Eric Lindros said he had pretty much pushed that February night in 1997 when “The Legion of Doom” set a Flyers franchise record with 16 points to the back of his mind.
John LeClair got excited when someone mentioned it to him.
Then again, how could LeClair, who arguably possessed the hardest shot of any left wing in Flyers history, forget his record performance against Montreal?
That night, he tallied a career-high four goals and posted six points during a 9-5 victory at what was then the CoreStates Center (Wells Fargo Center).
“I remember the third period,” LeClair recalled. “E [Eric] scored a goal from the goal line at the end. It felt like everything we shot went in. Every pass was on the stick. It felt like one of those games that everything just went perfectly right.”
LeClair had been traded from Montreal a few seasons earlier, so the game meant more to him than others. Lindros said whenever the Flyers met Les Canadiens, he let LeClair dictate the game.
“Any time that we were playing against Montreal, you just basically grab hold of Johnny’s belt and you knew it was going to be a good night,” Lindros said. “I haven’t thought of that night in a long time. That was extremely special.”
Thursday night at Wells Fargo will be a rather special night, too, as LeClair and Lindros are inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame (see story).
Mikael Renberg, the fleet-footed right wing on the Doom line, flew in from Sweden on Tuesday, and will be present as well.
Who would have ever guessed it would happen with the way things ended for Lindros after the 1999-2000 season amid yet another concussion and his subsequent holdout the next year? Given the organizational dysfunction between himself and the club, followed by a forced trade to the Rangers, who would guess that No. 88 would be so honored by the Flyers?
“Greatly honored,” Lindros said. “I mean, Philadelphia is where I played my best hockey as a pro. I really enjoyed it. There were countless moments that I recall and have extremely fond memories of. It was a great environment to play in.”
Bob Clarke and Ed Snider forgave him years ago. Time heals all wounds and when Lindros appeared in the Alumni Game during the 2012 Winter Classic, he drew the loudest ovation.
Hockey fans in general and Flyers fans specifically, have come to recognize what he suffered through as a player and now view him in a very different light than they did more than a decade ago before the term “post-concussion syndrome” even existed.
“So much of what occurred was so long ago,” Lindros said. “We’re looking at fourteen almost fifteen years now. It was a real honor to be invited back to that outdoor game and I had a great time at it.
“It was a great time to catch up with some of the guys I played with. I’ve been going to the alumni game for a while now and the golf outing in the summer. It’s a great group to be around. It was what it was and it is what it is.”
It seems apropos that the two of them enter together. They were linemates for five and a half years as Flyers.
LeClair had 333 goals and 643 points as a Flyer — third all-time for a left wing. Lindros also is third all-time at center with 290 goals and 659 points.
They were as dynamic a duo as existed in their generation. If you had to pick a photo of the ideal power forward in the NHL in the 1990s or even now, LeClair and Lindros would be framed perfectly.
“It’s a great honor and I’m very humble to be in the Hall of Fame with the tradition that the Flyers have,” LeClair said.
“To me it’s great. Eric has been such a big part of my career and to have him right there next to me with everything is quite immense. Obviously, with what he’s done to get me to this point, to have him standing next to me is going to be a big thrill.”
The Legion of Doom line had two years of remarkable performances under coach Terry Murray, with a record 255 points in 1995-96 and 235 points in 1996-97, the only year they skated as a line in a Stanley Cup Final.
“John, Mikael and I were a pretty special group,” Lindros recalled. “We set up one another and we certainly enjoyed playing with one another and being together on and off the ice. It really was a special group to be involved with.
“We were a pretty confident bunch. Certainly, there were some times that it didn’t turn out that way. But we’d like to think that overall we had a pretty good positive effect on the outcome of our games.”
Both players regret never winning a Cup in Philly.
“It’s a huge disappointment,” said LeClair, who won a Cup in Montreal. “There were many years that I thought we had a team that were more capable of winning the Stanley Cup.
“We had some real good teams that it would have been great to win the Cup and I think the city deserved it with the teams we had.”
LeClair still lives in Haverford and works for his former agent, Lewis Gross, as a consultant.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I get to watch a lot of college junior games, some high school game stuff. I enjoy watching hockey. It also gives me quite a bit of freedom that I can follow my children and be a big part of their lives.”
Lindros still lives in Toronto and has an online shopping business.
“I’m invested in a company called Shop.ca we’re a big online mall basically,” he said. “I work in the sports marketing area a little bit and do some business development and we’re also getting into clothing.”
And yes, you can buy NHL jerseys on it, too.