Bob Vetrone Jr. of the Daily News uncovered an awesome statistic on his blog BoopStats early Wednesday morning that would seem to reveal the untold mystical powers of the broom.
Both times the Flyers have completed a four-game sweep in the opening round of a best-of-seven playoff, Philadelphia eventually got its parade. The Bullies opened post-season play with seven-game sweeps in '74 and '75, when they eventually went on to win the Stanley Cup.
What's more, this does not appear to be a random stat by any stretch of the imagination. 19 of the last 24 teams that hoisted the Cup at the end completed at least one such sweep en route to the finish.
It's rare a stat with these types of implications has any actual bearings on what will happen once the puck drops, but as DN's Frank Seravalli writes today, the Flyers could use the rest before marching on to Round 2.
Obviously they still need to take care of business tonight though. It was only two years we were on the right side of an incredible comeback from down 3-0 against the Boston Bruins, so there shouldn't be too many people taking this lead for granted.
In the only other best-of-seven sweep in franchise history, the Flyers took out the Rangers in four in the conference semis in
'95, but lost to the New Jersey Devils in the Conference Finals.
>> Flyers' Sweep ... Dreams [BoopStats]
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.