Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres will end their 2024-25 season on Thursday night without a playoff appearance for the 14th-straight year.
After four-straight losses, the Sabres will have one final chance this season to get head coach Lindy Ruff his 900th career NHL win.
For a while, it was looking like Tage Thompson would have a good shot at scoring 50 goals for the first time in his career this season. However, he has no goals and just one point in his last four games. Before that, he had scored in five-straight games, netting eight goals.
Thompson has spent seven seasons in Buffalo, playing 406 games without participating in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He’s getting tired of the team failing every season.
"It’s frustration. It sucks to be playing this game knowing there’s guys around the league that are gearing up for playoffs, and you’re just playing this game to finish up the season. It sucks," said Thompson following Thursday's morning skate. "It’s my seventh year here and I’ve got nothing to show for it. So it’s tough. I’ve been in this situation a lot, so every year you get to this point, it weighs on you a little more."
The team played winning hockey for six or seven weeks, because they played the game the right way. They went on a five-game winning streak for the first time in over two years, but they’ve followed that up with four-straight losses.
It’s the fifth time this season the Sabres have had losing streaks of three or more games, and the third time they’ve had losing streaks of four or more games.
"I think recently we’ve had a lot of chances that we haven’t been able to capitalize on, myself in particular," Thompson said. "Your look at the Tampa game, myself, I hit two knobs, we had two posts. You score those and it’s a different game going forward into the second period, because maybe you’ve got a bigger cushion. The same thing in Toronto, they score a couple of late there and an empty netter to seal it.
"We’ve had our chances. We’ve just got to bear down, because our goalies have been playing good. Just capitalizing on those chances makes it a different game."
Thompson had 12 shots in the four games with no goals.
The 27-year-old is glad his season isn’t over, because he’s going to play for Team USA at the 2025 World Championship in Denmark. He wants Team USA brass to see that he belongs on the Olympic team come next winter.
"That’s a big reason why I’m going," Thompson admitted. "That combined with the fact that we get to play some more hockey. I just don’t want the season to be done yet. We’ve got an opportunity to go play for something and try to win something, and at the same time, you get to represent your country/ There’s really no reason why I wouldn’t be going."
The Sabres are 26th in the NHL with a points percentage of .475, while the Philadelphia Flyers are 27th with a points percentage of .469.
Buffalo has not played well against the Flyers this season, losing 7-4 and 5-2 in Philadelphia. In two games, Travis Konecny has two goals and three assists for five points.
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Konecny is the Flyers' leading scorer this season with 24 goals and 51 assists for 75 points.
Since taking over for the fired John Tortorella, interim head coach Brad Shaw is 5-2-1 behind the Flyers bench.
Join Brian Koziol for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6:30 p.m. when you’ll hear from Ruff and Thompson.