Ruff gets 900th NHL win, Sabres edge Flyers in finale

BUFFALO -- Lindy Ruff earned his 900th NHL win in the Buffalo Sabres’ 5-4 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

“Just means I’ve coached a lot of hockey games, had a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches, from management down, put a lot of trust in me,” Ruff said. “It isn’t about me, it’s about the teams I’ve had and the people around me.”

Ruff is the fifth coach in NHL history to reach the milestone, joining Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (969), Paul Maurice (916) and Barry Trotz (914).

“It’s awesome,” Sabres forward Alex Tuch said. “It’s good to get the last win there of the season, and to get 900 for him, I think, is really special. I think it meant a lot to our group. I know he says it (doesn’t), but I’m guessing it probably means a lot to him, too. That’s no small feat there.”

Ryan McLeod had a goal and two assists, and Tuch, JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres (36-39-7), who ended a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) and were 9-4-1 in their final 14 games. James Reimer made 21 saves.

“I think we had more full team efforts,” Tuch said of Buffalo's end to the regular season. “I think we had more buy-in, playing the right way. I think guys said that if you weren’t playing the right way, you weren’t going to play as much and you weren’t going to get as good opportunities. So, guys really picked it up. ... We’re not where we wanted to be, but I thought it was a good end to the season.”

Matvei Michkov scored twice, and Tyson Foerster had a goal and an assist for the Flyers (33-39-10). Aleksei Kolosov made 26 saves.

“There was lots of chances both ways,” Philadelphia coach Brad Shaw said. “We probably could have played a bit better in the first half of the game away from the puck, but [Kolosov] gave us enough saves and gave ourselves a chance to get close at least at the end. It’s kind of significant in the fact that all year long we’ve had a resilience and a tenacity, and it shows again there as the game winds down.”

Tuch gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 4:35 of the first period, tapping a backdoor pass from Jason Zucker inside the right post.

Peyton Krebs made it 2-0 at 13:49 with a short-handed goal. He caught up to Tuch's clearing attempt just above the left circle, skated in on net and roofed a backhand over Kolosov's glove.

“He put himself in the right position,” Ruff said. “He outraced a couple of people, got himself in the right position. The small battles he won in a lot of places led to big opportunities. ... There’s not a task that he’s not up for.”

Michkov cut it to 2-1 on the same power play at 15:09. He beat Reimer glove side with a wrist shot just under the crossbar after Foerster's centering pass went to him under the stick of Travis Konecny.

Quinn pushed it to 3-1 on a 2-on-1 at 16:11. McLeod faked out Flyers defenseman Egor Zamula with a shoulder drop and sent a backhand pass across the crease to Quinn, who quickly buried it inside the left post.

Peterka made it 4-1 at 1:24 of the second period with a wrist shot short side from the left circle after receiving a pass from McLeod a 2-on-1.

Michkov cut it to 4-2 at 7:11 when Sean Couturier’s backdoor pass deflected into the net off his skate at the right post.

It was Michkov's 26th goal of the season, moving him past Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks for the lead among NHL rookies.

“We’ve got some really good young pieces that are going to be a part of the organization for a long time coming,” Shaw said. “It’s exciting. ... [The young players] have taken a huge step this year and really raised the ceiling of where they can get to when their game finally peaks.”

Foerster got the Flyers to within 4-3 just 15 seconds into the third period, tapping in a feed from Noah Cates at the edge of the crease.

McLeod scored an empty-net goal at 19:12 to make it 5-3.

Bobby Brink beat a screened Reimer with a point shot at 19:41 for the 5-4 final.

“I think we stuck together as a group, tried to play the right way and finish strong,” Couturier said. “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 (under Shaw). Now we’ve got a big summer here and bring that into next year.”

NOTES: Michkov was also tied for second among rookies with 63 points and tied for first in power-play goals with eight. ... Foerster scored 25 goals this season, with nine coming in his final nine games. ... Of Ruff’s 900 wins, 607 have come as Sabres coach. ... Tuch finished this season with 113 blocked shots, the most by a forward in NHL history. He also scored 36 goals, tying his career high set in 2022-23.