Postgame 5: Flyers Bow to Buffalo in Season Finale

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 5-4, at KeyBank Center on Thursday evening. Matvei Michkov (two goals, one assist) and Ryan McLeod (one goal, two assists) had three-point games for their respective sides.

The Flyers finished the 2024-25 season with a 33-39-10 record. They were 29th in the overall league standings.

The Sabres, who have been a good home team this season (their problems came mostly on the road), dominated most of the first period. The Flyers came on later in the game, but never drew even.

At 1:25 of the first period, McLeod was stopped on a tough scoring chance by goaltender Aleksei Kolosov. At 2:56, Kolosov erased an Egor Zamula turnover to deny Noah Ostlund from the center slot.

Alex Tuch (36th goal of the season) gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 4:35 of the first period. Tuch slipped past debuting rookie Devin Kaplan to take a feed from veteran Jason Zucker and score. The secondary assist went to Jacob Bernard-Docker.

Owen Tippett broke loose for a breakaway through the middle at 8:09. He was unable to beat James Reimer to the glove side.

Bernard-Docker flipped the puck over the glass from the defensive zone for a delay of game penalty at 13:36. The Flyers coughed up a shorthanded goal for the 10th time this season (the 10th shorthander scored by Buffalo in 2024-25) as they turned the puck over and paid the price. Tuch poked the puck ahead to Peyton Krebs (SHG, 10th), who soloed and beat Kolosov for a short-lived 2-0 lead.

A seeing-eye pass made its way through to Michkov (PPG, 25th) in the mid slot. The rookie sniped a power play goal at 15:09 to cancel out the Krebs shorthanded goal. The assists went to Tyson Foerster and Sean Couturier. The initial pass seemed to be intended for Travis Konecny.

Buffalo restored a two-goal edge at 16:10. McLeod fed Jack Quinn (15th) for a back-door slam dunk. The secondary assist went to J.J. Peterka.

First period shots on goal skewed 14-5 in the Sabres' favor. Scoring chances were also lopsided but the Tippett breakaway and the Michkov power play marker were bonadfide scoring opportunities.

Tage Thompson missed a half-open net in the first minute of the second period. Peterka (27th) made it 4-1 at 1:27 as Buffalo had a 2-on-1. McLeod had the lone assist.

Peterka and Zucker each had golden scoring chances that did not go in the net but Konency was called for a ticky-tack slashing minor at 5:04 with the other Philly skaters caught puck watching. Garnet Hathaway was denied on a shorthanded chance under back pressure from Rasmus Dahlin.

Michkov (2nd goal of the game, 26th of the season) went to the net and scored inside the right post for a 4-2 deficit at 7:11. The assists went to Couturier and Konecny. The goal secured the top spot for Michkov as the NHL rookie goal-scoring leader in 2024-25.

After poking the puck away from Foerster, Krebs had a breakaway at 10:55. Kolosov sealed the five hole to keep the gap at 4-2.

A few shifts later, Ryan Poehling hit the crossbar from close range. Poehling's skate came dangerously close to slicing Reimer's neck. Thankfully, no one was hurt as Reimer was merely grazed.

Second period shots on goal were 11-10 Flyers. Through two periods, shots on goal favored Buffalo, 24-16.

Fifteen seconds into the third period, Foerster (25^th goal of the season) converted a feed from Noah Cates to cut the deficit to 4-3. The secondary assist went to Bobby Brink.

At 4:51, Kolosov stopped a one-time blast from the right circle off the stick of Isak Rosen. At 8:22, Couturier had a prime scoring chance from the right slot off a carom from the end boards. The play was ruled no goal on the ice. The Situation Room in Toronto upheld the ruling as a piece of the puck did not cross the goal line.

At the other end of the ice, Peterka had a prime chance for his second goal of the game. Kolosov made an acrobatic save to his left on Peterka's shot from the low slot.

Buffalo had a two-man breakaway with a golden chance to open a 5-3 lead. Puck carrier Krebs elected to shoot and hit the crossbar at 12:50.

Peterka crashed the net, driving to the far post and getting position on Nick Seeler, scoring at 16:34. The Flyers challenged the play for goaltender interference, and the challenge was upheld. The would-be goal came off the board and the Flyers were still only down by one goal.

Tuch tripped Michkov in the attack zone at 17:01. Michkov was stopped on a right-circle one-timer to the short side with 1:31 on the penalty clock. Krebs subsequently had his second shorthanded breakaway of the game but was unable to score.

With 47.9 seconds remaining, McLeod (ENG, 20th) scored into an empty net for what soon proved to be a vital insurance goal for Buffalo. The tally, scored officially at 19:12, was unassisted.

At 19:41,skating 6-on-5 with an empty net behind him, Brink (12th) scored on a shot from the point. The goal was assisted by Michkov and Poehling.

The Flyers produced some nervous moments for the Sabres over the final 19 seconds. However, time expired with Buffalo still holding a one-goal lead.

In a losing cause, Kolosov stopped 27 of 31 shots. For Buffalo, Reimer made 21 saves on 24 shots. The McLeod empty net goal ended up becoming the game-winner officially. Third period shots were 9-8 Flyers (32-25 overall in Buffalo's favor).

Devin Kaplan made his NHL debut for the Flyers on Thursday. Fellow recent collegiate player signee Karsen Dorwart did not dress for this game.

Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff recorded the 900th win of his NHL coaching career.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster -27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
39 Matvei Michkov - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
12 Devin Kaplan - 25 Ryan Poehling - 74 Owen Tippett
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 19 Garnet Hathaway -- 22 Jakob Pelletier

24 Nick Seeler - 6 Travis Sanheim
8 Cam York - 9 Jamie Drysdale
5 Egor Zamula - 36 Emil Andrae

35 Aleksei Kolosov

[33 Samuel Ersson]

Scratches: 23 Karsen Dorwart (healthy), 55 Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body), 82 Ivan Fedotov (healthy).

PP1: Konecny, Couturier, Brink, Foerster, Michkov
PP2: Sanheim, Tippett, Cates, Lycksell, Drysdale

TURNING POINT

Michkov's quick response to Krebs' shorthanded goal made clear that the flyers weren't just going down meekly in the final game of the season. The Foerster tally in the opening 15 seconds of the third period made the rest of the game suspenseful.

POSTGAME 5 ("RAV4 THINGS" REVISITED)

1. NHL debut for Devin Kaplan: The 2022 third-round pick skated 12:12 in his first-ever NHL game. He attempted one shot (which was blocked) and was credited with one hit. He settled in a bit after the Tuch goal early in the first period.

2. Michkov watch: The dynamic 20-year-old rookie came into the final game with 60 points (24 goals, 36 assists). Michkov's power play goals moved him into a tie for 5th in PPG by a Flyers rookie: Eric Lindros, Simon Gagne, Pelle Eklund, Peter Zezel, Shayne Gostisbehere. Overall, Michkov (26g, 36a, 62 points) became the first Flyers rookie since Andre Lacroix (24 in 1968-69) to lead the team in goals. He finished his rookie campaign overall with 63 points (26g, 37a) in 80 games played.

3. Power play: Ranked 30th in the NHL entering the season's final game (14.6 percent), the Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play on Thursday but ended up even on special teams for the night due to Krebs' shorthanded goal.

4. Penalty kill: Ranked 20th on the penalty kill (77.2 percent) coming into Thursday, the Flyers went 1-for-1 on the PK in the finale. Hathaway came close to a shortie for the Flyers' side.

5. X-factor -- Shot suppression: The Flyers accumulated a league-most 1,438 blocked shots this season through Game 81 to top all NHL clubs, On Thursday, the Flyers blocked 19 shot attempts by the Sabres to finish with 1,457 blocks for the 2024-25 season.