1947-48 Philadelphia Flyers

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The NHL has decided they will expand to seven teams starting with the 1947-48 season, and they are adding Philadelphia to the league, the 4th largest city in the country, which was 3rd not very long ago.

The team will be named the Flyers, and start a rivalry with the New York Rangers, their rivals less than 2 hours up the road.

Buffalo, Cleveland, and St. Louis were interested in the team but it is going to Philadelphia because a new arena is opening for the 1948-49 season, one of the largest in the league.

An expansion draft will be held in order to help funnel some sort of talent into the team.

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The first Flyers signee is C Eldie Kobussen.

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Here is the roster which has been signed so far for the Philadelphia Flyers.

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These are the Flyers lines as they prepare for the first game in franchise history, a preseason game against the Chicago Black Hawks.

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The first preseason game for the Flyers ended up in a 10-2 loss, even after the Flyers scored the first goal shorthanded no less.

Chicago scored 5 unanswered to end the game by Bentley, Gee, Prystai, Gee again, and Mosienko, as the latter 2 both got hat tricks.

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All Philadelphia Flyers games will air locally in the Philadelphia market on WHAT, 1340 AM. All games will be broadcast starting with the 2nd period of each game and some games the entire first period will also be broadcast.

Fifteen Flyers home games, starting with the preseason ender against the Rangers on September 14, will be televised on WFIL-TV, Channel 6 in Philadelphia.

Some road games from New York may also be broadcast on television depending on updates for the coaxial cable.

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The Flyers finished the preseason after their game with Chicago with 3 battles against the Rangers and 2 versus Montreal.

9/9: NYR 4, PHI 2; NYR- O'Connor, Kullman, Watson 2; PHI- Schriner, Pratt, A- 11,717

Flyers get outshot 44-27 as the Rangers pull off the win.

9/11: PHI 5, MTL 2; PHI- Smith (2), Giesebrecht (1), Strain 2, Albright (1), MTL- Richard (1), Blake (1); A- 6,741

Philly gets out to an early 3-1 lead after a period and holds on for the victory. Montreal peppers Johnny Bower with 25 3rd period shots.

9/12: NYR 3, PHI 2; PHI- Brown, Bieler; NYR- Watson (3), Raleigh (1), Kullman (2); A- 12,208

Rangers come back from a 2-0 end of 1st period deficit to score 3 times in the 3rd period and earn the victory.

9/14: NYR 6, PHI 3; PHI- Smith 2 (SH, ES), Strain (3); NYR- O'Connor 3 (4), Watson (4), Warwick (2), Raleigh (2); A- 7,674

A crazy 118 shots in this game, 78-40 Rangers leading, as there are only 6 PIM in this one.

9/15: PHI 3, MTL 2; PHI- Giesebrecht (2), Pratt (2, PP), Kyle (1), MTL- Fillion 2 (ES, SH); A- 9,963

The Flyers win their final preseason game inside the Montreal Forum, providing a boost of momentum headed into the regular season, starting the earliest in NHL history, September 20 against the Rangers. That game will also air on WFIL-TV starting at 7:30pm.

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The Flyers started off their first season in Philadelphia with a game against their new rivals, the New York Rangers. The team from up the road a little bit made the trip to Philadelphia Convention Hall to christen the new franchise.

9/20: NYR 7, PHI 4; PHI- Schriner (1, PP), Trigg (1), Bieler (1), DeMarco (1); NYR- Laprade (1), Kullman (1), Leswick 2 (EN), Heller (1), Raleigh (1), Lancien (1); A- 9,005

An impressive crowd for the opener in Philly at over 9,000, who watched the Flyers lead after the first period 1-0. That was the peak of excitement for the game though, as the Rangers quickly added 4 2nd period goals and pulled away from there.

9/21: MTL 5, PHI 3; PHI- Bieler 2 (3), Davies (1); MTL- Chamberlain (1), Peters (2), Locas (1), Reay (1), Lamoureux (1, EN); A- 13,172

A tough loss in the Montreal Forum as the Flyers were down only one goal after the 2nd period but an empty net goal late gave the Canadiens the cushion they needed.

9/23: TOR 3, PHI 1; TOR- Kennedy (1, PP), Lynn (1), Thomson (1), PHI- Brown (1); A- 8,803

The Flyers hold a 1-0 lead through 2 periods at Convention Hall, but cannot hold on, allowing 3 goals in 7:40 in the 3rd period to lose again.

9/24: MTL 5, PHI 3; PHI- Brown 2 (3), Bauer (1); MTL- Richard (3), Lamoureux (2), Reay 2 (3), Peters (3); A- 7,434

After leading by 2 goals after 2 periods, the Canadiens score 4 in the final period to come back and earn their win, keeping the Flyers off the victory board in 1947 so far.

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The Philadelphia Flyers started the season 0-4, with some tough losses after later game leads. The Flyers hope to buck the trend coming up here.

9/27: TOR 3, PHI 2; TOR- Mortson (1), Bodnar (1), Lynn (2); PHI- Pratt 2 (2); A- 14,550

A tight one-goal loss as good goaltending from Johnny Bower keeps Philadelphia right into the game at the end.

9/28: DET 10, PHI 3; DET- Abel 2 (5), Conacher 2 (4, PP), Quackenbush (3), Lindsay (1), Howe (5), Couture (3), McFadden (3), Kelly (2); PHI- Trepp (1), Brown (4), Bauer (2); A- 7,224

This was not the case in the next day's game though, as the Red Wings scored 10 goals in the first 2 periods to blow the Flyers right off the rink.

9/30: MTL 4, PHI 2; MTL- Peters (6), Lamoureux (3), Blake 2 (3, ENG); PHI- Schriner (2, PP), Bieler (4); A- 7,998

The Flyers lose their seventh straight to start the year as all the goals are scored in the final 2 periods.

Standings breakdown:

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The Flyers have struggled through the first half of their first season in the National Hockey League, only getting points in 5 games out of 39 to start the season.