One of the most famous Flyers games in history was one that didnt even count in the standings or playoffs of the NHL. The Soviet Red Army hockey team faced the defending Stanley Cup Champion Philadelphia Flyers in what would go down as the defining moment in the Flyers' dominance of hockey at that time.

Early in 1976, two Soviet professional teams had been invited by the NHL to take part in a series of exhibition games against the NHL's best. The list of NHL teams included the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders, Boston Bruins, and of course the Flyers. 8 exhibition games were to be played; 4 involving the Soviet Red Army, and 4 involving the Soviet Wings. Through the first 7 games of the series, only the Buffalo Sabres, the team the Flyers had beaten for their second straight Cup only a few months earlier, were able to muster a win by the score of 12-6 over the Soviet Wings. The 8th and final game of the series was between the Flyers and the Red Army squad, who were largely considered to be the greatest assembly of talent on ice in the world. The Flyers were determined to not let the Soviets go home with their heads held high.

On January 11, 1976, The Red Army arrived at the Spectrum for the finale of their tour. But, they were in for a much different challenge from those they faced against the Rangers, Canadiens, and Bruins. The Flyers, after all, were the defending Stanley Cup Champions and were actually playing even better than they had in the previous two seasons. The Flyers' "Broad Street Bullies" reputation preceded them, as did the Soviets' deadly offensive style. The game began with the Flyers setting the physical pace with a checking style the Red Army had never seen before. The Flyers attacked everyone, everywhere, and all the while, constantly applied pressure to the Soviet goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak.

Just 11:21 into the game, the coach of the Red Army squad, Konstantin Loktev, kept his entire team off the ice in protest to a high elbow by Ed Van Impe against the Soviets' top forward, Valeri Kharlamov. There was no call on the play, and Loktev was outraged. His team stood at the boards until the Soviets were charged with a delay of game penalty. By that time, Loktev had had enough, and pulled his team into the locker room. He had full intentions of staying right there and calling it a night, that was until Flyers majority owner Ed Snider informed the Soviets that they risked forfeiting the $200,000 they were to be paid for the exhibition tour if they did not finish the game. Reluctantly, the Soviets returned to the ice after their 16 minute absence to a chorus of boos from the Flyers' faithful. The jeers did not last long, however, as Reggie Leach broke the scoreless tie just 17 seconds into the resumption of play by deflecting a Bill Barber blueline shot past Tretiak while the Soviets were trying to kill their delay of game penalty.

Then 4:59 later, Rick MacLeish put the Flyers up by two. From that point on, the Flyers absolutely took over the ice with a style that put the Soviets on their collective ear. The Red Army had been notorious for being an offensive juggernaut, and always taking the smart shot. But on this night, the Flyers played exactly the way everyone had expected the Soviets to. The shots total was a grossly lopsided 17-2 in favor of the Flyersafter the first, and the Soviets would only manage 13 shots on the night. Meanwhile, the Flyers continued throughout the game to dominate the play with a total of 49 shots and tallying two more goals; one by Joe Watson and the other by Larry Goodenough.

After the game, Flyers' coach Fred Shero, who was the first NHL coach to study and use the Soviet styles in his game plan, proclaimed the Flyers as World Champions. They had beaten the best the entire world had to offer, and done it convincingly. The Red Army team, despite their successful winning record in the exhibtion tour, were sent home on a sour note, having been beaten badly by the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers had truly established themselves as the best in the world.