The Flyers ended the season with a 5-4 loss to Buffalo that saw Matvei Michkov score a pair of goals to give him the team lead and league-wide rookie lead in goals. But it wasn’t enough as the Flyers’ regulation loss put them in the fourth spot for the draft lottery.
The basics
First period: 4:35 – Alex Tuch (Jason Zucker, Jacob Bernard-Docker), 13:49 – Peyton Krebs (Alex Tuch, Connor Clifton) (SHG), 15:09 – Matvei Michkov (Tyson Foerster, Sean Couturier) (PPG), 16:11 – Jack Quinn (Ryan McLeod, J.J. Peterka)
Second period: 1:24 – J.J. Peterka (Ryan McLeod), 7:11 – Matvei Michkov (Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny)
Third period: 0:15 – Tyson Foerster (Noah Cates, Bobby Brink), 19:12 – Ryan McLeod (Unassisted) (ENG), 19:41 – Bobby Brink (Unassisted)
SOG: 25 (PHI) – 31 (BUF)
Some takeaways
Alex beats Aleksei
After a good save to start the game and keep the score even, Aleksei Kolosov did not have much of a chance when Sabres forward Jason Zucker fed Alex Tuch. Tuch beat Kolosov clean to take a 1-0 lead. It wasn’t much of a start for the Flyers, having one shot on goal through the first five minutes. Kolosov, getting the nod in the finale, was OK most of the night, stopping 26 of 30 shots.
Foerster fires one home
After getting close but not close enough, the Flyers opened the third period with a pretty passing play that Tyson Foerster finished. The play also gave Bobby Brink his 40th point of the season.
Tyson Foerster scores and it’s a one-goal game, 4-3 Sabres.
— Andrew Coté (@acote_88) April 18, 2025
Goal: Foerster (25) Assists: Cates (21) Brink (29)pic.twitter.com/oJn6Kb81c3
Halfway through the third the Flyers thought they tied it up. A Sean Couturier shot was stopped fractions of an inch away from crossing the line. A replay determined James Reimer stopped it and the game remained 4-3.
Kaplan’s debut
Devin Kaplan had a busy week. After losing in the NCAA Frozen Four Championship, Kaplan signed his entry-level deal a few days later, burning his first year to get a chance to make his NHL debut before season’s end. And while Kaplan’s physique doesn’t resemble the brickhouse that was Tim Kerr, the No. 12 jersey number he sported seemed appropriate. On a line with Owen Tippett and Jakob Pelletier, Kaplan didn’t look out of place. In fact his line was responsible for the best chance of the first period when Tippett broke in alone but veteran Buffalo keeper Riemer got a piece of his glove on it.
Late in the first Tippett and Kaplan got a two-on-one chance but Tippett shot and didn’t finish. If desiring a Flyers loss, you couldn’t script the opening 20 much better, outshot 14-5 and down by a pair. As for Kaplan, his best chance of the night was a one-timer off a Tippett pass that he whiffed on about six minutes into the third.
Strangest play of the season?
In the second period, the Sabres came in on an odd-man rush and had an empty net. Unfortunately for the Sabres, the one-timer missed the net. It did however unsuspectingly hit referee Peter MacDougall squares in the Kolosovs, who collapsed quickly. It took a few minutes for the official to recover. As for Buffalo, that empty net was forgotten about when Ryan McLeod fed J.J. Peterka who beat Kolosov on the stick side for a rather comfy 4-1 lead.
Scariest play of the season
Late in the second Ryan Poehling came down on Reimer attempting to make it a 4-3 game. However, Poehling tumbled over, with his right skate blade hitting Reimer in the neck area. Reimer started holding his neck but fortunately it was nothing catastrophic, just a slight grazing that looked nothing more than a bad paper cut. Reimer was more concerned about stopping the puck initially than his possible injury. He remained in the game, possibly his last of his NHL career being an Unrestricted Free Agent.
Keep it running so we can get out of here
With neither team playing for anything (other than draft positioning with a loss), the game didn’t have much juice or oomph from start to finish. Philadelphia had just two shots in the first 10 minutes while Matvei Michkov missed a chance in front. However Michkov hit paydirt on the power play, recording his 25th of the season which gave him the team lead. And tying him with Macklin Celebrini for the lead in goals among rookies.
As for the goal, ’twas quite pretty. A high wrist shot that Reimer didn’t have a chance on.
Matvei Michkov snipes home a beauty on the power play for his 25th goal of the year!#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/W2uUtDtCiR
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 17, 2025
Michkov kept it fun for the Flyers, as the pond hockey atmosphere lead to his second of the night, positioning his feet to stop the puck and getting his stick on it for his 26th of the year, resulting in him leading all rookies in goals for the 2024-25 season. Well done Mike!
Matvei Michkov finishes Couturier's pass for his 26th goal of the year, most by any rookie this season!#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/bFkBHkWO5K
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 18, 2025
Michkov had chances to get the hat trick, even down to the dying seconds but couldn’t get the third. He finished the night with seven shots in just over 20 minutes of ice time.
Juggling the lines
Whether it was a small reward for his play all year, Brink briefly saw himself on a line with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. Brink was also at the point for the Flyers’ opening power play, but the power play didn’t go according to plan. A quasi-beer league mental lapse saw the Flyers give up a lengthy breakaway as Peyton Krebs seemed to have all the time in the world, beating Kolosov with a short-handed goal and giving Buffalo a 2-0 lead.
The same speed killed the Flyers late in the first as Kolosov again didn’t have much of a chance as Jack Quinn quickly restored the two-goal lead for Buffalo.
Jack Quinn finishes off the pretty setup from McLeod for his 15th tally of the season!#Sabrehood pic.twitter.com/M13W0cSqv6
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 17, 2025
A game you’re glad Shaw coached
With Brad Shaw’s tenure with the Flyers to be determined, the Flyers didn’t play a great game at all. Fortunately, Shaw’s demeanor isn’t that of the hot-headed predecessor in John Tortorella. This was the type of game or effort that might have caused Tortorella to call a time out and rip a strip off the team. It might have been an ugly end in Toronto, but a clunker like this might have caused him to be fired anyway. At least the messiness was behind closed doors.
It was the type of tilt where a guy like Nick Seeler might only throw 92 per cent of his body in front of the puck instead of the 107 per cent he usually does.
And finally … Thank you!
As this was the final recap of the 2024-25 Flyers season, a huge and sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to read these recaps (previews, game threads, blogs, podcasts, news items and everything else), comment, reply to comments, visit the site, subscribe, like, or retweet (re-Bluesky?) during this season. Although it wasn’t the ending some hoped for, Broad Street Hockey will continue to churn out content during the NHL playoffs, the Draft Lottery, the NHL Draft, July 1 Free Agency and throughout the summer. Here’s hoping the Flyers start 2025-26 on the right foot with more talent and a bit closer to their ultimate goal. But in short, thank you!
