Ex-Flyers recall unbeaten streak as Blackhawks close in on the mark

As the Chicago Blackhawks try to surpass a record unbeaten streak set by the 1979-80 Flyers, Bob Clarke wishes them no ill will.

"Not at all," Clarke, the onetime Flyers star who is now the organization's senior vice president, said the other day. "The way I feel, I hope the young people do more than what the athletes in my generation did."

Clarke, then 30 and in his first year as a playing assistant coach, was one of the leaders as the Flyers put together an NHL record, 35-game unbeaten streak more than three decades ago. Chicago has points in 30 straight regular-season games, including the first 24 this season (21-0-3), and has a difficult game Friday in Colorado.

The Flyers' unbeaten streak, which was established before overtime and shootouts were part of the rules, is the longest in any of the major North American sports. The NBA's Los Angeles Lakers won 33 straight in 1971-72.

Clarke said the streak "has meaning because no one in professional sports has ever done it. But, to me, it's a long way down on the list of what we accomplished. Winning the Cups and winning your [division] is much higher."

Clarke and many members of that record-setting team say they are rooting for Chicago. Kenny Linseman said they may be fibbing.

"I don't think anyone on that team wants them to beat the record," said Linseman, who led the 1979-80 Flyers with 79 points. "It's pretty cool to say we have the longest record in professional sports."

The Flyers, captained by Mel Bridgman, went 25-0-10 during their run.

"It just sort of happened," said soft-spoken Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren, who was a winger on that team and had the best season of his career with 30 goals and 65 points. "We never really talked about it until it got close to 28 games," which was the streak record, set by Montreal (22-0-6) in 1977-78.

"We had to beat Boston in Boston to beat the previous record, and it kind of snowballed."

Holmgren, who along with Behn Wilson were the Flyers' most physical players, remembered "lots of close calls" during the streak. Thirteen times, the Flyers came from behind to win or tie a game during the 35-game run. "We had contributions from a lot of different people," Holmgren said. "We didn't rely on one line or one defenseman or one goalie. Everybody had a hand in it."

Some say the Blackhawks' streak is tainted because they don't have to play Eastern Conference teams in the lockout-shortened schedule. Holmgren isn't one of them.

"I think the parity in the league is so much better now, so it's probably more difficult for the Blackhawks in that respect," Holmgren said.

Like Clarke and Holmgren, Bill Barber is not rooting against the Blackhawks.

"I always look at what's beneficial for the game," said Barber, who scored 40 goals in 1979-80. "I think all records are meant to be broken. If it happens, it's great for hockey and brings more people into the audience."

The 1979-80 Flyers had a handful of players from one or both of their 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup champions - Clarke, Barber, Rick MacLeish, Jimmy Watson, Reggie Leach, Bob Kelly, and Andre Dupont - but several of the big, physical players from the Broad Street Bullies had been replaced by quicker players such as Tom Gorence, Linseman, and hotshot rookie Brian Propp.

"I was a small part of it as an 11th or 12th forward, but that doesn't take away the excitement from it," said John Paddock, a former winger who is now a Flyers assistant coach. "We had a lot of new players on the team, myself included, and we had a lot of guys who had played on the championship teams we had in Maine [of the AHL] the previous two years."

Paddock was referring to young players such as Mike Busniuk, Norm Barnes, Frank Bathe, Al Hill, Gorence, and Pete Peeters.

"We were excited just to be there," Paddock said of the jump to the NHL.

"We had a good mix of players," said Bathe, a defenseman who had seven points and 111 penalty minutes that season. "You know how you have 14 clubs in the golf bag? I was the 15th, and every once in a while they'd put me in. With the Bobby Clarkes and Billy Barbers and the other stars there, I felt like the 15th club."

The Flyers were a team in transition, and they had a patchwork defense and a rookie goalie, Peeters, who divided time with veteran Phil Myre.

The 1979-80 season began innocently enough as the Flyers opened with a 5-2 win over the visiting New York Islanders before dropping a 9-2 decision to the Flames in Atlanta on Oct. 13.

They would not lose again until nearly three months later, when they were trounced by the North Stars in Minnesota, 7-1, on Jan. 7.

In between, the Pat Quinn-coached team received outstanding goaltending from Peeters (14-0-4 during the streak) and Myre (11-0-6).

Chicago has also used two goalies during its streak, including former Flyer Ray Emery, who has made an eye-opening recovery from surgery to repair avascular necrosis of the hip, the same bone disorder that curtailed Bo Jackson's athletic career. On Wednesday, when Chicago rallied for a dramatic 3-2 win over Colorado, Emery became the first goalie in NHL history to start a season 10-0. He has a 2.02 goals-against average and .925 save percentage.

"When you look at where he was - from a condition that completely took him out of lineup to having major surgery and then rehabilitation - to be playing at this level is amazing," Paddock said.

Paddock said that when the Flyers went on their record streak, the media coverage wasn't in the same stratosphere as today. There was no Internet. No Twitter. No 24-hour news cycle.

"Technology is different today," he said, adding there wasn't much of a "buzz" about the streak until the Flyers approached the Canadiens' NHL record. "And we started embracing it and said, 'What the heck.' It became more like a playoff gear."

The Flyers finished the season tops in the NHL with 116 points and a 48-12-20 record. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to the Islanders, four games to two. In the Game 6 overtime loss, a missed call by Leon Stickle - he overlooked an Islanders offside on one of their goals - still has left Barber a "little bitter."

Barber points out that the Blackhawks streak is being done in two portions, including the last six regular-season games (4-0-2) of 2011-12.

"We did it all in one year without interruptions," he said. "And they're playing a shortened season, where we played a full 80-game season, and it was a big challenge to know you still had a full season ahead."

Barber said players are faster, bigger, and stronger today, but he also said the Flyers had a more difficult schedule in 1979-80 because they played teams from both conferences.

"I'm not putting them down," he said of the Blackhawks. "I'm just laying out the facts."

Linseman, who has a plaque hanging on one of his New Hampshire home's walls that pays tribute to the streak, says it was exhilarating and "more exhausting than a regular season" to try to avoid losing.

"One of the biggest reasons for the streak was Pat Quinn's system," he said. "He had a defenseman jump in on the offensive play all the time. That didn't happen around the league, and it was kind of mandated, and it had a huge effect."

Here is how the Flyers went 35 games - 25-0-10 - without a loss to open the 1979-80 season:

October (5-0-1)

14 Flyers 4, Toronto 3

18 Flyers 6, Atlanta 2

20 Flyers 7, Detroit 3

21 Flyers 6, Montreal 6

25 Flyers 5, Rangers 2

28 Flyers 5, Detroit 4

November (11-0-2)

1 Flyers 3 St. Louis 1

3 Flyers 5 Montreal 3

4 Flyers 3, Buffalo 1

7 Flyers 4, Quebec 3

10 Flyers 5, Islanders 2

11 Flyers 5, Vancouver 4

15 Flyers 5, Edmonton 3

17 Flyers 3 St. Louis 3

21 Flyers 6, L. Angeles 4

23 Flyers 5 Vancouver 2

24 Flyers 2 Edmonton 2

27 Flyers 6, Hartford 2

29 Flyers 6, Minnesota 4

December (7-0-7)

1 Flyers 4, Toronto 4

2 Flyers 4, Detroit 4

4 Flyers 2, Boston 2

6 Flyers 9, L. Angeles 4

9 Flyers 4, Chicago 4

13 Flyers 6, Quebec 4

15 Flyers 3, Buffalo 2

16 Flyers 1, Rangers 1

20 Flyers 1, Pittsburgh 1

22 Flyers 5, Boston 2

23 Flyers 4, Hartford 2

26 Flyers 4, Hartford 4

28 Flyers 5, Winnipeg 3

29 Flyers 3, Colorado 2

January (2-0-0)

4 Flyers 5, Rangers 3

6 Flyers 4, Buffalo 2

SOURCE: Flyers

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