1996–97 Philadelphia Flyers season

NHLTeamSeason
Season=1996–97
Team=Philadelphia Flyers
Conference=Eastern
ConferenceRank=3rd
Division=Atlantic
DivisionRank=2nd
Record=45–24–13
HomeRecord=23–12–6
RoadRecord=22–12–7
GoalsFor=274
GoalsAgainst=217
GeneralManager=Bob Clarke
Coach=Terry Murray
Captain=Eric Lindros
AltCaptain=Rod Brind'Amour
Eric Desjardins
Arena=CoreStates Center
Attendance=19,311 [FlyersHistory.net, [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/attend.cgi All Time Team Attendance] ]
GoalsLeader=John LeClair (50)
AssistsLeader=John LeClair (47)
Eric Lindros (47)
PointsLeader=John LeClair (97)
PIMLeader=Scott Daniels (237)
PlusMinusLeader=John LeClair (+44)
WinsLeader=Ron Hextall (31)
GAALeader=Garth Snow (2.52)
ConferenceWin=yesThe 1996–97 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers 30th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers reached the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals.

Though Eric Lindros missed 30 games in 1996–97, John LeClair still managed to score 50 goals for the second consecutive year. Despite finishing just one point shy of a third straight Atlantic Division title, the Flyers blitzed their way through the Eastern Conference playoffs. Backstopped by the goaltending tandem of Ron Hextall and Garth Snow, the Flyers dominated Pittsburgh, Buffalo and the Rangers all in five games apiece to win the Eastern Conference championship, and clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1986–87. However, their opponent, the Detroit Red Wings, swept the Flyers in four straight games. After Game 3, Terry Murray said that the team was in a "choking situation". It is said this remark cost Murray his job, as he was fired soon after.

Regular season

While Lindros rehabbed from a bothersome groin injury, the Flyers treaded water through the early part of the schedule. They dropped the first-ever home game at the new CoreStates Center to the Florida Panthers, 3–1, on October 5, and lost again to their new rivals three weeks later. However, they rebounded to end the Panthers' season-opening 8–0–4 run with a 3–2 victory in Miami on November 2.

With LeClair, Mikael Renberg, Dale Hawerchuk and Rod Brind'Amour expected to pick up the slack on offense, the club was inconsistent and went 12–10–1 prior to Lindros' return in a 2–0 loss in Boston on November 26. Another loss the next night to the Islanders dropped the team into fourth place, but the now-fully-healthy team caught fire, ripping off a 14–0–3 stretch from November 30 to January 7.

The run included an incredible stretch of four consecutive shutout wins in mid-December (Hartford, Boston, Islanders, St. Louis), a trade which netted high-scoring defenseman Paul Coffey and a thrilling come-from-behind 4–4 tie against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on January 4.

In a 9–5 win over Montreal on February 6, the Legion of Doom line set a franchise-record with 16 points and spoiled the NHL debut of Tomas Vokoun, and in a 5–5 tie on March 1 in Boston, third-line winger Trent Klatt recorded his first (and only) 20-goal season with a hat trick.

A 2–3–2 finish which saw Lindros sit out a one-game suspension and the Devils vault over the team for first place in the Atlantic was mitigated when LeClair scored his 50th goal of the season in a 5–4 win over New Jersey in the final regular-season game.

eason standings

Game log

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Playoffs

Game log

Awards and records

Awards

Transactions

The Flyers were involved in the following transactions before/during the 1996–97 season.

Trades

Farm teams

The Flyers were affiliated with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL and the Mobile Mysticks of the ECHL. [FlyersHistory.net, [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/otheraffiliates.cgi Non-AHL Affiliates] ] [FlyersHistory.net, [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/ml-season.cgi?1996-97 AHL Season Overview: 1996–97] ]

ee also

*1996–97 NHL season
*1997 Stanley Cup Finals

References

*General: [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/season.cgi?1996-97 1996–97 Flyers season] on FlyersHistory.net
*Regular season game log: [http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/games.cgi?1996-97 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