Flyers end season with 5-4 loss to Sabres; have fourth-best odds in NHL draft lottery

The hockey Gods gave Flyers fans what they wanted — and they came close to getting two things they’ve been clamoring for all season long.

First, the Flyers lost 5-4 to the Buffalo Sabres and finished 5-3-1 under interim coach Brad Shaw. They landed in last place in the Metropolitan Division with a 33-39-10 record; the Boston Bruins have the same record, but have 26 regulation wins to the Flyers’ 21, thus finishing one slot higher.

With the loss, the Flyers are locked in at fourth-best odds in the NHL draft lottery and have a 9.5% chance of nabbing the first overall pick in June’s draft. The lowest they can fall is sixth.

» READ MORE: Flyers clinch fourth-best odds in May’s NHL draft lottery with loss to the Buffalo Sabres

“Nobody feels good about the fact that we’re not playing any more games this year,” Shaw told reporters in Buffalo, N.Y. “But there are a lot of bright lights there that kind of shined through, and it gives you a lot of optimism for the future.”

“I think we stuck together as a group, tried to play right and finish strong,” added captain Sean Couturier about the Flyers’ last nine games. “It’s unfortunate, these last two losses, but overall, I think we were making more plays. We seemed to have a little more confidence in our game. Now we’ve got a big summer here and bring that into next year.”

The second didn’t happen but was fun to see: Matvei Michkov again came close to notching his first NHL hat trick. He had to settle for his seventh multi-goal game with a pair to finish the season as the NHL’s rookie leader with 26 goals. It also moved him atop the Flyers’ goal leaderboard.

“I wanted to score a hat trick for sure,” Michkov told reporters through the team’s translator. “But wanted to win first.”

His opening goal came in the first period on a power play, when he received a pass from Tyson Foerster out of the corner that went through Travis Konecny and Buffalo’s Zach Benson. Skating into the slot, he fired off the wrister for goal No. 25, tying San Jose Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini and cutting the Sabres lead to 2-1.

» READ MORE: Noah Cates was a pleasant surprise, but goaltending and power play prove to be sore spots for Flyers in 2024-25

In the second period, Michkov finished off a nifty passing play to cut the Sabres’ lead to 4-2. Konecny came out of the penalty box and sent the puck cross-ice to Couturier, who found Michkov by the right post. The Russian phenom made a smart play when he stopped the puck with his skates and, as it caromed toward the goal line, knocked it in with his stick with Sabres goalie James Reimer out of position.

Michkov had his chances for the hat trick in the third period. First, he put a hard shot from the left wing off Reimer’s shoulder. On the Flyers’ second power play of the game, he tried to tickle the twine from 32 feet out with 2 minutes, 31 seconds left in the game. And with less than 10 seconds to go, his scoring chance was poked away by Reimer.

Foerster did make it 4-3 in the third period with his 25th of the season. The Flyers entered the zone, and Bobby Brink sent the puck cross-ice to Noah Cates, who fed Foerster as he cut across the crease for a tip-in. Foerster finished with nine goals in his last nine games.

“We’ve got some really good young pieces, going to be part of the organization for a long time coming, and it’s exciting,” Shaw said. “We have a lot of holes to fill as well, but, yeah, some of the efforts and some of the additions to the games, the developments of some of those guys’ games, it has been substantial, and it’s a great signal going forward.

“These guys should be excited about the future. They’ve taken a huge step this year and really sort of raised the ceiling of where they possibly can get to when their game finally peaks. But, yeah, lots of great efforts by a lot of our real good young guys.”

Couturier almost tied the game at 4 with 11:38 left in regulation when he fired off a quick shot after the puck ricocheted to him off the end boards. Reimer stretched across and made the save, but the puck dropped and came within an inch of crossing the goal line.

Brink cut it to a one-goal game with 19 seconds left with a shot from the point. The goal set a career high (12) for the most improved player this season, as voted by his teammates.

“When you have guys like [Foerster], Bobby Brink, guys producing, it’s fun to see,” Couturier said. “They’re offensive guys, and they’re a big part of our future. So to see them take a step forward and step up in a huge way down the stretch, it’s nice to see.”

Aleksei Kolosov got the start in goal and allowed four goals on 30 shots.

Buffalo’s Alex Tuch scored 4:35 into the game with a tap-in off a pass from Jason Zucker that threaded the needle to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead. Peyton Krebs added a shorthanded goal at 13:59 to make it 2-0 when Tuch knocked the puck away from Konecny and out of the Sabres’ zone. Krebs chased it down and buried the backhander after skating across the top of the crease.

Buffalo had a 3-1 lead after the first period thanks to Ryan McLeod making a nifty move around Egor Zamula deep in the Flyers’ zone and found Jack Quinn crashing the net. JJ Peterka extended it to 4-1 in the second period on a two-on-one off a pass from McLeod. And McLeod finished with an empty-netter.

» READ MORE: Matvei Michkov likely won’t win the Calder Trophy, but his rookie season has been a gigantic success for the Flyers

“[We] wanted to try and enjoy the game first [and] wanted to finish on a positive note,” Michkov said about heading into the finale. “Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. We’ll be getting ready for the next season.”

The Sabres had a goal overturned late in the third period. Peterka thought he scored, but the Flyers challenged, and it was ruled Quinn interfered with Kolosov. He did knock off Kolosov’s glove when he made contact. … Sabres coach Lindy Ruff has 900 career wins, becoming the fifth NHL coach to reach the milestone. … A scary incident happened in the second period when Ryan Poehling put a puck off the crossbar as he crashed the net and, while falling, had his skate nick the neck of Reimer. … Forward Devin Kaplan made his NHL debut after signing a three-year entry-level contract on Tuesday. The Bridgewater, N.J., native just wrapped up his collegiate career at Boston University playing in the national championship game. He finished with one shot attempt, one hit and was on the ice for one goal against in 12:12 of ice time.

The Flyers will be meeting with coaches, management, and the media over the next two days before heading out of town for the summer. The next big date for the organization will be the NHL Draft Lottery on May 5 or 6.