The playoffs are set, and the Flyers will look to embark on the arduous journey for Lord Stanley's Cup after a year's hiatus. Their upcoming series with the Rangers promises be an interesting one to watch, but how will their overall run in 2014 go? This week's Flyers Five takes a look at and ranks playoff runs the team embarked on over the past decade.
5. 2011 run to the Eastern Conference semifinals: This series featured an exciting, rough-and-tumble seven-game series with Buffalo — the last time they made the playoffs. It all ended the next round though as Boston swept the tired Flyers en route to their first Cup since 1972, leading to one of the most interesting and polarizing offseasons in franchise history.
4. 2012 run to the Eastern Conference semifinals: Flyers fans will always remember the first round against Pittsburgh for a long time, as they made the Penguins look like a fragment of their supposedly-elite selves. However, the Flyers came out flat in the next round against New Jersey, losing in five games.
3. 2008 run to the Eastern Conference final: The Orange and Black's 2008 run featured a memorable seven-game first round against Washington (complete with the always-exciting Game 7 overtime goal) and an upset over first-seed Montreal. Not too bad for a team that was one season removed from finishing in the league's basement. However, a Conference final against Pittsburgh ended in five games when the Flyers lost top defensemen in Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn, and had to ice an otherwise-battered defensive corps.
2. 2004 run to the Eastern Conference final: Whether or not it was superhuman play from Keith Primeau and Robert Esche, "sudden-death magic for J.R." or Simon Gagne's heroic antics, the Ken Hitchcock-led 2004 Flyers embarked on a mystical run that ended way too early at the hands of Tampa Bay in a vicious seven-game series. Interestingly enough, two of the catalysts of that Lightning team — Vinny Lecavalier and Conn Smythe winner Brad Richards — will face off against each other in the first round.
1. 2010 run to the Stanley Cup final: From Brian Boucher's victory jig after stopping Olli Jokinen in a shootout on the regular season's final day, to now-assistant coach Ian Laperriere's strong will after a puck to the face, to the first 3-0 comeback in a series since 1975, to 'The Shift,' to a puck-stealing Stanley Cup final and everything in between, the Flyers' 2010 run was the most memorable over the past decade. While its ending left much to be desired, the Flyers still played the all-too-familiar Philadelphia underdog narrative to a tee.
The Flyers' next run starts Thursday at 8 p.m. Will it usurp the 2010 run at the top of this list?
Rob Riches is a writer for Flyerdelphia, and his Flyers Five appears weekly here and on Sports Source on Cavalier Radio 89.1 WYBF-FM. You can follow Rob on Twitter @Riches61.
