thumb|192x192px|Jersey of Flyers' goaltender Bernie Parent, who played for the Flyers from 1967 to 1971 and again from 1973 to 1979. As it turned out, it was the last time the Flyers missed the playoffs for 18 years. In the 1972–73 season the Flyers got rid of the mediocre expansion team label and instead became the intimidating "Broad Street Bullies", a nickname coined by Jack Chevalier and Pete Cafone of the Philadelphia Bulletin on January 3, 1973, after a 3–1 brawling victory over the Atlanta Flames that led Chevalier to write in his game account, "The image of the fightin' Flyers spreading gradually around the NHL, and people are dreaming up wild nicknames. They're the Mean Machine, the Bullies of Broad Street and Freddy's Philistines." Cafone wrote the accompanying headline: "Broad Street Bullies Muscle Atlanta." That same month, Clarke was the youngest player (at that time) in NHL history to be named team captain, replacing Ed Van Impe. Rick MacLeish became the first Flyer to score 50 goals in a season and the Flyers recorded their first winning season.
thumb|192x192px|Jersey of Flyers' goaltender Bernie Parent, who played for the Flyers from 1967 to 1971 and again from 1973 to 1979. As it turned out, it was the last time the Flyers missed the playoffs for 18 years. In the 1972–73 season the Flyers got rid of the mediocre expansion team label and instead became the intimidating "Broad Street Bullies", a nickname coined by Jack Chevalier and Pete Cafone of the Philadelphia Bulletin on January 3, 1973, after a 3–1 brawling victory over the Atlanta Flames that led Chevalier to write in his game account, "The image of the fightin' Flyers spreading gradually around the NHL, and people are dreaming up wild nicknames. They're the Mean Machine, the Bullies of Broad Street and Freddy's Philistines." Cafone wrote the accompanying headline: "Broad Street Bullies Muscle Atlanta." That same month, Clarke was the youngest player (at that time) in NHL history to be named team captain, replacing Ed Van Impe. Rick MacLeish became the first Flyer to score 50 goals in a season and the Flyers recorded their first winning season.