Throwback Thursday: Top 10 Moments of the 2010s

The 2010s edition of the Flyers' Throwback Thursday series will take place on Feb. 9 when the Flyers host the Edmonton Oilers at the Wells Fargo Center. Following a chronological compilation -- not a ranking by order or importance -- of the Flyers' top 10 moments from the decade.

1. Final-day shootout propels Flyers into 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs (April 10, 2010)
It wasn't supposed to be that way: After acquiring superstar veteran defenseman Chris Pronger in the summer of 2009, the Flyers entered the 2009-10 season as The Hockey News' pick to win the Stanley Cup. Other pundits didn't go quite that far in their predictions but the Flyers were universally ranked among the top contenders in the Eastern Conference.
The 2009-10 season turned out to be a roller coaster ride for the Flyers. Things started out very well. Then the team hit a severe scoring drought and a wave of injuries. Head coach John Stevens was replaced by former Stanley Cup winning coach Peter Laviolette. The team stabilized after Christmas. Then the club hit another snag in the latter portion of the season. Ultimately, the Flyers' fate came down to the final day of the regular season: Defeat the visiting New York Rangers
and Philly would eke out a playoff spot. Lose and the Flyers would miss the playoffs.
After 65 minutes, the game was tied at 1-1. The fate of the season rested on the outcome of a shootout. Goals by Claude Giroux and Danny Briere plus two vital saves by Brian Boucher sealed the win for the Flyers. Now that they had made the playoffs, the Flyers would begin an exhilarating (but ultimately heartbreaking) run to a six-game Stanley Cup Final decided in overtime.
2. Flyers Put Away Devils in Game 5 of ECQF (April 22, 2010)
During the 2009-10 regular season, the New Jersey Devils racked up 103 points. The Atlantic Division winners finished 15 points ahead of the third-place Flyers in the standings. Entering the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, the Devils were nearly a unanimous pick among the pundits to defeat Philadelphia, with some predictors forecasting the Devils to win in five games or even via a sweep.
The Devils, after all, had long been among the Flyers' biggest playoff tormentors. New Jersey had beaten "better" Flyers teams in the 1996 and 2000 Eastern Conference Finals before Philly got a measure of revenge in the 2004 first round series between the clubs.
Consensus had it that Martin Brodeur (45-25-6, 2.24 GAA, .919 save percentage, nine shutouts) and the Devils would have a relatively easy time dispatching a Philly team that needed a shootout win on the final day to get into the playoffs. The consensus was wrong.
The teams split the first two games in New Jersey before Philly won the next two on home ice. An overtime goal by Daniel Carcillo in Game 3 proved to be the tipping point of the series. Two goals by Jeff Carter and one apiece from Carcillo and Danny Briere sakes the Flyers to a 4-1 victory in Game 4 to propel the Flyers to a three games to one lead in the series.
The scene shifted back to New Jersey for Game 5. A first period power play goal by Briere and Claude Giroux's third and fourth goals of the series (one at even strength and one on the power play) established a 3-0 lead. Second-year NHLer Giroux, who also assisted on the Briere goal for a three-point game had begun to announce his arrival as one of the NHL's best young players (although a national columnist who was clearly unaware of the young player's pedigree described Giroux later in the 2010 playoffs as a "no-name plugger").
In goal, Brian Boucher turned away all 28 shots fired on his net, recording a shutout as the Flyers closed out the series.
3. The ultimate comeback is completed (May 14, 2010)
The Flyers lost each of the first three games against the Boston Bruins in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinal. That left Philly with no margin for error the rest of the series.
Gamely, the Flyers battled back for a 5-4 overtime win on home ice in Game 4, punctuated by a hobbling Simon Gagne tallying the deciding goal at 14:40 of OT after Philly gave up a game-tier to Boston's Mark Recchi with 32 seconds remaining in regulation. In Game 5 in Boston, Brian Boucher (injured early in the second period) and Michael Leighton combined for a 4-0 shutout. Gagne scored twice and Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell (1st goal of the playoffs before heating up in the latter half of the postseason) tallied once apiece for the Flyers.
The scene shifted back to Philadelphia for Game 6. Mike Richards and Briere combined to build a 2-0 lead.Leighton (30 saves) carried a shutout into the final minute of the third period. Milan Lucic cut the deficit to 2-1 but the Flyers held on for a one-goal victory.
Game 7 in Boston took place on May 14. The Flyers fell into a 3-0 deficit by the 14:10 mark of the first period. At 17:12 of the opening stanza, however, rookie winger James van Riemsdyk gave the Flyers a spark of momentum with his first career playoff goal. Giroux earned the lone assist.
The Flyers continued to chip away. In the second period, the line of Scott Hartnell, Briere and Leino combined to help the Flyers draw even at 3-3. Hartnell tallied at 2:49 to cut the deficit to 3-2 and Briere knotted the score at the 8:39 mark.
In the third period, the Bruins paid dearly for a too-many-men-on-the-ice infraction.. Richards fired a puck at the net and Gagne potted the rebound at 12:52. From there, the Flyers proceeded to slam the door. Winning goalie Leighton finished with 22 saves on 25 shots. One of the greatest comebacks in NHL history -- recovery from a three games to zero series deficit and a 3-0 scoreboard deficit in Game 7 -- was complete.
4. Richards, Leighton Secure Trip to 2010 Cup Final (May 24, 2010)
By comparison, the Flyers five-game victory over the Montreal Canadiens in the 2010 Eastern Conference Final seemed almost anticlimactic after what happened in the second round against Boston.
Leighton notched three shutouts in the series (Game 1 in a 6-0 blowout, Game 2 in a 3-0 win, and Game 4 in another 3-0 victory). Leading three games to one, the Flyers did not waste their chance to end the series in Game 5 on home ice.
With the Flyers trailing Montreal, 1-0, in the first period of Game 5 in their Eastern Conference Final series, Philadelphia found itself on a penalty kill.
Team captain Mike Richards was not about to fall into a defensive shell. First, he delivered a steamroller of a check at the defensive blueline to start a 3-on-2 counterattack. Receiving the puck from Claude Giroux, Richards then found trailer Braydon Coburn for a prime shorthanded scoring chance. Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak made the save.
Richards wasn't done, however. On a Flyers clear down the ice, Halak gambled by sliding way out of the net as Richards barreled toward him. They had a glancing collision, but Montreal's Roman Hamrik crashed heavily into Halak, who lost his stick as the puck slid toward the net. Richards scrambled to his feet and deposited a backhander into the empty net to tie the game at 1-1.
A trip to the Stanley Cup Final felt inevitable. It was. The Flyers went on to win the game, 4-2, and the series, four games to one.
5. Flyers Knot Cup Finals (June 4, 2010)
Dating back to the 1987 Stanley Cup Final, which went seven games and saw the Flyers hold a brief 1-0 lead in the deciding game, Philly has never been closer to the Cup in the last 35-plus years than they were when they tied the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals at two games apiece.
The Chicago Blackhawks won the first two games on home ice, 6-5 and 2-1. Now the Flyers were in a desperate, but familiar situation. In Game 3, Briere's 11th goal of the playoffs got the crowd rocking early, and linemates Hartnell and Ville Leino also scored as another seesaw game went to overtime, tied at 3-3. Capping his emergence as one of the NHL's fastest-rising young stars, Giroux potted an OT goal at 5:59 to narrow the series gap to two games to one.
In Game 4, the host Flyers roared out to a 3-1 lead by the first intermission on goals by Richards, Matt Carle and Giroux. Philly went on to win, 5-3, with Jeff Carter sealing the game with a late empty netter.
The Stanley Cup Finals were now tied at two games apiece and were very much up for grabs. Unfortunately for the Flyers, the Blackhawks went on to win Game 5 on home ice and then captured the Stanley Cup in overtime of Game 6 in Philadelphia.
6. Briere Buries Buffalo (April 26, 2011)
Over the years, Flyers fans came to expect playoff scoring heroics from Danny Briere, and he rarely disappointed.
In the 2011 playoffs, the Flyers pulled off a comeback from a three games to two deficit. First came an overtime win in Buffalo in Game 6 (Leino scored the game-winner in OT, after Briere scored twice in regulation).
In Game 7, the ice was tilted in the Flyers favor but they managed only a skinny 1-0 lead through 24 plus minutes. Finally, Briere potted a power-play goal from close range to extend the lead to two goals. He punctuated it by patting former Sabres teammate Ryan Miller on the head. The Flyers went on to build a 4-0 lead through two-plus periods and won the clinching game, 5-2.
7. Giroux's Most Famous Shift (April 22, 2012)
Entering the 2012 playoffs, the Pittsburgh Penguins were virtually a unanimous pick among hockey media pundits to win the Stanley Cup. They were a juggernaut during the regular season and now had a healthy Sidney Crosby (after battling concussion-related issues for a couple of years) back atop their stacked lineup.
The Flyers, who had a war of a regular season series with the Penguins, were not about to go down meekly to the team that'd become their No. 1 rival.
Philly won each of the first three games of the series, which rapidly became one of the chippiest playoff rounds the NHL has seen in the last 25 years. The Penguins pushed back to win Games 4 and 5.
The series moved back to Philadelphia for Game 6. Not wanting to see the series shift to Pittsburgh for a Game 7, the Flyers players were challenged by head coach Peter Laviolette for each and every player to bring his A game for just that afternoon.
No one was more fired up on the Flyers side than Giroux. Before the game's opening faceoff, he told Briere to watch his first shift of the game.
Briere told him," Just don't take a bad penalty, G."
Giroux didn't. Instead, he flattened Crosby with a big hit and capped off the opening shift by scoring the game's first goal. The Wells Fargo Center crowd, already in a frenzy, went bonkers.
The Flyers went on to win, 5-1, completing the series upset. For the six-game series, Giroux racked up five goals, eight assists and 14 points.
8. Simmonds Scores Two for Mr. Snider (April 9, 2016)
Entering the final home game of the 2015-16 regular season, the Flyers needed a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins to earn a playoff spot. Meanwhile, in California, the health of beloved 83-year-old Flyers co-founder, longtime majority owner and chairman Ed Snider had taken a turn for the worse.
To a man, the Flyers wanted to win the game in Snider's honor. None was more emotional than power forward Wayne Simmonds; one of the primary leaders in the locker room and someone who unabashedly wore his heart on his sleeve. On national TV, Simmonds dedicated the game to Snider.
Before the opening faceoff, Lauren Hart performed "God Bless America". She sang directly to Mr. Snider via FaceTime. After trailing early in the game, the Flyers went on to win, 3-1. Unsurprisingly, it was none other than Wayne Simmonds who scored the tying and winning goals.
"I said it earlier, and especially when we took that picture and Mr. Snider wasn't in it," Simmonds said. "When you look in the hallway and it's the first time he's not in a picture. It sucks to see it happen. We were playing to make the playoffs for him."
9. Flyers Alumni 50th Anniversary Game (January 14, 2017)
Held on Dec. 31, 2011, the Winter Classic Alumni Game at Citizens Bank Park between the Flyers Alumni and New York Rangers Alumni was a spectacular event perhaps remembered best for Bernie Parent starting in goal for the Flyers Alumni and for the reconciliation between Eric Lindros and the Flyers taking the next step as No. 88 donned a Flyers uniform for the first time since Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals.
However, for sheer emotion and generational importance, nothing could top the 50th Anniversary game between the Flyers Alumni and Pittsburgh Penguins Alumni at the Wells Fargo Center five-plus years later.
For one thing, the game was dedicated to the memory of Ed Snider. For another, there were 55 Flyers Alumni on hand for the game, either in playing or ceremonial capacities and spanning every generation in team history (including most of the surviving members of the inaugural 1967-68 team).
Additionally, what were arguably the three top lines in Flyers franchise history -- the LCB line of Reggie Leach, Bob Clarke and Bill Barber, the trio of Brian Propp, Dave Poulin and Tim Kerr, and the Legion of Doom line of John LeClair, Lindros and Mikael Renberg -- were all part of the Flyers lineup for this game. Other Flyers notables to play included Mark Howe, Eric Desjardins, Danny Briere, Kimmo Timonen, Bob "the Hound" Kelly, Brad Marsh, Jimmy and Joe Watson, Dave Brown and more.
Last but not least, the 50th Anniversary Game marked the last time that Clarke and Barber would step onto the ice after donning the only uniform crest that either Hockey Hall of Famer wore during their playing days. The 50th Anniversary Game was the final Alumni game for both legends, at least in a playing capacity.
10. Giroux Hat Trick Clinches Playoff Spot (April 7, 2018)
There was no formal "Player of the Decade" award issued by the Flyers for the 2010s. However, if there was such an award, Claude Giroux would have been the runaway winner.
For the third time in a decade, the Flyers entered the final home game of a regular season needing a win to get in the playoffs. Capping off a career-best 34-goal, 102-point season that deserved much more serious Hart Trophy consideration than it received on the national level, Claude Giroux was a one-man wrecking crew in the finale against the New York Rangers.
Henrik Lundqvist almost single-handedly kept the Rangers in the game for one-plus period but Giroux was relentless. He scored three times to render the latter part of the game academic, and was serenaded by chants of "M-V-P! M-V-P!" from the Wells Fargo Center crowd.