1967 – 68 Philadelphia Flyers season The 1967 – 68 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers ' inaugural season and the first National Hockey League ( NHL ) season in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania since the Philadelphia Quakers ' 1930 – 31 season . Philadelphia waited almost 35 years from when the Quakers ' played their last home game ( a 4 – 0 loss to Chicago on March 17 , 1931 ) for the NHL to return when the city was awarded an expansion franchise on February 9 , 1966 . Philadelphia was a bit of a surprise choice since a group from the nearby city of Baltimore were considered favorites to land a team . The man who often receives the most credit for bringing NHL hockey back to Philadelphia is Ed Snider . While attending a basketball game in 1964 at the Boston Garden , the then vice - president of the Philadelphia Eagles observed a crowd of Boston Bruins fans lining up to purchase tickets to see a last - place team . Intrigued , he began making plans for a new arena upon hearing the NHL was looking to expand due to fears of a competing league taking hold on the West Coast and the desire for a new television contract in the United States . Snider made his proposal to the league and the Philadelphia group — including Snider , Bill Putnam , Jerome Schiff , and Eagles owner Jerry Wolman — was chosen over the Baltimore group . On April 4 , 1966 , Putnam announced there would be a name - the - team contest and that orange , black and white would be the team colors . Wanting what he referred to as " hot " colors , Putnam ' s choice was influenced by the orange and white of his alma mater , the University of Texas , and the orange and black of Philadelphia ' s previous NHL team , the Quakers . Also announced on April 4 was the hiring of a Chicago firm to design the team ' s arena . Details of the name - the - team contest were released on July 12 , 1966 . As sponsor of the contest , ballots were available at local Acme Markets grocery stores and included a top prize of a RCA 21 " color television , two season tickets for both the second and third prize winners , and a pair of tickets to a game for the next 100 winners . Among the names considered behind the scenes were Quakers , Ramblers , and Liberty Bells . The first two were the names of previous Philadelphia hockey teams and given the connotations of losing ( Quakers ) and the minor leagues ( Ramblers ) , were passed over . Liberty Bells , though seriously considered , was also the name of a local race track . Bashers , Blizzards , Bruisers , Huskies , Keystones , Knights , Lancers , Raiders , and Sabres were among the other names considered . It was Ed Snider ' s sister Phyllis who ended up naming the team when she suggested Flyers on a return trip from a Broadway play . Ed knew immediately it would be the winning name , since it captured the speed of the game and went well phonetically with Philadelphia . On August 3 , 1966 , the team name was announced . Of the 11 , 000 ballots received , more than 100 selected Flyers as the team name and were entered into a drawing to select a winner . 9 - year - old boy Alec Stockard from Narberth , Pennsylvania , who had spelled it " Fliers " on his entry , won the drawing and was declared the winner . With the name and colors already known , Philadelphia advertising firm Mel Richmann Inc . was hired to design a logo and jersey . With Tom Paul as head of the project , artist Sam Ciccone designed both the logo and jerseys with the concept to represent speed . Ciccone ' s winged P design , four stylized wings attached to a slanted P with an orange dot to represent a puck , was considered the " obvious choice " over his other designs which included a winged skate . Ciccone ' s jersey design , a stripe down each shoulder and down the arms , represented wings . The men hired to build the expansion Flyers were Bud Poile as General Manager and Keith Allen as Head Coach . Both were former NHL players and were Western Hockey League coaches in the years preceding expansion , Poile with the San Francisco Seals and Allen with the Seattle Totems . On May 8 , 1967 , the Flyers purchased the American Hockey League ' s Quebec Aces and with them acquired the NHL rights to eleven players , including Bill Sutherland and Ed Hoekstra . The NHL Expansion Draft was held a month later on June 6 . The six expansion franchises selected 20 players from the Original Six teams , though most of the players available were either aging veterans or career minor - leaguers before expansion occurred . Among the Flyers ' 20 selections were Bernie Parent , Doug Favell , Ed Van Impe , Joe Watson , Lou Angotti ( who would be named the Flyers ' first captain ) , Leon Rochefort , and Gary Dornhoefer . The following day , the Flyers made two selections in the 1967 NHL Amateur Draft , notably Serge Bernier 5th overall from the Sorel Éperviers . The Flyers made their debut on October 11 , 1967 , losing 5 – 1 on the road to the California Seals . Bill Sutherland scored the first goal in franchise history . They won their first game a week later , defeating the St . Louis Blues on the road , 2 – 1 . The Flyers made their home debut in front of a crowd of 7 , 812 , shutting out their trans - Pennsylvania rivals , the Pittsburgh Penguins , 1 – 0 on October 19 . The Flyers ' top goal scorer that first season , Leon Rochefort , scored only 21 times . With all six expansion teams grouped into the same division , the Flyers were able to win the division with a below . 500 record and after being forced to play their last seven home games on the road due to a March 1st storm blowing parts of the Spectrum ' s roof off . The Flyers returned to The Spectrum in time to open up their first playoff series on April 4 , 1968 against the St . Louis Blues . The Blues came into the series as underdogs , but they took Game 1 , 1 – 0 . Pat Hannigan scored the Flyers first ever playoff goal 1 : 32 into the first period of Game 2 . Tied going into the third period , Leon Rochefort ' s goal with 13 : 09 left proved to be the game winner in a 4 – 3 result . The series shifted to St . Louis and the Flyers lost both Games 3 and 4 . With the Flyers on the verge of elimination , Rosaire Paiement scored a hat trick in Game 5 and the Flyers won 6 – 1 . Returning to St . Louis for Game 6 , Don Blackburn ’ s goal with 8 : 42 left in the 2nd overtime forced a Game 7 . However , the Flyers lost Game 7 by a score of 3 – 1 . Player stats . Skaters . " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points ; PIM = Penalties in minutes " Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Flyers . Stats reflect time with the Flyers only . Traded mid - season Bold / italics denotes franchise record Goaltenders . " Note : GP = Games played ; TOI = Time on ice ( minutes ) ; W = Wins ; L = Losses ; T = Ties ; GA = Goals against ; SO = Shutouts ; SV % = Save percentage ; GAA = Goals against average " Transactions . The Flyers were involved in the following transactions before / during the 1967 – 68 season . Draft picks . Philadelphia ' s picks at the 1967 NHL Amateur Draft in Montreal , Quebec . Farm teams . The Flyers were affiliated with the Quebec Aces of the AHL , whom they purchased on May 8 , 1967 , the Seattle Totems of the WHL , and the Knoxville Knights of the EHL . Quebec finished second in their division and made it to the Calder Cup Finals before losing to the Rochester Americans in six games . Head coach Vic Stasiuk was awarded the Louis A . R . Pieri Memorial Award as coach of the year and Simon Nolet won the John B . Sollenberger Trophy as the league ' s leading scorer . Seattle finished 2nd in the 5 - team WHL and won the Lester Patrick Cup as league champions . Knoxville finished 9th in the 12 - team EHL and missed the playoffs in what proved to be their final season in existence .