NHL

Philadelphia Flyers at Buffalo Sabres

· National Hockey League
Final
4 - 5

Coach Lindy Ruff earns 900th victory in Sabres' season-ending 5-4 win over Flyers

JJ Peterka lights the lamp for Sabres

Alex Tuch, JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn had a goal and assist each, and Peyton Krebs scored a short-handed goal for Buffalo. James Reimer made 21 saves for his eighth win in 10 starts to finish the season 10-10-2.

Ruff joined Florida’s Paul Maurice (916 wins) as the NHL’s only active coaches with 900 or more wins. In his second stint coaching the Sabres, Ruff ranks second with 607 victories with one team, behind only Al Arbour, who had 740 with the Islanders.

Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov snapped a six-game goal drought by scoring twice and Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink had a goal and assist. Rookie Aleksei Kolosov stopped 26 shots, and the loss secured Philadelphia finishing last in the Eastern Conference standings for the second time in team history.

After nearly blowing a 4-1 second-period lead, McLeod sealed the win with an empty-netter with 48 seconds left in a game the Sabres never trailed.

Takeaways Flyers: Michkov finished with 26 goals, the sixth most by a Flyers rookie, and most since Mikael Renberg had 38 in 1993-94.

Sabres: Tuch set an NHL record among forwards with 112 blocked shots.

Key moment With Buffalo up 4-3, a replay review with 11:38 showed Flyers’ Sean Couturier’s shot sneaking under Reimer, but the puck failing to completely cross the line.

Key stat The Sabres closed the season with a 23-15-3 home record, marking their most wins in Buffalo since having 25 in 2009-10.

Regular Season Series

PHI wins series 2-1

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 4:35 Alex Tuch Goal (36) Tip-In, assists: Jason Zucker (32), Jacob Bernard-Docker (6)
Goal 1st Period 13:49 Peyton Krebs Goal (10) Backhand, assists: Alex Tuch (31), Connor Clifton (15)
Goal 1st Period 15:09 Matvei Michkov Goal (25) Wrist Shot, assists: Tyson Foerster (18), Sean Couturier (29)
Goal 1st Period 16:11 Jack Quinn Goal (15) Wrist Shot, assists: Ryan McLeod (32), JJ Peterka (41)
Goal 2nd Period 1:24 JJ Peterka Goal (27) Wrist Shot, assists: Ryan McLeod (33), Jack Quinn (24)
Goal 2nd Period 7:11 Matvei Michkov Goal (26) Wrist Shot, assists: Sean Couturier (30), Travis Konecny (52)
Goal 3rd Period 0:15 Tyson Foerster Goal (25) Tip-In, assists: Noah Cates (21), Bobby Brink (29)
Goal 3rd Period 19:12 Ryan McLeod Goal (20) Wrist Shot, assists: none
Goal 3rd Period 19:41 Bobby Brink Goal (12) Slap Shot, assists: Matvei Michkov (37), Ryan Poehling (19)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/phi.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originPHI https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/buf.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originBUF
17 Blocked Shots 14
10 Hits 14
10 Takeaways 8
24 Shots 31
1 Power Play Goals 0
2 Power Play Opportunities 1
50.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
0 Short Handed Goals 1
0 Shootout Goals 0
27 Faceoffs Won 28
49.1 Faceoff Win Percent 50.9
11 Giveaways 12
1 Total Penalties 2
2 Penalty Minutes 4
Buffalo Sabres Buffalo Sabres Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Owen Power, D Out Apr 19
Beck Malenstyn, LW Out Apr 17
Josh Norris, C Out Apr 15
Jordan Greenway, LW Out Apr 12
Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia Flyers Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Rasmus Ristolainen, D Out Apr 24
Eetu Makiniemi, G Out Apr 17

Game Information

KeyBank Center

Location: Buffalo, NY
Attendance: 16,633 | Capacity:

2024-25 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Washington 51 22 111 9
Carolina 47 30 99 5
New Jersey 42 33 91 7
Columbus 40 33 89 9
NY Rangers 39 36 85 7
NY Islanders 35 35 82 12
Pittsburgh 34 36 80 12
Philadelphia 33 39 76 10

2024-25 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Toronto 52 26 108 4
Tampa Bay 47 27 102 8
Florida 47 31 98 4
Ottawa 45 30 97 7
Montreal 40 31 91 11
Detroit 39 35 86 8
Buffalo 36 39 79 7
Boston 33 39 76 10
Full Standings