Remember This Victory?

Where were you on Friday, May 14, 2010? I ask that question because it's clearly not May 14 right now, so the 15th anniversary of that date has already passed. The catch, however, is the picture to the left is from that night where the Philadelphia Flyers made a little hockey history against the Boston Bruins. Only two other teams had done what the Flyers did that night in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Flyers downed the Bruins by a 4-3 score in Game Seven to rally from a 3-0 series deficit to win 4-3 in seven games.

Tied 3-3 in the third period, Simon Gagne scored a power-play goal with 7:08 to play following a too-many-men penalty assessed to the Bruins, and the Flyers capped off a major comeback in the game with four unanswered goals to erase a 3-0 deficit in the game and in the series as they prevailed over the Bruins. To say that this comeback in the series by the seventh-seeded Flyers was historic might be an understatement when you consider Boston had won Game Three by a 4-1 score and looked totally in control of the series at that point.

The only player from the Flyers who is signed to an NHL team right now is James Van Riemsdyk. The only player from the Boston Bruins who is signed to an NHL team right now is Brad Marchand, and Blake Wheeler just announced his retirement to reduce that number to Marchand. It's amazing to think that all of Gagne, Chris Pronger, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere, Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timmonen, and Ray Emery were members of the Flyers that season while Marchand, Wheeler, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Mark Recchi, Marc Savard, Miroslav Satan, Tim Thomas, and Tuukka Rask all skated for the Bruins that season.

Here's the recap of Game Seven as written by Howard Ulman.

It isn't often you see history quite like what the Flyers pulled off on that Friday evening, but they did something only two other teams had done before them in erasing that three-game deficit and winning the series. They joined the the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders as the third team to accomplish the feat, and both of those wins happened long before I was part of this world.

It's hard to believe that historic win happened fifteen years ago, but maybe it was less prominent this season with both the Bruins and Flyers missing the playoffs. With neither fanbase and team broadcasters to remind us of that historic win by the Flyers, that piece of NHL history just kind of flew under the radar and past everyone this season. And it's still hard to believe that only two players from that series are still playing in the NHL today!

It should be noted that the Los Angeles Kings became the fourth team to rally from an 0-3 series deficit in 2014 when they beat the San Jose Sharks in seven games in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, so this generation of hockey fans has had a chance to witness this kind of epic comeback twice. However, no one can take the credit away from the Flyers who were the first team to turn the trick in 35 years following the Islanders' win in 1975.

Where were you on May 14, 2010? Hopefully, it wasn't TD Garden in Boston where you were cheering for the Bruins to advance!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!