1984–85 Philadelphia Flyers season

The 1984–85 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers' 18th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers reached the Stanley Cup Finals but lost in five games to the Edmonton Oilers.

Off-season

Bob Clarke's first move as general manager was hiring Mike Keenan as head coach.^[2] Second-year player Dave Poulin was named team captain.^[3]

Regular season

On October 18 they tied a franchise record for most goals in one game, after a 13–2 rout of the Vancouver Canucks at the Spectrum. They recorded another 10-plus goal contest on March 10 against Pittsburgh, crushing the Penguins 11–4. In addition, the team snapped the Edmonton Oilers' then NHL record 12–0–3 unbeaten streak to start the year with a 7–5 win on November 11. Four days later, they paid tribute to the recently retired Bobby Clarke on Bobby Clarke Night with a 6–1 win over the Hartford Whalers.

Although the club got off to a hot 16–4–4 start, they faltered in December, losing four straight games and five of six prior to Christmas. With the team's slate of games thin throughout January, the Washington Capitals surged to the top of the Patrick Division although the Flyers kept winning consistently.

After trailing the division-leading Capitals by 11 points in early February, the Flyers clinched the division title on March 28 and finished 12 points ahead of Washington, reeling off an incredible 24–4–0 record after February 9. The game that kicked off the stretch, on February 9 at the Capital Centre, saw Tim Kerr score four goals but Brian Propp won it, 5-4, with two seconds remaining in regulation. The club set a franchise record with 11 straight wins from March 5–24.

One season before the President's Trophy was created to reward the NHL club with the most points, the Flyers finished the season with 113, four ahead of eventual Cup champion Edmonton. They also recorded their second-highest single-season goal total (tied with 1975–76, and two fewer than the previous season) and allowed the third-fewest goals behind Washington and Buffalo.

Twice during the season two players recorded hat tricks in the same game. Propp and Ilkka Sinisalo turned the trick in the Vancouver rout, while Poulin and Kerr teamed up for six goals in a wild 9–6 win over Washington on March 7.

Goaltender Pelle Lindbergh, who led the league with 40 wins, won the Vezina Trophy.

Playoffs

The Flyers rolled through the playoffs by sweeping the New York Rangers in three games, defeating the New York Islanders in five, and beating the Quebec Nordiques in six to return to the Stanley Cup Finals. Though they defeated the defending champion Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 by a score of 4–1 at home, Edmonton won the next four games and the series.

Schedule and results

Player statistics

Skaters

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left Wing; RW = Right Wing
• = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Flyers only.
• = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Flyers only.

				Regular season						Playoffs
No.	Player	Age	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
12	Tim Kerr	25	RW	74	54	44	98	29	57	12	10	4	14	7	13
26	Brian Propp	25	LW	76	43	54	97	46	43	19	8	10	18	2	6
20	Dave Poulin	26	C	73	30	44	74	43	59	11	3	5	8	−1	6
23	Ilkka Sinisalo	26	RW	70	36	37	73	32	16	19	6	1	7	−1	0
32	Murray Craven	20	LW	80	26	35	61	45	30	19	4	6	10	6	11
25	Peter Zezel	19	C	65	15	46	61	22	26	19	1	8	9	−5	28
2	Mark Howe	29	D	73	18	39	57	51	31	19	3	8	11	11	6
14	Ron Sutter	21	C	73	16	29	45	13	94	19	4	8	12	−1	28
10	Brad McCrimmon	25	D	66	8	35	43	52	81	11	2	1	3	5	15
18	Lindsay Carson	24	C	77	20	19	39	0	123	17	0	3	3	0	24
24	Derrick Smith	20	LW	77	17	22	39	28	31	19	2	5	7	3	16
22	Rick Tocchet	20	RW	75	14	25	39	6	181	19	3	4	7	−1	72
27	Thomas Eriksson	25	D	72	10	29	39	24	36	9	0	0	0	−1	6
3	Doug Crossman	24	D	80	4	33	37	31	65	19	4	6	10	−3	38
11, 36	Len Hachborn	23	C	40	5	17	22	16	23	4	0	3	3	0	0
8	Brad Marsh	26	D	77	2	18	20	42	91	19	0	6	6	1	65
9	Miroslav Dvorak	33	D	47	3	14	17	12	4	13	0	1	1	−1	4
19, 42	Todd Bergen	21	C	14	11	5	16	9	4	17	4	9	13	7	8
15	Rich Sutter	21	LW	56	6	10	16	0	89	11	3	0	3	−2	10
21	Dave Brown	22	RW	57	3	6	9	−3	165	11	0	0	0	−1	59
6	Tim Young	29	C	20	2	6	8	2	12	—	—	—	—	—	—
17	Ed Hospodar	25	D	50	3	4	7	7	130	18	1	1	2	4	69
29	Glen Cochrane	27	D	18	0	3	3	−4	100	—	—	—	—	—	—
19	Ray Allison	25	RW	11	1	1	2	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	2
34	Ross Fitzpatrick	24	C	5	1	0	1	−3	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
35	Bob Froese	26	G	17	0	1	1	N/A	2	4	0	0	0	N/A	2
34	Paul Guay	21	RW	2	0	1	1	2	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
31	Pelle Lindbergh	25	G	65	0	0	0	N/A	4	18	0	1	1	N/A	0
6, 28	Joe Paterson	24	LW	6	0	0	0	−1	31	17	3	4	7	−2	70
5	Steve Smith	21	D	2	0	0	0	2	7	—	—	—	—	—	—
44	Mike Stothers	22	D	1	0	0	0	−1	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
30, 33	Darren Jensen	24	G	1	0	0	0	N/A	0	—	—	—	—	—	—

Awards and records

Records

•    NHL record
•    Tied for NHL record

Individual

Franchise player records set during the 1984–85 season

Record	Type	Total	Player	Date(s)	Opponent	Ref
Goals scored	Period	3[lower-alpha 2]	Tim Kerr	10/25/1984	St. Louis Blues	[16]
Goals scored	Game	4[lower-alpha 3]	Tim Kerr	10/25/1984	St. Louis Blues	[17]
				1/17/1985	Detroit Red Wings
				2/9/1985	Washington Capitals
Shorthanded goals	Season	7[lower-alpha 4]	Brian Propp	—	—	[18]
Hat tricks	Season	5	Tim Kerr	—	—	[17]
Fastest three goals scored by one player, playoffs	Game	3:24	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Fastest four goals scored by one player, playoffs	Game	8:16	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Goals scored, playoffs	Period	4	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Powerplay goals scored, playoffs	Period	3	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Assists, playoffs	Period	3[lower-alpha 5]	Peter Zezel	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Points, playoffs	Period	4	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Powerplay goals scored, playoffs	Game	3	Tim Kerr	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Points by a rookie, playoffs	Game	4[lower-alpha 6]	Peter Zezel	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[19]
Assists, playoffs	Period	3[lower-alpha 5]	Tim Kerr	4/21/1985	New York Islanders	[19]
Powerplay goals scored by a defenseman, playoffs	Season	3[lower-alpha 7]	Doug Crossman	—	—	[20]

Team

Franchise team records set during the 1984–85 season

Record	Type	Total	Date(s)	Opponent	Refs
Goals scored	Game	13[lower-alpha 8]	10/18/1984	Vancouver Canucks	[21]
Shorthanded goals scored	Season	3[lower-alpha 9]	12/15/1984	Washington Capitals	[21]
			1/13/1985	Calgary Flames
Most wins	Season	53[lower-alpha 10]	—	—	[22]
Fewest road ties	Season	3[lower-alpha 11]	—	—	[23]
Goals scored	Period	5	4/13/1985	New York Rangers	[24]

Transactions

The Flyers were involved in the following transactions from May 20, 1984, the day after the deciding game of the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals, through May 30, 1985, the day of the deciding game of the 1985 Stanley Cup Finals.^[25]

Draft picks

Philadelphia's picks at the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, which was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, on June 9, 1984.^[43] The Flyers selection of Petr Rucka in the eleventh-round, 226th overall, was voided since Rucka had already been selected by the Calgary Flames in the tenth-round.^[44]

Players drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1984 and their NHL career regular season statistics

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team (league)	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	W	L	T	GAA	Notes
2	22	Greg Smyth	Defense	Canada	London Knights (OHL)	229	4	16	20	783	& —	& —	& —	& —	[lower-alpha 13]
2	27	Scott Mellanby	Right Wing	Canada	Henry Carr Secondary School (Toronto)	1431	364	476	840	2479	& —	& —	& —	& —	[lower-alpha 14]
2	37	Jeff Chychrun	Defense	Canada	Kingston Canadians (OHL)	262	3	22	25	744	& —	& —	& —	& —
3	43	Dave McLay	Forward	Canada	Kelowna Wings (WHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	[lower-alpha 13]
3	47	John Stevens	Defense	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHL)	53	0	10	10	48	& —	& —	& —	& —	[lower-alpha 15]
4	79	David Hanson	Center	United States	Grand Forks High School (N. Dakota)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
5	100	Brian Dobbin	Right Wing	Canada	London Knights (OHL)	63	7	8	15	61	& —	& —	& —	& —
6	121	John Dzikowski	Center	Canada	Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
7	142	Tom Allen	Defense	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
8	163	Luke Vitale	Forward	Canada	Henry Carr Secondary School (Toronto)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
9	184	Billy Powers	Forward	United States	Matignon High School (Mass.)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
10	204	Daryn Fersovich	Forward	Canada	St. Albert Saints (AJHL)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —
12	245	Juraj Bakos	Defense	Slovakia	HC Kosice (Czech)	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —	& —

Farm teams

The Flyers were affiliated with the Hershey Bears of the AHL^[45][46] and the Kalamazoo Wings of the IHL.^[47]

Notes

References

General

• hockeyDB.com: Roster and player statistics · Results and Schedule
• hockey-reference.com: Roster and Statistics · Schedule and Results
• Flyers History: Season Overview · Game Scores & Results · Playoff Results

Specific