Editing Philadelphia Flyers (section)

====1974–75 Stanley Cup champions====
Under the [[1974–75 NHL season|1974–75 season]], Dave Schultz topped his mark from the previous season by setting an NHL record for penalty minutes with 472. Clarke's efforts earned him his second Hart Trophy and Parent was the lone recipient of the Vezina Trophy. The Flyers as a team improved their record slightly with a mark of 51–18–11, the best record in the NHL. After a first-round bye, the Flyers easily swept the Toronto Maple Leafs and were presented with another New York-area team in the semifinals, the [[New York Islanders]]. The Flyers looked to be headed toward another sweep after winning the first three games. However, the Islanders fought back by winning the next three games, setting up a deciding seventh game. The Flyers were finally able to shut the door on the Islanders, winning game seven, 4–1.

Facing Buffalo in the [[1975 Stanley Cup Finals|Stanley Cup Finals]], the Flyers won the first two games at home. Game three, played in Buffalo, went down in hockey lore as "The Fog Game" due to an unusual May heatwave in Buffalo that forced parts of the game to be played in heavy fog, as Buffalo's arena lacked air conditioning. The Flyers lost games 3 and 4, but won game five at home in dominating fashion, 5–1. On the road for game six, [[Bob Kelly (ice hockey, born 1950)|Bob Kelly]] scored the decisive goal and Parent pitched another shutout (a playoff record fifth shutout) as the Flyers repeated as Stanley Cup champions. Parent also repeated as the playoffs MVP, winning a second consecutive Conn Smythe Trophy.

[[File:Rick MacLeish 1973.JPG|thumb|left|247x247px|[[Rick MacLeish]] played for the Flyers from 1970 to 1981 and again in 1983.]]
The highlight of the [[1975–76 NHL season|1975–76 season]] had no bearing on the season standings. On January 11 at the Spectrum, the Flyers, as part of the [[Super Series '76]], played [[1976 Philadelphia Flyers–Red Army game|a memorable exhibition game]] against the Soviet Union's dominant [[HC CSKA Moscow|Central Red Army]] team. As the Bullies had put intimidation to good use the past three years, the Flyers' rugged style of play led the Soviets to leave the ice midway through the first period, protesting a hit on [[Valeri Kharlamov]], whom Clarke had slashed on the ankle in the famous [[Summit Series|Summit Series '72]], by Ed Van Impe. After some delay, the Soviets returned after they were warned that they would lose their salary for the entire series. The Flyers went on to win the game rather easily, 4–1, and were the only team to defeat the Red Army outright in the series. After that win, the Spectrum became known as the "most intimidating building to play in and has the most intimidating fans." Head coach Fred Shero proclaimed, "Yes we are world champions. If they had won, they would have been world champions. We beat the hell out of a machine."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/hm.cgi?006hm|title=Flyers vs. Red Army}}</ref>
The Flyers recorded the best record in team history (points-wise) with a record of 51–13–16 and set the record for most consecutive home wins in regulation (20). The LCB line, featuring [[Reggie Leach]] at right-wing, Bobby Clarke at center and [[Bill Barber]] at left-wing, set an NHL record for goals by a single line with 141 (Leach 61, Clarke 30, Barber 50). Clarke, on his way to a third Hart Trophy, set a club record for points in one season with 119. Heading into the playoffs, the Flyers squeaked past Toronto in seven games and defeated Boston in five games, with game five featuring a five-goal outburst by Leach, the "[[Riverton, Manitoba|Riverton]] [[Rifle]]", to head to a third-straight appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals. However, the Flyers did not come close to a third straight championship without an injured Bernie Parent, as they ran into an up-and-coming dynasty in Montreal, and were swept in four-straight games. Despite the loss, Leach was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for scoring a record 19 goals in 16 playoff games.

Dethroned, the heyday of the Broad Street Bullies began to come to an end, as prior to the [[1976–77 NHL season|1976–77 season]], tough-guy Dave Schultz was traded to the [[Los Angeles Kings]]. Despite a slight drop-off in performance, the Flyers dominated the [[Patrick Division]] with what proved to be their fourth-straight division title. After disposing of Toronto in six games, the Flyers found themselves in the semifinals for the fifth consecutive season. Pitted against Boston, the Flyers lost games 1 and 2 at home in overtime and did not return home as they were swept in four straight games. The Flyers lost their hold on the Patrick Division in [[1977–78 NHL season|1977–78]] and settled for second place. After sweeping the [[Colorado Rockies (NHL)|Colorado Rockies]] in two games in the preliminary round, the Flyers moved on to beat Buffalo in five games. They then faced Boston in the semifinals for the second consecutive season, and lost again, this time in five games. Following the season, the Flyers were stunned when head coach Shero left to become general manager and head coach of the New York Rangers. As compensation for Shero, the Flyers received the Rangers' first-round draft pick in [[1978 NHL entry draft|1978]].

[[File:Bill Barber 2012.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bill Barber]] played for the Flyers from 1972 to 1984.]]
[[Bob McCammon]], who had just coached the Flyers' first year [[American Hockey League]] (AHL) [[Maine Mariners (AHL)|Maine Mariners]] farm club to a [[Calder Cup]] title, replaced Fred Shero behind the bench. After a slow start in [[1978–79 NHL season|1978–79]], the Flyers switched McCammon with [[Pat Quinn (ice hockey)|Pat Quinn]], Shero's previous assistant coach, who had replaced McCammon with the Mariners. Adding to the problems, Bernie Parent suffered a career-ending eye injury. The Flyers rallied under Quinn and finished in second place. Matched up against the [[Vancouver Canucks]] in the preliminary round, the Flyers won the series in three games. The Flyers' season came to an end against Fred Shero's Rangers in a five-game quarterfinals loss.

The Flyers began the [[1979–80 NHL season|1979–80 season]] with a somewhat controversial move by naming Clarke a playing assistant coach and giving the captaincy to [[Mel Bridgman]]. While Clarke was against this initially, he accepted his new role. The Flyers went undefeated for a North American professional sports record 35-straight games (25–0–10), before losing 7–1 to the Minnesota North Stars, a record that still stands to this day.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://records.nhl.com/records/team-records/point-streaks/longest-point-streak-one-season | title=NHL Records}}</ref> The streak started after the team was 1–1 on October 14, and ended on January 7, 1980.<ref name="oldflyers">{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/8995699/nhl-old-philadelphia-flyers-know-makes-streak |title=Old Flyers know what makes a streak |publisher=[[ESPN]] |date=February 27, 2013 |access-date=March 7, 2013}}</ref> In doing so, the Flyers wrapped up the Patrick Division title with 14 games to spare and the first overall seed in the playoffs. Their regular season success continued into the playoffs, as the Flyers swept a young [[Wayne Gretzky]] and his [[Edmonton Oilers]] in the first round, then went on to get revenge against Fred "The Fog" Shero and his Rangers by beating them in five before disposing of Minnesota in five to lock up a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals. Facing the Islanders for the Cup, the Flyers ultimately lost in six games on [[Bob Nystrom]]'s overtime Stanley Cup-winning goal. The result of the series was marred by controversy, as the Islanders were [[offside (ice hockey)|offside]] on the play that resulted in their second goal, but the call was not made. Linesman [[Leon Stickle]] admitted after the game that he had blown the call. After a tough, five-game preliminary round series win against the [[Quebec Nordiques]], the team's [[1980–81 NHL season|1980–81 season]] came to an end as they lost in the quarterfinals to the [[Calgary Flames]] in seven games.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1980/06/02/824705/putting-the-hammer-to-the-old-bugaboo-bob-nystroms-overtime-goal-gave-the-new-york-islanders-a-whole-new-image-they-are-the-stanley-cup-champions-now-not-a-bunch-of-chokers|title=Putting the Hammer to the Old Bugaboo|date=June 2, 1980|first=Kathy|last=Blumenstock|access-date=November 8, 2014|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]}}</ref>