More than talent, more than clutch scoring, the Flyers were pushed to the finish line by emotion.
That's what made the start and finish of Saturday's playoff-clinching, 3-1 win over Pittsburgh so memorable.
In a moving pregame tribute, Lauren Hart sang "God Bless America" in a duet with a video of Kate Smith, and face-timed her rendition to ill Flyers chairman and cofounder Ed Snider in California. Hart blew kisses to Snider when she was finished.
"It was her idea; it was just one those things that came from the heart," said Shawn Tilger, the Flyers' chief operating officer of business operations.