December 21, 1986
At the Spectrum, the Flyers defeated the St. Louis Blues, 7-6, in a game that saw the Flyers allow five goals in the second, only to come roaring back to win it in the third.
Led by Tim Kerr’s hat trick and the game-winner by captain Dave Poulin, the Flyers overcame a 5-3 deficit heading into the third period to snatch victory from the hands of defeat.
The first period saw just one goal, the ninth of the season by Derrick Smith at 11:44, however in the second period, the game would open up and seven goals were scored.
St. Louis Blues’ Rick Meagher would tie the game at one, just 1:31 into the period. Then, power play guru Kerr would notch his 28th of the season on the man-advantage to take back the lead at 5:07.
Just under five minutes later, Kerr would score his second of the night, and the Flyers took a 3-1 lead at 9:51.
Then the floodgates opened. Goals by Rick Nattress, Ron Flockhart, Brian Benning and veteran Bernie Federko in a nine-minute span chased rookie goalie Ron Hextall. After two, the Flyers now trailed 5-3 and Glenn ”Chico” Resch came in to relieve Hextall.
In the third, the Flyers struck quickly to cut the lead in half. Defenseman J.J Daigneault scored his second of the year at 1:14. Just under a minute later, Pelle Eklund tied it at five with his seventh on the season at 2:02.
The see-saw battle continued as Meagher scored for the Blues to give them the lead again at 6-5, getting one past Resch at 4:05. With a power-play opportunity from a holding call by the Blues’ Mark Hunter at 7:51, the Flyers had a chance to tie it back up.
The Flyers, once again, called on their star and he delivered. Kerr's power-play goal, his 30th of the season and third of the game, tied it at six with just under eleven minutes to go.
Then, Poulin notched his 12th of the season, beating goalie Rick Wamsley at 11:32 to give the Flyers the lead that they would hang on to. While outshooting the Blues in the third, 12-7, their comeback was complete and the horrors for St. Louis continued.
With the Flyers comeback win, it continued a losing streak for the Blues at the Spectrum that dated back to January 1972. In that time, they were a staggering 0-29-3 against the Flyers.
Mike Watson is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @Mwats_99.
