October 24, 1989
In one of the leaner years in Flyers history, the 1989-90 squad was floundering with a 1-6-1 record to start the season. Despite injuries and a suspension to Ron Hextall for 12 games — the Chris Chelios incident — the shorthanded Flyers knew a home win against the St. Louis Blues was imperative. Looking at a four-game road trip after this match up, things would not get any easier.
Showing a much needed sense of urgency, the Flyers took it to Brett Hull and Co., winning 6-1.
Flyers star winger Tim Kerr got the Flyers going at 9:28 on the power play and the special teams struck again at 14:29 as Illka Sinisalo scored short handed as the Flyers took a 2-0 lead after one period.
After an epic battle between two legendary tough guys, Tony Twist of the Blues and Craig Berube for the Flyers, the Flyers and Sinisalo struck again at 9:41. It was the only goal of the period and heading into the third, they had kept Brett Hull off the board after forty minutes.
In the third, former Flyer Peter Zezel got one past Flyer goalie Ken Wregget at 5:42 to make it 3-1. That would be the only blemish for the Flyers netminder as Murray Craven, Rick Tocchet and Mike Bullard would finish off the Blues in a decisive 6-1 victory.
The Flyers would gain points in four of the next five games to help climb out of the cellar of the Patrick Division and despite injuries to key players; they would be near the top of the division to start the calendar year of 1990.
January and February were not kind to the orange and black, earning just 18 points in those months. The Flyers would eventually fail to make the playoffs and finish last in the division. It was the first time they had missed the playoffs since 1971-72. This would eventually cost GM Bob Clarke his job as he was fired after the season on April 16.
Mike Watson is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @Mwats_99.
