In the first period, he dragged around defenseman Egor Zamula and fed a backhand pass to Jack Quinn, who extended Buffalo’s lead to 3-1. And early in the second, McLeod launched a rush by chipping a self-pass off the defensive-zone boards; he raced up ice and fed to JJ Peterka for the fourth Sabres goal.

The Buffalo Sabres failed to secure a ticket to the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, but at least they punctuated their 2024-25 campaign on a positive note, beating the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night via a score of 5-4 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

Ruff joined Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, Paul Maurice and Barry Trotz as the only coaches in NHL history with 900 wins.