How huge an upset was the Flyers' 1974 Cup win over Boston?

[Spirit of McMullen]

.Kate Smith's live rendition of God Bless America

Orr & Espo try to reverse the Kate Smith 36-3-1 good luck-streak by purposely shaking her hand right at the end of her performance (at about 3:15) Didn't work. You can clearly see them do it in the Kate Smith vid in reply #2. Kind of adds to the mystique of that entire series. Kind of a funny,quirky story.

When the Flyers eventually made the finals and Kate played live before game 6 of the finals, Boston stars Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito tried to reverse the jinx by shaking Kate's hand and giving her flowers - it didn't work and the Flyers won the cup.

Flyers History - Kate Smith

 

[Fenway]

 

[Big Phil]

That was definitely a shock, or a surprise. Philly was the first expansion team to win the Cup. I don't think anyone thought Philly was going to win prior to the series but it wasn't because they weren't a great team, it was just because no one thought they could beat Boston.

That Game 2, I've never seen the highlights of overtime. I know about Dupont's tying goal with 30 seconds left and Clarke's overtime winner but I've never seen the other highlights. That chance with about 3 minutes before Clarke's goal on a breakaway on Parent was pretty epic. Was that Bucyk? I can't remember, it was a left hand shot. But man, that goes in and we are talking about a 2-0 Boston lead and Philly isn't coming back from that.

The 1974 Bruins, like the 1971 version, had the top 4 scorers in the NHL during the year. Not even the Oilers ever did this. So yeah, everyone thought the Bruins were winning.

 

[bauerpower]

How huge an Upset? I was Extremely Upset! I bawled my 10 year old eyes out after Game 6. I couldn't believe that Orr or Espo couldn't get a single goal past the Bruin-Reject Bernie Parent.

 

[Normand Lacombe]

With about 10 seconds left in game 6, Orr attempted a shot from Boston's zone that just went wide of Parent. What is so important about this? It turns out Parent wasn't paying attention as he was glancing at the game clock. Years later, Parent admitted had Orr's shot been on goal, it would have gone in. Can you imagine Orr scoring on that long shot and Boston winning in OT? Boston likely wins game 7 at the Garden and Parent becomes the biggest goat in SC Final history.