This Day in Hockey History – December 5, 2002 – Handzus’s Hooked Arm Led to Shot Over the Leg

The score was still tied and overtime nearly ended when the referee called for a penalty shot. Michal Handzus won the game with that shot on December 5, 2002. It marked only the second time an NHL game had been decided in overtime by a penalty shot.

Although over 19,500 tickets had been sold for the game, snowy weather conditions meant that only about 13,000 showed up at the First Union Center in Philadelphia that December evening. For two thirds of the game, the score remained static. In the first period, the Philadelphia Flyers outshot the visiting New York Rangers 15-7, but in the third period the Rangers outshot their hosts 12-6. Both periods were for naught.

The only scoring in regulation occurred in the second period. The Flyers’ Mark Recchi followed his coach’s advice to score just two minutes into the period. “Hitchcock told us to look for the five-hole [that Dan Blackburn seemed to be neglecting]. I was kind of waiting to see what happened, then went five-hole.” However, the Rangers tied at 7:40 thanks to Bobby Holik, who had just returned after missing 18 months (due to a strained hip flexor). Holik commented, “I didn’t want to come back unless I was ready to compete. I was ready to compete tonight.”

Again, the Flyers took the lead in the second half, when Jeremy Roenick tallied at 15:32. He said afterwards, “That was a really fun game to play in. You know when you have rivalries like that it just brings out all the emotion. … We had a great 40 minutes and kind of sat back in the third and were a bit tentative.” And again, the Rangers answered. All night, the fans had booed former Flyer Eric Lindros. At 18:00, he gave them something to boo about. 

Tied at 2-2, the game would go into a five-minute overtime session. Flyers Coach Ken Hitchcock said that it seemed they were always going into overtime. “These are very emotional times for everybody. These are hard times, and when they’re this close, there’s no rest.” At least one of his players enjoyed himself. Handzus told the press, “It was fun. We don’t play overtime at home. So I have never done that before.”

Overtime would come down to Handzus. He had been drafted by St. Louis in 1995 and played there until 2001. After a year in Phoenix, he found his way to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2002. He would spend four seasons there before being traded to Chicago, where he missed most of a season. He signed with Los Angeles in 2007 and with San Jose in 2011. He finished his NHL career in Chicago, being traded just in time to win the Stanley Cup championship in 2013.

Less than 37 seconds remained in overtime when Rangers defenseman Tom Poti took Handzus down from behind. Referee Kevin Pollock called Poti for hooking and signaled a penalty shot. According to Handzus, “I think I had a breakaway, and he hooked me a little on the arm. It was the right call.”

Before taking the shot, Handzus returned to his bench to ask the advice of goalie Roman Cechmanek. “We sometimes stay late after practice and we play [one-on-one] against him,” explained Handzus. “There was not much to think about. I talked to Roman. He said to try to fake it and go to the backhand and shoot high. So I figured I have to listen to the goalie.” Indeed, according to the recap, “Handzus skated in on Dan Blackburn, faked a shot, went forehand to backhand and lifted the puck over Blackburn’s outstretched leg.”

Coach Hitchcock was impressed. “To me, to be able to have the confidence to make that play on that ice late in the game – it’s 65 minutes of hockey and the ice is going to get chewed up – to make that play at that stage … that’s a lot of confidence.” This was the first time in Flyers history that a penalty shot had decided a game in overtime and only the second time that was the case in NHL history since the implementation of the five-minute overtime.

For the Flyers, it was their second dramatic win in three games and their first win at home since November 2. Unsurprisingly, the stars of the game were three centers: Handzus, Lindros, and Roenick. 

The Flyers finished the season with 107 points (45-20-13-4), their highest since 1985 and still their sixth-highest in franchise history. It was only good enough to put them in second for their Atlantic Division, and they lost the conference semi-finals. They had a worse record the following season but led their division and made it a step further in playoffs.

Additional Sources:

• https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/nyr-vs-phi/2002/12/05/2002020380#game=2002020380,game_state=final
• Edward Moran, “Handzus makes Rangers pay in OT,” Philadelphia Daily News, 6 Dec. 2002, p. 166.
• Tim Panaccio, “Penalty shot lifts Flyers to OT win,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 Dec. 2002, pp. D1 and D4.
• John Dellapina, “Holik not enough for Rangers,” New York Daily News, 6 Dec. 2002, p. 112.