Alumni Hall of Fame Game: Shining Stars

Flyers Alumni from every generation of franchise history -- from the early days and the Broad Street Bullies to "Keenan's Kids" of the mid-1980s, the Legion of Doom era and the late 2000s instant turnaround from the worst season in franchise history to an Eastern Conference Final and a Stanley Cup Final by 2010 -- will be amply represented at the 2021 Hall of Fame Celebration Game at the Wells Fargo Center on Nov. 15, 2021.
Here's a look at five participating Alumni players who were NHL stars during their playing days in Philadelphia: What set each apart? What were some of their most memorable performances in the Orange and Black?

DANNY BRIERE
After signing with Philadelphia as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 1997, Briere spent six seasons with the Flyers. For his Philadelphia regular season career, he compiled 124 goals and 283 points in 365 regular season games.
Briere was one of the best playoff performers in Flyers team history. In 68 playoff games, he racked up 37 goals (13 power play goals), 35 assists, 72 points (1.06 points per game) and nine game-winning goals. His performance in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs was extraordinary. Briere played a pivotal role in bringing the Flyers to within two victories of the Stanley Cup as he produced 12 goals and a franchise-record 30 points in 23 games.
Three chronological highlights:
1) In his Flyers debut, Briere scored two goals in a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames. He'd go on to post goals in each of his first three games on the way to a 31-goal, 72-point regular season. In the playoffs, Briere added nine goals and 16 points for the eventual Eastern Conference Finalist.

2) Briere's shootout goal against the New York Rangers' Henrik Lunqvist in the final game of the 2009-10 regular season opened the shootout and sent the Wells Fargo Center into a frenzy. Later, a Claude Giroux goal and one final stop by Brian Boucher on Olli Jokinen clinched a playoff spot for the Flyers.
3) With the Flyers trailing the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, Briere led the way offensively in Game 3. He opened the scoring in the first period and, later, assisted on Giroux's overtime winner.
SIMON GAGNE
During Gagne's Flyers career, he compiled an extensive list of accomplishments: member of NHL All-Rookie team in 1999-2000, two-time winner of the Bobby Clarke Trophy as team MVP (2005-06 and 2006-07), Pelle Lindbergh Award winner as the team's most improved player of the 2000-01 season, two-time NHL All-Star Game selection (2000-01, 2006-07), two-time 40-goal scorer (2005-06 and 2006-07) on a line with Peter Forsberg and Mike Knuble, Olympic participant for Team Canada in 2002 (gold medal) and 2006, three-time Toyota Cup winner as the Flyers player with the most three-star selections in the 2001-02, 2005-06 and 2006-07, and an important member of the 2009-10 team that reached the Stanley Cup Final as well as the 1999-2000 and 2003-04 squads that fell one win short of the Cup Finals.

Three Chronological highlights:
1) Game 6 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Final: Gagne's overtime goal against Tampa Bay forced a deciding seventh game of the series. The goal was his second of the game in a 5-4 victory.The Flyers dropped Game 7 by a 2-1 score as Tampa ultimately went on to win the Stanley Cup but the heroics of Keith Primeau and Gagne in that playoff run became etched in franchise lure.

2) Game 4 of 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinal: Despite playing through injury and being far less than 100 percent physically, Gagne proved to be crucial in the Flyers' ultimately comeback from a three games to zero deficit in the series. In Game 4, an ailing Gagne scored at 14:40 of overtime to prolong the series.
3) Game 7 of 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinal. After winning three straight games to force a Game 7 in Boston, things looked bleak early for the Flyers in the deciding game. The Bruins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, forcing the Flyers to chip away. A late first-period goal by rookie James van Riemsdyk and second-period goals by Scott Hartnell and Briere got the score tied at 3-3. Finally, at 12:52 of the third period, Gagne's power play goal at 12:52 made Boston pay dearly for a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. Gagne's goal proved to be the series clincher as the Flyers completed their historic comeback.
SCOTT HARTNELL
A nine-time 20-plus goal scorer in the NHL, Hartnell hit the mark five times in seven years with the Flyers, including seasons of 37 (2011-12) and 30 (2008-09) goals. He topped the 100 penalty minute mark (with a high of 159 in 2007-08) in all but the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season.
Hartnell was part of three different Flyers line combinations that achieved considerable success together. In his 30-goal season of 2008-09, Hartnell mostly played on a line with Jeff Carter and Joffrey Lupul. During the 2010 playoffs, Hartnell was placed with Danny Briere and Ville Leino in a trio that scored at a torrid pace (including eight goals and 17 points for Hartnell) after it was put together. The line remained intact for the 2010-11 season. In 2011-12, Hartnell enjoyed his career year on a line with Claude Giroux and the legendary Jaromir Jagr.

Three chronological highlights:
1) On January 10, 2008, "Hartsy" compiled the first of five hat tricks he tallied as a Flyer. This one was a natural hat trick as Hartnell scored three straight goals against Henrik Lundqvist to turn the game from a 2-2 tie (after the Flyers trailed 2-0 at the first intermission) into a commanding 5-2 lead for the Flyers. Philadelphia went on to beat the Rangers, 6-2.
2) On April 3, 2009, Hartnell scored a first period goal and dropped the gloves with Toronto's Luke Schenn. The goal was Hartnell's 30th of the season; the first of two 30-goal campaigns the power forward collected as a Flyer.
3) 2010 Stanley Cup Final: Hartnell was a force throughout the Cup Final along with linemates Briere and Leino. Hartnell notched five goals and nine points in the six game series. This included a two-goal performance in the ultimately heartbreaking sixth game of the series.

MARK HOWE
Almost universally regarded as the best offensive and best all-around defenseman in Flyers franchise history, the Hockey Hall of Famer made a mid-career switch (at age 25) from high-scoring left wing to full-time defenseman. As a Flyer, Howe was a three-time top runner-up for the Norris Trophy. His +85 rating in 1985-86 was the best in that category in Flyers franchise history and among the top in NHL history.
That season, Howe won the Bobby Clarke Trophy as Flyers MVP as well as one of his four Barry Ashbee Trophies as the Flyers' top defenseman. No matter who was his partner - Glen Cochrane, Brad McCrimmon or Kjell Samuelsson - Howe excelled.

Three Chronological Highlights
1) Howe's Flyers debut (Oct. 7, 1982): During the first period of Howe's first game as a Flyer, an errant pass from teammate Paul Holmgren struck Howe in the face. The defenseman waited until intermission to get stitched up. In his second shift of the second period, Howe scored his first Flyers goal. Philadelphia won over the visiting Quebec Nordiques, 9-5.
2) After the Flyers dropped Game 2 at home to the New York Islanders in the 1987 Patrick Division Final, Philadelphia was in need of someone to step up big for the team when the scene shifted to Nassau Coliseum for Game 3. The future Hall of Fame defenseman delivered. Howe scored a goal, two assists, a plus-four rating and logged more than 32 minutes of ice time as the Flyers regained control of the series with a convincing 4-1 win over their longtime nemesis.
3) 1989 Wales Conference Semifinal: Entering Game 5 of the series, the Flyers trailed the favored Penguins, three games to two. Moreover, the Penguins had just beaten the Flyers, 10-7, in a wild Game 4. Playing through back issues that would plague him the rest of his illustrious career, the 34-year-old delivered a vintage performance with Philly facing elimination. He racked up three assists, played nearly half of the game, was plus-four at even strength, recorded three shots on goal and came up with two vital blocked shots with Pittsburgh threatening to score. The Flyers won the game, 6-2, and went on to win the series in Game 7 (two more assists, +3 for Howe).
JOHN LECLAIR
For the Philadelphia portion of the United States Hall of Fame and Flyers Hall of Fame career, the big winger racked up 333 goals and 643 points in 649 games. Along with Tim Kerr, LeClair is the only player in Flyers' franchise history to score 50 or more goals in three straight seasons. His stellar production came during an era in which clutch-and-grab hockey and heavy use of neutral zone trapping systems contributed to a league-wide decline in scoring on almost an annual basis.
A master of cycling the puck with his Legion of Doom linemates, LeClair was also blessed with a howitzer of a slapshot and would score about six to eight goals per season by winding up and blasting an overpowering shot past the goaltender from anywhere from the blueline to the mid-slot.
Three Chronological highlights:
1) LeClair made a habit of torturing his former team, the Montreal Canadiens. Four of his 11 career Flyers hat tricks in the regular season -- and two of his three games where he tallied four goals -- came at Montreal's expense. The first hatty came on Feb. 25, 1995, in LeClair's first game against the Canadiens following the blockbuster trade that sent Mark Recchi to Montreal and both LeClair and fellow future Hall of Famer Eric Desjardins back to Philadelphia along with forward Gilbert Dionne. LeClair and new linemates Eric Lindros were so dominant in this game that Flyers center Jim Montgomery said, "They looked like the Legion of Doom out there," (referring to the pro wrestling tag team also called the Road Warriors). The nickname stuck.

2) LeClair's best playoff run as a Flyer came in 1997 (nine goals and 21 points in 19 games) for the Eastern Conference champs. He scored goals in each of the first three games of Philadelphia's five-game demolition of the Penguins. Perhaps most notably, however, LeClair scored a game-tying goal after the Flyers trailed, 2-1, in the first period of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers. He also assisted on an Eric Lindros goal, as Philadelpha went on to win the game. 4-2, to close out the series.
3) LeClair had already clinched his third straight 50-goal season one game earlier but his five-point (1g, 4a) demolition of the Florida Panthers on April 16, 1998 was one of the most dominating performances of his career. Florida simply could not contain him at net-front or on the boards. Over the next two seasons, LeClair would have campaigns of 43 goals and 40 goals.
ERIC LINDROS
The Hockey Hall of Fame and Flyers Hall of Fame inductee centered the Crazy Eights line (with Mark Recchi and Brent Fedyk on the wings) and the Legion of Doom (flanked by LeClair and Renberg): two of the most successful combos in team history. Although plagued by injuries during his career, the 6-foot-5 Lindros mixed a rare combination of brute force and skillful finesse to make for an often-unstoppable force when healthy.
The Flyers franchise all-time points-per-game leader (1.35 points per game), Lindros racked up 659 points (290 goals, 369 assists) in 468 regular season games with the team, along with 946 penalty minutes. In 50 playoff games, Lindros posted 57 points (24 goals, 33 assists). Winner of the Hart Trophy and Lester Pearson Award (now called the Ted Lindsay Award) in 1994-95, a finalist for the Hart the next season, Lindros played in six NHL All-Star Games during his years in Philadelphia. Looking solely over the duration of his years in Philadelphia, Lindros stood fifth all-time in points-per-game in NHL history.
Three Chronological Highlights:
1) In October of 1992, a rookie Lindros scored a goal in each of his first two NHL games. In his home debut, Lindros tallied a spectacular goal against New Jersey Devils netminder Chris Terreri at the Spectrum. Flyers broadcaster Gary Dornhoefer exclaimed, "This is what the people came to see!"
2) Amid Lindros' Hart Trophy winning 1994-95 season, he recorded back-to-back hat tricks in a road game against Florida (punctuated by an overtime goal where he tossed aside a defender with one hand while stickhandling through the neutral zone with the other, and then scoring the winning goal) and an afternoon home game against Montreal.

3) Arguably the pinnacle of Lindros' NHL career came during Game 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden in the 1997 Eastern Conference Final. In Game 3, Lindros notched a hat trick that keyed a 6-3 Flyers win. The final goal was an empty netter in which Lindros literally dragged along his boyhood idol Mark Messier (who was draped all over Lindros' back in desperation). In a classic, seesaw Game 4, Lindros' power play backhander beat Mike Richter with seven seconds left on the clock in the third period to complete a 3-2 Flyers win. Lindros also posted a goal and an assist in the series clincher at home in Game 5.
WATCH -- AND MEET -- THE FLYERS ALUMNI
These are just five of the dozens of Alumni who will be part of the Hall of Fame celebration game on Nov. 15; one night later Rick Tocchet and Paul Holmgren will be enshrined in the Flyers Hall of Fame. In total, 17 Flyers Hall of Fame inductees will participate in the Hall of Fame Game, whether as players (six), coaches (Paul Holmgren) or as off-ice attendees in the festivities.
Lower-level seats for the Hall of Fame game cost $35 to $45. VIP package holders will receive numerous exclusive extras including a Happy Hour reception where they can mingle with all of the attending Flyers Alumni. Also included in the VIP package is a limited edition puck autographed by Tocchet and Holmgren.
Click here and secure your seat!