April 11, 1989: Hextall Scores on Capitals in Playoffs
He had a goal two years prior in the regular season, so why not take a stab at it in the playoffs too?
That’s exactly what Ron Hextall did.
He hit the back of the empty net in the Cap Centre in the Flyers 8-5 win over the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of their best-of-seven series.
In a see-saw battle, the Flyers took a two goal lead in the third period to overcome a 5-4 score. Goals by Brian Propp, Pelle Eklund and Kjell Samuelsson gave the Flyers a 7-5 lead as time winded down.
Even with the two-goal lead, the Flyers were shorthanded also, as Jeff Chychrun was in the box for a high-sticking minor. When defenseman Scott Stevens shot the puck into the Flyers zone, Hextall had his chance.
With goalie Pete Peeters on the bench to create a six-on-four advantage for the Caps, Hextall corralled the wrap around, brought the puck to his forehand and snapped it 190 feet down the ice into an unoccupied net.
The first one to greet him was defenseman Gord Murphy, and then the rest of the Flyers came off the bench to congratulate Hextall.
You can see a clip of the goal below.
On the broadcast of the game were Mike Emrick and Bill Clement. Emrick was spot on with his prognostication about five seconds prior to the goal going in.
Mike Watson is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @Mwats_99.
