Philadelphia Flyers vs. Buffalo Sabres Pick & Prediction APRIL 17th 2025
Preview and Prediction
The Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers have many similarities as they prepare for their regular-season finale on Thursday night in Western New York.
To begin with, both teams were eliminated from playoff contention a while ago.
Furthermore, the Sabres and Flyers were both shut out in their most recent game on Tuesday. Buffalo extended their losing streak to four games (0-3-1) with a 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, while Philadelphia was held scoreless for the eighth time this season in a 3-0 defeat to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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And let's not forget the elephant in the room. The Flyers (33-38-10, 76 points) are tied with the Boston Bruins and Seattle Kraken for the fourth-lowest point total in the NHL, just one point ahead of the Sabres (35-39-7, 77 points). Therefore, the outcome of Thursday's game will have an impact on the 2025 NHL Draft lottery.
However, Philadelphia goaltender Samuel Ersson doesn't want to hear about the draft lottery. He made 31 saves against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday and is focused on the present.
"Obviously it's very disappointing for us, we want to be in the playoffs, that's the situation we want to be in," Ersson said, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia. "That's why you work so hard in the summer and why you put in all the work during the year, you want to be in the playoffs.
"It stings not being there, I think we have some lessons to learn from this year, myself included in that. I think you have to remember how much this (stinks) and use that as fuel and let it motivate you to work even harder to get to the playoffs."
Buffalo can relate to that sentiment, as the team has not made the playoffs since the 2010-11 season.
"We left a lot of good chances out there," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said after Tuesday's game against the Maple Leafs. "Tight game. It was a hard-fought game. We were doing a lot of good stuff against those two top lines and we were generating enough to win it. ... Second period, we left too many chances there."
The Sabres will try to avoid being swept by the visiting Flyers this season. Philadelphia has already defeated Buffalo by three goals in both November and March.
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In the November matchup, rookie Matvei Michkov recorded two assists for the Flyers in their 5-2 win over the Sabres. He then scored two goals in their 7-4 victory last month. Michkov is tied with Travis Konecny and Tyson Foerster for the team lead with 24 goals.
Unfortunately for Michkov and his teammates, they were unable to find the back of the net against the Blue Jackets, resulting in a 5-2-1 record under interim head coach Brad Shaw.
"I thought we were a little easier to play against than what we have been recently," Shaw said. "It's too bad because the first eight, 10 minutes, I thought we were going to be in a real good hockey game. It just didn't sort of finish that way for us."
Philadelphia Flyers vs. Buffalo Sabres Recap NOV 3TH 2023
Atlanta (9-8) has won four consecutive games while Chicago (8-10) had its three-game winning streak snapped.
The teams will play again Sunday, also in Chicago.
The Sky are 1-1 with Emre Vatansever as the interim head coach after taking over for James Wade, who was hired as an assistant with the NBA's Toronto Raptors.
Chicago forward Ruthy Hebard, who gave birth to son Xzavier less than three months ago, was cleared this week to return to action but did not play.
Rhyne Howard scored 17 points for the Dream. Cheyenne Parker added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Danielle Robinson collected 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Chicago's Kahleah Copper had 16 points, Marina Mabrey finished with 14 and Elizabeth Williams 11.
Gray scored 15 points in the first half, when Atlanta led by as many as 12 points.
An 11-0 run gave the Dream a 32-20 lead with 6:24 left in the first half.
Chicago scored 12 unanswered points to tie the game at 34 with 3:29 left before halftime.
Neither team led by more than five points in the third quarter after Atlanta led 42-41 at halftime.
Atlanta led 59-58 going into the fourth quarter after Gray made a free throw with 18.4 seconds left in the third quarter. The free throw followed a technical foul on Chicago's Dana Evans for arguing with a referee after a foul was not called when she was stripped of the ball going to the basket.
Atlanta scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter to take a 72-58 lead with 7:01 left.
The run started with consecutive 3-pointers made by Gray and Howard, followed by a 3-point play by Naz Hillmon and another trey by Howard.
Chicago finally scored on a free throw by Courtney Williams with 6:46 left to cut the lead to 72-59.
The Sky did not make a field goal in the fourth quarter until 3:44 remained on a jumper by Copper, cutting the lead to 76-63.