December 26, 1992
On this day back in 1992, the Flyers skated to a 5-5 tie against the Washington Capitals. With 10 goals scored in the game, the game was anything but boring. In fact it holds some Flyers history.
With his penalty shot goal just 19 seconds left in the final period to tie the game, Eric Lindros became the first Flyer to record a hat trick and penalty shot goal in the same game.
The game was scoreless through the first period and stayed that way until midway through the second. The Flyers opened the scoring in the second period as Rod Brind’Amour and Pelle Eklund scored three minutes apart to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, Lindros scored his first to make it 3-0, then he scored again on a 50-foot slap shot that eeked its way through the pads of Caps’goalie Jim Hrivnak. That made it 4-0.
With the four goals allowed in just over 5 minutes, Hrivnak was pulled in favor of veteran Don Beaupre. As the period came to a close, Flyer nemesis Michal Pivonka scored on the power play to make it a 4-1 game heading into the third.
The Flyers allowed the Caps back in the game early in the third as Kelly Miller scored at 3:36 on the power play and it gave the Capitals new life at 4-2. Not even a minute later, Kevin Hatcher put one past Tommy Soderstrom to make it 4-3.
The Flyers fought back the mounting pressure for the next six minutes, but at 10:26, Pat Elynuik scored his 10th of the season to tie it at four.
The Flyers had blown a four-goal lead and to make matters worse, the Capitals’ fifth unanswered goal came just two minutes later as Dimitri Khristich scored at 12:43 to give the Caps a 5-4 lead.
With that lead, it was now the Flyers’ turn to apply the pressure to get the tying goal. In the final minute, Pelle Eklund was in front of the net ready to score the potential tying goal but Caps’ defenseman Al Iafrate slid into another Flyer and knocked the net off its moorings. Referee Paul Devorski blew the whistle, judged that it was done intentionally to stop Eklund’s chance and awarded the Flyers a penalty shot with just 18.4 seconds to go.
Of the six attackers who were on the ice at the time of the infraction, who would Flyers’ Coach Bill Dineen choose to take the penalty shot?
It wasn’t even a question. He chose Lindros.
Lindros skated in, controlled a bouncing puck as he approached the slot and fired a seed that nicked the top of Beaupre’s left pad as he extended his leg. The puck changed direction into the top of the net and Lindros celebrated the tying goal, his hat trick and a much-needed point in the standings.
In the overtime session, the Capitals outshot the Flyers 3-1, however, the game ended in a tie – there were no shootouts back then. The Flyers felt like they gave away a point, as did the Capitals after fighting back to take a 5-4 lead. It was an exciting and historic game for No. 88 in his young career.
You can see his three goals in this game via YouTube below.
Mike Watson is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @Mwats_99.
