The crossroads of the Buffalo Sabres 2024-25 season was exactly one year to the day of the club beginning their six-game road swing, that may determine whether they remain competitive for an Eastern Conference playoff spot or not. On December 3, 2024, the Sabres led Colorado 4-0 after 20 minutes and 4-1 entering the third period before the Avalanche rallied with four third-period goals to win 5-4. That loss failed to end a three-game losing skid and excelerated a 13-game crashdive that caused the club to miss the playoffs for a 14th straight season.
The 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers was much less dramatic, but began the Sabres critical road swing on a discouraging note. Early momentum from a Jason Zucker power play goal was squandered by a Buffalo penalty killing unit that was second in the NHL entering the game and by a questionable review request for goalie interference by head coach Lindy Ruff on Travis Konecny’s tying goal.
"We felt that (Owen Tippett's) stick got into our goalie's blocker, whether that was going to be enough or not, you couldn't really tell." Ruff said after the game. "It looked like his body was inside the paint, but skates weren't."
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The failed review led to another Flyers power goal from Trevor Zegras and a reeling Sabres squad allowed a third Philadelphia goal by Bobby Brink within a span of 59 seconds. Buffalo had several opportunities in the contest to close the gap, but were unable to beat Samuel Ersson, who made 27 saves. According to Ruff, the club’s top players did not come through, including team captain Rasmus Dahlin, who was ejected for a major boarding penalty and game misconduct for a hit on Zegras in the second period.
"The top guys failed the test. (Tage Thompson) took a bad penalty. We had a bad clear (from Alex Tuch), we had plenty of opportunities to get back in the game,” Ruff said. “If you look at a couple of chances, even Tage had one on the goal line that Samuelsson set him up. We weren't sharp. We've talked about consistent play, we failed the test on consistent play."
The loss ended the Sabres two-game winning streak and has them just one point ahead of last-place Florida in the Eastern Conference.
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