Flyers at 50: Tim Kerr’s 1st 4-Goal Game

Flyers history 50

By Mike Watson, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 

October 25, 1984

The Philadelphia Flyers welcomed the St. Louis Blues to town on this night, however the Flyers were anything but hospitable to their opponent. The Orange and Black thumped the visitors 7-2 at the Spectrum as winger Tim Kerr had a fantastic night at the expense of Blues goalie Mike Liut.

Just 14 seconds in, captain Dave Poulin got the Flyers on the board, assisted by Tomas Eriksson and Lindsay Carson. At 3:10, Poulin returned the favor and assisted on a Carson goal, also assisted by Mark Howe, and the lead was doubled.

Rookie center man Peter Zezel would assist on the next goal at 8:49, the first for Tim Kerr and the Flyers took a 3-0 lead and a 13-9 shot advantage into the locker room after one period of play.

As the Blues finally realized what hit them, they settled in for the second period and began to claw their way back into the game. Budding star Doug Gilmour scored on the power play at 5:06 past Philadelphia netminder Bob Froese to cut the lead to 3-1. While the Blues were outshot once again 10-8, they would be one break from getting back into the game and they carried that confidence into the third period.

Early in the third, Flyers defenseman Ed Hospodar was whistled for an elbowing penalty. This was the opportunity the Blues needed to get back into the game. A goal here would cut the lead in half. Instead, the Flyers expanded their lead while shorthanded. All-Star left wing Brian Propp netted his sixth of the season at 5:55, assisted by Ron Sutter and the game swung away from the Blues and the Flyers’ lead was now three.

Kerr would take over from there and put the game out of reach.  

Kerr would fire home three goals within a 2:27 span midway through the period, surprisingly all at even strength, and this game was now a blowout. Now a 7-1, it was all academic. Even a late Blues goal by Bernie Federko at 19:57 wouldn’t cure the sting of this defeat for St. Louis. The Flyers outshot the Blues, 14-8, for the period and a 37-25 for the game.

This would be the first four-goal game for Kerr in his NHL career. Kerr would end up with 54 regular season goals in 1984-85 and add 10 more in 12 playoff games.

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