Post-season heroes come in all forms from the star player to the unknown fourth-liner. We all know the exploits of the great playoff performers. However, we hardly hear about the unlikely playoff heroes. These unlikely post-season stars can contribute in many ways. Contributions could be for an entire playoff run, a series, a game, or even a goal. These unlikely heroes have made big plays that no one expects. This series looks at all of these unknown stars. These are the unlikely Philadelphia Flyers playoff heroes.
Philadelphia Flyers Playoff Heroes
Andy Delmore
Before the Moment
Another undrafted Flyer, defenceman Andy Delmore signed with Philadelphia as a free agent in 1997. Delmore played only two games of the 1998-99 season before the Flyers sent him back down to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Spending almost two more full seasons with the Phantoms, Delmore was pulled back up to the big leagues for all of 27 games before his unlikely playoff run. He scored only two goals in that time.
The Moment
Flying past the Buffalo Sabres in five games of the first round of the 2000 Stanley Cup Final, Philadelphia faced the Pittsburgh Penguins in the conference semifinals. The first two games went to the Penguins, the next two to the Flyers, including Game 4 in five overtimes. Delmore’s, whose game-winning goal started Philadelphia’s comeback from a 2-0 deficit, decided heroics were needed for Game 5.
The rookie defencemen scored three goals on three shots, one in each period. Delmore led the Flyers to a 6-3 win over the Penguins and a 3-2 series lead. Delmore the only Flyers’ rookie defencemen to have ever scored a hat trick in the playoffs. He also holds the record for the most goals by a Flyers’ defenceman, five, in one playoff season.
Philadelphia closed out the semifinal series against the Penguins in Game 6 in order to advance to the Eastern Conference Final against the New Jersey Devils, the eventual Stanley Cup Champions.
The Aftermath
Delmore went on to play for three other NHL teams, the Nashville Predators, the Buffalo Sabres, and the Columbus Blue Jackets before he finished his professional hockey career in the Austria and Italy-A leagues in 2013. Overall, Delmore played in 283 NHL games and tallied 101 points over his career. He will go down in Flyers’ history for his unlikely playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Ville Leino
Before the Moment
A candidate in our One-Hit Wonders series this past summer, Ville Leino is the second Flyer on this list. Undrafted, the Finnish-born centre entered the league in 2008 after a stint with the Detroit Red Wings AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. Traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 for shutdown defensive defenceman, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, Leino played 13 games with the Flyers before his unlikely playoff run. Leino combined for a total of 11 points in 55 games across both teams during the regular season.
The Moment
Leino began the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs as a healthy scratch. Entering the lineup as an injury replacement for Jeff Carter, and immediately began making history. Tallying seven goals and 14 assists, he ended up tying the record for most points by a Flyer rookie in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, held by Dino Ciccarelli.
Leino would prove to be essential during key moments of the 2010 playoffs. Scoring the game-winner in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, Leino tied the series and ultimately kept the Flyers from going down 3-1. They would eventually lose to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games, but Leino’s Stanley Cup run would go down as one of the most impactful in Flyers’ history.
The Aftermath
Leino played with the Flyers for one more season. In 81 games, he had 19 goals and 34 assists for a point total of 53. He had a solid showing of five points during the Flyers playoff run and helped his team to the second round, but they ultimately lost to the Boston Bruins.
As an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2011, Leino signed a six-year, $27 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres. His time with Buffalo was underwhelming and he never again reached the point totals he brought to the Flyers. Leino returned to Europe and played three more years of professional ice hockey. Jumping from league to league and team to team, Leino eventually announced his retirement in 2017.
Michael Leighton
Before the Moment
Drafted 165th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1999, journeyman goalie Michael Leighton spent his tenure in professional hockey on 19 teams in four different leagues. Despite being the first Blackhawk to record a shutout in his NHL debut, Leighton’s career didn’t exactly take off. Leighton was traded to the Buffalo Sabres after losing his fight with Craig Anderson for Chicago’s back-up goaltending spot. He didn’t play an NHL game during his time with them.
Signing with the Anaheim Ducks, he again didn’t play an NHL game and spent the entire season with their AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates. Claimed off waivers by the Nashville Predators, Leighton played just 20 minutes of one game before he was placed on waivers again. Claimed by the Philadelphia Flyers, he played just four games before he was picked up by the Montreal Canadiens, who then traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes.
During the 2009-10 season, Leighton found his way back to the Flyers. He played 27 games with them in the regular season before his unlikely playoff run.
The Moment
The same playoff run that Ville Leino became a record-setter, Leighton had the highlight of his career. He was instrumental in helping the Flyers overcome a 3-0 series deficit against the Boston Bruins in the conference semifinals. In the Eastern Conference Final against the Canadiens, he did even more. Leighton allowed only seven goals in five games and recording three shutouts over the series; he propelled the seventh-seeded Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final, against his former team, the Chicago Blackhawks.
Despite his struggles in the Stanley Cup Final, Leighton was invaluable to the organization that season. Unfortunately, Flyers fans will remember him most for not stopping the odd-angle shot from Patrick Kane in overtime of Game 6.
The Aftermath
In 2011, the Flyers reported that they had placed Leighton on waivers, again. He spent the rest of his career moving from team to team, never again able to produce the way he did in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Although, he did prove to be a very unlikely playoff hero for the Philadelphia Flyers.
