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.

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

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.