With the previous Spring's upset loss to the Rangers fresh on their minds, the Flyers got off to a 6–0–0 start to the season, and only lost road games to the Islanders and Penguins in an 8–2–0 October.
Things began to click for the club as a whole in November as Brad McCrimmon returned from his suspension over a contract dispute and the emergence of Hextall forced Bob Froese into a back-up role.
Brian Propp scored four goals in a 7–1 win over St. Louis on December 2, but three games later he was lost for two months after suffering a serious knee injury against the Oilers.
Froese was dealt to the New York Rangers for Kjell Samuelsson on December 18 and later that same night routing the Islanders 9–4 which saw Poulin and Kerr record three-goal games.
The record reached 25–7–2 on December 21 after a 7–6 comeback win over the Blues, but during the next game in Buffalo, Ilkka Sinisalo went down with a knee injury and the team lost four in a row on a holiday road trip (Sabres, Canucks, Oilers, Kings).
With Propp, Sinisalo, Mark Howe, and Ron Sutter all suffering through long-term problems, plus minor injuries cropping up, the team sputtered late, going 15–15–5 over the remainder of the schedule.
Hextall was voted playoff MVP, the second such time a Flyer won the Conn Smythe Trophy despite being on the losing team, the other being Reggie Leach in 1976.
[21][22] During game two of their division semifinal series against the New York Rangers, the Flyers tied the team record for most goals in a single period (5).
[27] Among the skaters setting single season marks were Pelle Eklund for assists (20), Doug Crossman for points by a defenseman (18, later tied), and Propp for shots on goal (104).