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For the 13th Time in Franchise History, the Flyers Were Eliminated by the Team that Lifted the Stanley Cup
Published:
The Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup.
John Tortorella and Carter Hart did not.
Not sure about you, but my initial reaction was “of course the Canes won, because the Flyers always lose to the eventual champs.” It’s not always true, but it feels true, so I went back and looked at a story we in November and updated this list of early-round Flyers losses to Stanley Cup winners:
- 1973: lost to Canadiens in semifinals
- 1995: lost to Devils in conference finals
- 2000: lost to Devils in conference finals
- 2004: lost to Lightning in conference finals
- 2009: lost to Penguins in conference quarterfinals
- 2011: lost to Bruins in conference quarterfinals
- 2026: lost to Hurricanes in the conference semifinals
From there, I added the Stanley Cup Finals that the Flyers lost:
- 1976: lost to Canadiens
- 1980: lost to Islanders
- 1985: lost to Oilers
- 1987: lost to Oilers
- 1997: lost to Red Wings
- 2010: lost to Blackhawks
When you tally it all up, the Flyers have lost 13 times in the playoffs to teams that went on to lift the Stanley Cup. They’ve played 58 NHL seasons and made the playoffs 41 times total, so if you do a little bit of math, the story is that 22.4% of the Flyers seasons have ended up with a playoff loss to the Cup winner. Or – 31.7% of their playoff trips end with a loss to the Cup winner.
You can use either one of those stats in the group text, free of charge.
End of the day, this shouldn’t make anybody feel very good. It’s not exactly reassuring. But the fact of the matter is that the Flyers have run into some absolute killers in the postseason. This Carolina team was a wagon. The Blackhawks won three Cups during the 2010s. The Flyers lost to Sergei Fedorov and Steve Yzerman’s Red Wings, Crosby and Malkin’s Penguins, and Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers. They lost to Mike Bossy and Denis Potvin’s Islanders. They lost to Martin Brodeur’s Devils and the Tampa team with Marty St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier.
But this will all change soon when the Flyers lift the Cup behind Porter Martone, Dan “Darth” Vladar, and Matty Michkov. It’s our time in the National Hockey League.
THIS IS NOW
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com