Fueled by Belief, Flyers Take Improbable Run to 2nd Round

In the middle of a scoreless game through 60 minutes of action, the intermission before the first overtime of the series between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, you started to think about the last time the Flyers had won a playoff game in overtime at what is now Xfinity Mobile Arena. You didn’t have to look far to find the player who provided the heroics.

It was 14 years to the day that Danny Briere, now sitting in the GM’s chair, scored to end Game 1 of the second round against the New Jersey Devils. 

When Briere scored his overtime goal in 2012, it was just 4:36 into sudden death, not yet outside the five-minute framework of a regular-season overtime. On Wednesday night, in Game 6, it was much longer.

Five minutes quickly turned to 10, then 12, then 14, then 16. Double overtime was looming, and the Flyers were hanging on by a thread.

Then Cam York had his moment. It wasn’t a hard shot, but it was a perfectly placed one. Through traffic, York’s seeing-eye shot caught a piece of the post before ricocheting into the net. The building waiting all night to erupt did just that.

York said he blacked out, as he launched his stick into the crowd. One by one, the rest of his teammates leapt on the pile, each playing some sort of role in this, maybe not specifically in the series, but in the season that has now reached the second round.

After the Flyers took a 3-0 series lead, expectations shifted. Making it to the playoffs wasn’t going to be good enough for some anymore. They needed that fourth win, the hardest to get, maybe just to prove to the fans that this time, things are different. This team is different. And the new era, which is preparing for another chapter, is taking flight at the perfect time.

There will be that next chapter, and as the celebration was in full effect, it took you back 14 years earlier. When Briere scored in overtime. When the Flyers last bounced Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in the first round.

It’s been a long time coming, but hockey is relevant again in Philadelphia. The team taking the ice today is one worth believing in. 

The players have 3.8 percent on the sleeve of their t-shirts this postseason, with the one-word declaration of “Believe” on the front. That’s because it’s the one thing powering them. The belief that they could make the playoffs with the odds stacked against them. The belief that they could get past a veteran Pittsburgh team in the first round with so many playoff newcomers. And now the belief that they could slay the top team in the conference. 

Whether that happens or not is irrelevant now. The Flyers have already written a promising first chapter in what is hoped to be the first of many playoff appearances to come. But the ride isn’t over just yet, and as long as there’s belief, there’s no reason to doubt it might just keep going.

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.