Flyers win season finale

By Tim McManus
The Phanatic Magazine

Mike Knuble had a goal and two assists to help the Philadelphia Flyers down the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3, in the regular- season finale for both clubs at the Wachovia Center.

It was a matchup of polar opposites, as Buffalo captured the President's Trophy with the most points in the league, while the Flyers set a new franchise low for points and finished dead last in the NHL standings.

Mike Richards netted the deciding goal and Simon Gagne and Stefan Ruzicka also scored for Philadelphia, which is absent from postseason play for the first time since 1993-94. The Flyers finished with 56 points, falling below the 58 points gained in 1969-70. Martin Biron made 27 saves to pick up the win in his first game against his former club.

Thomas Vanek had a goal and an assist while Jason Pominville and Derek Roy also lit the lamp for the Sabres, who tied a franchise record with 113 points -- a mark set back in 1974-75. Ty Conklin came up with 29 saves as Ryan Miller took the night off.

Buffalo will face the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs.

The Flyers trailed by a goal heading into the final stanza, but scored twice in the third to move in front 4-3.

Knuble tied the game 3:42 into the third with his 24th marker of the season. Several minutes later, Knuble darted behind the net and then popped out to try and stuff a backhand wraparound attempt past Conklin.

The netminder came up with the save, but Richards was there to tuck the rebound home to put the Flyers ahead.

Biron came up big the rest of the way to preserve the win.

Vanek opened up the scoring 10:21 in, as he slipped behind the defense, took a perfect feed from Jaroslav Spacek, and then chipped a shot over the glove of Biron.

Less than a minute later, Gagne got loose on a breakaway and beat Conklin with a backhander to knot the contest at 1-1.

Philadelphia went in front 2:04 into the second on a tally from Ruzicka, who picked up a rebound along the left side of the net and feathered a shot through the skates of Conklin.

Buffalo responded with two goals of its own to reclaim the edge. Pominville netted his 34th goal of the season on a rebound putback, and Roy added a tally from the slot with just 11 ticks left in the middle stanza to make it 3-2.