Matvei Michkov didn’t just finish chances Monday night. He took over stretches of the game and dragged the Flyers with him.
The 21-year-old scored twice in Philadelphia’s 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche at Xfinity Mobile Arena, giving the Flyers their second straight victory after a brutal, winless start to the season. It was the kind of night that made the whole building feel different - and the kind of performance that has Michkov looking like the player the Flyers have been waiting for.
His first goal came on the power play seven minutes in, after Colorado was called for too many men on the ice. Michkov worked from his spot along the right wall, sent the puck across to Trevor Zegras, and watched the play unfold from there.
Zegras fired toward the net, the puck caromed off Porter Martone and a Colorado defender near the crease, and Michkov slipped in at the far post for the finish. Mackenzie Blackwood never had a chance to slide over.
The second was even more all-out Michkov. Late in the second period, Noah Cates stripped the puck at the offensive blue line and fed it down to him near the net.
Michkov tried a slick move to pull the puck behind his feet and backhand it, but the shot went wide. He made up for it moments later after the Flyers regained possession, taking a drop pass from Zegras and then spinning from the point to behind the net and back again before firing home his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
“This is not my work,” Michkov said on the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast during the first intermission. “This is teamwork, and we need to play harder.”
That line has been doing more than talking. Centered by Noah Cates with Porter Martone on the left wing and Michkov on the right, the unit has been winning more puck battles, moving the puck with more purpose and getting to the net faster. Michkov, in particular, has been dangerous along the half wall, and that spot led directly to Martone’s goal and Michkov’s go-ahead power-play tally in Saturday night’s win over Ottawa.
Against Colorado, he picked up right where he left off.
That matters because this season had already looked like a chance for Michkov to show what he could be. Last year was a tough one.
He struggled for much of it, didn’t report in the condition he needed to be in, and was a healthy scratch twice in the playoffs. He owned it, though, and the organization believed the response would come.
During the Flyers’ exit-day interviews in May at their practice rink in Voorhees, Michkov was back on the ice and working as soon as he finished with the media. Head coach Rick Tocchet was impressed enough to think it might spark a “ vengeance tour” when he returned in September.
Now it’s October 19, and the Flyers still aren’t where they want to be. But Michkov is leading them in scoring, playing like one of their best skaters, and helping turn a rough start into back-to-back wins.
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