Matvei Michkov is Finding his Game, Flyers Following his Lead: ‘He’s Really Helping Us’

Matvei Michkov did everything he could to drag the Flyers across the finish line Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t enough, but for a player who spent all of last season answering questions on and off the ice about his dedication to hockey, this game was a statement.

Michkov scored twice in the Flyers’ 5-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, giving him six goals in his last five games and a team-leading eight through 13 games. The 21-year-old winger has recorded a point in five straight games, on pace for roughly 50 goals over 82 games. For a franchise that has not had a 40-goal scorer since Jeff Carter in 2008-09, that is worth noticing.

The Flyers needed a spark, and Michkov lit the flame at 13:59 of the first period. Rookie defenseman Hunter McDonald crushed Sam Colangelo along the boards, and the scrum that followed sent Colangelo and A.J. Greer to the box. On the 5-on-3, Michkov fired a shot from the top of the circles through traffic and past Lukas Dostal, then dropped to a knee at center ice and mimed firing a bow. Porter Martone scored 1:03 later, and the Flyers took a 2-0 lead into the second period.

“When he’s going, he’s feeling it, he’s making those plays, but he’s also playing smart,” Noah Cates said on Michkov postgame. “He’s really helping us kind of get out of that tough stretch to start the year.”

That stretch was historic, in all the worst ways. The Flyers opened 0-6-3, a franchise-record nine straight losses, and through four games Michkov had one goal while averaging less than 16 minutes a night. Last season he needed 22 games to reach six goals as his production slipped from 26 goals and 63 points as a rookie to 20 goals and 51 points. This season he got there in 11.

The work started in the summer. Michkov skipped his vacation to train, joined Artemi Panarin’s camp in Russia, and worked on his skating in his hometown of Perm with Flyers interpreter Slava Kuznetsov. He arrived at camp on Sept. 17 visibly in better shape and conducted his first interview entirely in English.

Rick Tocchet has noticed, and so has the ice-time chart. After those first four games, Michkov played 18:02 at Buffalo on Oct. 21 and 18:15 on Saturday.

“His retrievals this year are a lot better,” Tocchet said Oct. 21.

The turning point came Oct. 17, when the Flyers finally won, 3-1 over the Ottawa Senators. Michkov set up a Martone goal to tie it, then scored the go-ahead goal, his 50th in the NHL and the fastest by a Flyer to that mark since Matt Read in 2014. Afterward, he talked about the player next to him.

“Step by step, I want him to win,” Michkov said after that win over the Senators.

Veteran defenseman Travis Sanheim saw the larger picture in the locker room after the first win of the season.

“Our team goes with the young guys and the steps they take, and the steps they’re going to continue to take,” Sanheim said on Oct. 17.

The numbers back up that theory. Michkov and Martone have combined for 11 of the Flyers’ 24 goals, even with Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, and Tyson Foerster each missing time to injury. They logged 18:15 and 18:25 on Saturday. This is increasingly their team.

Earlier this season, a swing in momentum like Saturday’s would have doomed the Flyers. Anaheim scored three times in the second period, and Foerster’s goal was the only answer. When Tristan Luneau made it 4-3 early in the third, and Beckett Sennecke added a power-play goal for 5-3, all of the momentum belonged to the Ducks.

In those early games, that would have been the end, but Michkov fought back. Just 1:07 after Sennecke’s goal, he crashed the net as a Cates shot ricocheted off Martone in front and jammed home the loose puck at 8:17 to make it 5-4.

The Flyers outshot the Ducks 32-26, but Dostal stopped everything else. What was noteworthy was how Michkov used the moment to visibly fire up his teammates coming down the stretch. Though it didn’t result in a win, the fight was a welcome sight.

The loss ended a three-game winning streak, and it was clear in the dressing room that the individual accomplishment meant little to Michkov.

“I feel good, but today I feel bad,” Michkov said. “My team lost.”

That’s not something a player chasing stats says; it’s the line of a player who understands what he is supposed to be to this group, a leader.

The Flyers are now 3-7-3, and Saturday was another reminder of how much work remains. But Michkov left his fingerprints all over this game, even in a loss, and this is the effort the Flyers will need from him going forward.

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