Hayward 37GP. That is FAR from a "majority". Playoffs? Roy 6GP vs Hayward 13GP. Uhh? That is LESS than half my friend. Better check your facts again. Same goes for you assessment of the Potvin fight. "Punched out"? LOL. Fight was a draw at best. About his "bite"? Better ask Chris Chellios, Alain Chevrier, Rob Pearson, Kent Nillson, Craig Berube, Tomas Sandstrom & Rob Brown who RAN AWAY from him.

[och70]

Wow, nice dive by Rangers goalie Bob Froese @ :26 - pathetic!! LMAO Man up buttercup, you're a fuckin' hockey player!!!

[iLoveMEsomeME81]

Hey thats great. I'd love to see ANY Hextall stuff from his first 3 seasons. This is great... thanks again. Ha, im sure ill be posting more comments soon.

-Joe

[iLoveMEsomeME81]

Dave, this is awesome...thank you so much!

[DaveTV2]

No problem. Glad to share. There is MUCH more to come.

You know what sucks though is that I have SO much great stuff on tape but so many of them have either the beginning cut off where I was maybe a little slow to hit record. Or the end is cut off when the VCR would wind the tape back just a few seconds before recording. So some of them I am hesitant to post for that reason.

Guess I will just have to pick and choose what is still worth posting.

[OilersCanadasTeam]

The Flyers eliminated the Canadiens, defending champs, in round number 3, one of the great accomplishments in team history. They won all three games in Montreal too. Hey Dave, do you think the pre game brawl in game 6 had anything to do with the Flyers winning that game?

[DaveTV2]

Do I remember haring somewhere that that was the first time in history that anyone had won 3 games in a series in the forum?

Did the fight have something to do with it? Hard to say for sure but if I had to answer. I would say yes. Lemieux might have pissed them off enough to make them play with a bit more anger and intensity which may have given them an edge.