tonight, do or die. they have to beat the rangers to keep their slim to none playoff hopes alive. if not, they're officially out. anthony starts in net, with steve mason on the bench. fall behind by three. chris feeding the goalie. fighting back. brayden schenn. within two. and filppula, gets them within one with 1:15 left. one last shot to save the season. filppula, has the puck with 9.8 seconds left. what's he doing? filppula, come on. shoot! shoot! time runs out. flyers lose 4-3. they're eliminated. the first team in nhl history to miss the playoffs despite a ten game winning streak in the season. talk about smart-handed, no embiid, no okafor, no covington.

and saric restricted to 24 minutes because of soreness in the heel. and it's winding down. tonight the new guy, poythress, signed in a pinch. fighting back in the third. two of his career high 23. and saric comes back in as they try to get back in it. heel looks great, huh? sixers within four. but the raptors run away with it. 113-105. the last time they won at toronto? 2012. let's play ball. phillies open the season tomorrow at 4:10 in cincinnati with jeremy hellickson making his second-straight opening day start. hoping it goes better than last year, they were swept in cincinnati to start 2016. but, hey, it's a new year with new expectations after finishing with 91 losses.

the manager is shooting for the playoffs. how about .500 with his young team. >> we should be capable playing .500. rest depends on how much the player improve. they have learned from last year, from spring training. there was a lot of competition. there's a lot of kids that are knocking on the door. >> we expect to win. come out of the ballpark every day. step out on the field, expecting to win, you know? whatever that is at the end of the year, we'll see. but we believe in ourselves. we believe we have a winning ball club. come out and play like it. >> much more on action news sports sunday at 11:45. and mike joins me live in studio in just about 12 minutes. it's not villanova's year. the guard, josh hart did not win player of the year. goes to frank mason of kansas.

jay wright losing out on coach of the year. women's philly four, philly native dawn staley leading south carolina to a national championship. beating mississippi state. the team that knocked off uconn at the buzzer the other night. the first women's final four most outstanding player to win a national title as a head coach. and staley, how about this, giving a shoutout to temple where her coaching career started 17 years ago. >> i had a goal all the way back to my temple days. those were the guys that really believed in our vision. and we took that vision to south carolina. and that vision was, we will be national champions. if you stick with us. if you're disciplined. if you believe. >> finally, to the masters. check out trevor from west grove chester county. the 9-year-old finishes tide for sixth in the drive, chip and put.

he was one of only 80 kids in the entire country to quality for the event. he had the second-best chip score in his age bracket. what an opportunity to play at augusta. >> the hat tipped down. >> maybe get a green jacket. wants to be a pro golfer around the golfers tomorrow. >> i was tying my shoes when i was 9. >> not sure about that. >> go with the velcro. >> still to come, gone where few men have gone before, now 87-year-old former astronaut buzz aldrin took his adventurous spirit to planes. and a mailman gets a surprise when he tries to pick up a letter from a mailbox. we have heard of long letters. careful joe, they've got you outnumbered.

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legendary astronaut buzz aldrin took flight today, this time with the world-renowned thunderbirds. joined them today in florida. for those who don't know, aldrin was the second man to walk on the moon. now 87 years old, the retired air force colonel is the oldest to fly with the t-birds. part of celebrations marking the 70th anniversary was u.s. air force. march madness was not kind to us. most of us saw our brackets crumble by the end of the second

round this year. >> but sasha anderson of north carolina has had no trouble picking winners. she not only predicted the final four, she even has gonzaga and unc in the finals. and oh, by the way, she's 12. >> i think that north carolina is going to win. >> reporter: after the mayhem of march and millions of busted brackets, this 12-year-old from north carolina is having a buzz-worthy year. >> even show my bracket didn't go all the way, my final four was correct. and that's all that mattered to me. >> reporter: she picked north carolina and gonzaga in the finals. >> inside. and one. >> reporter: the seventh grader at mountain island lake academy has blown away the competition in the school's march madness math contest. even her teacher is impressed. >> i'm shocked. beginners luck. beaten out 70 kids and ten teachers. ingly he uses it as a fun way

for students to start thinking about colleges. >> get the kids exposure to more colleges. that was the purpose. >> reporter: and her mom couldn't be more proud. >> we're so excited and happy for her. the entire family are big sports fans. >> i have north carolina winning the whole thing. of course, i'm going to go for where i'm from. >> amazing. >> pretty good. up next on action news, an april fool's prank that left a mailman scratching his head. >> how a family fooled a postal worker with an elaborate and clever april fool's joke. ♪

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the clippers working overtime inside an unlikely spot today. because racks restaurant and sports bar in cam ben county hosted a fundraiser for the st. baldrick's foundation. young and old shaving their heads to support childhood cancer research. last year they raised $20,000, and the hope is to hit $25,000 this time around. finally tonight, april

fool's day, and the internet is talking about a prank that a central pennsylvania couple pulled off. they left a normal-looking letter in the mail slot. but behind the scenes, it was an entirely different story. envelope stretched from the front door up to the first few stairs in the house. once perfectly positioned, they sat in the car outside their home and waited. sure enough, their mailman stopped by and the prank worked perfectly. judging by the smile on the mailman's face, he was a good sport. >> action news sports sunday is next here on channel 6. action news continues at 4:30 tomorrow morning with david murphy and karen rogers. >> for melissa mcgee, jeff skversky, walter perez and the entire action news team, i'm sarah bloomquist. have a great night and a great week ahead. in our suvs,

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♪ tonight on sports sunday, facing elimination, can the flyers hold on to fading playoff hopes? >> he scores. >> plus, it's almost time to say, play ball. the phillies are in cincinnati. set to start the 2017 season. >> we expect to win. we're going to come out to the ballpark and step out on to the field expecting to win. and on the eve of the national championship game, picks are in. sports sunday starts right now. >> this is action news sports sunday, sponsored by audi. it's not always sunny in philadelphia. for the third time in five years it will not be playoff hockey. welcome to sports sunday, i'm jeff skversky with mike. mike, the flyers are the first team in nhl history to miss the playoffs despite a ten game