Could the Matvei Michkov situation have been just what the Flyers needed?

The Flyers may have lost 3-2 in overtime in Edmonton on Wednesday night, but it just might still be the most encouraging loss of the season.

The week leading up to it was tumultuous. Cameras caught Matvei Michkov arguing with Nick Seeler on the bench in Vancouver on Monday, and Michkov threw a water bottle down during the exchange. A day later came a report that he would prefer a fresh start elsewhere. General manager Daniel Briere said Michkov and his agent both denied it, and head coach Rick Tocchet called it untrue. With that subtext, the Flyers had every excuse to mail it in against an Oilers team that is currently third in the NHL in points.

Instead, the Flyers played their best game in weeks. Down 2-0 after Zach Hyman scored twice in the second period, they outshot Edmonton 32-24, held a 17-11 edge in high-danger chances at five-on-five and limited Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to one assist each. Tyson Foerster scored on the power play, and Travis Sanheim tied it in the third on a goal Michkov helped set up. Michkov led all Flyers forwards with 20:44 of ice time. Only an overtime breakdown gave Evan Bouchard a three-on-two and the winner 47 seconds in.

Tocchet was proud of the effort, and he was willing to say the noise might have helped.

“Played a great hockey game. I’m really proud of the guys,” Tocchet said. “What’s happened for us maybe is a good thing for us, a little adversity, but we need some guys just to keep buying in, and we have to play a certain way.”

So was this a wake-up call, or just a team rising to a big opponent after a galvanizing event?

Through the first 19 games, the Flyers controlled 43.4% of the high-danger chances at five-on-five and allowed 3.37 goals per game. Over the last two, they have controlled 65.9% and allowed 2.00 per game.

The timing complicates the wake-up-call story. The Vancouver win, where the bench argument happened, came before the report and was a big part of why the story took off. It also complicates the idea that the Flyers only play up to good teams. They did control that game against a struggling Canucks team until the third period, when Vancouver mounted a comeback, which has been an issue all season. In Edmonton, the Flyers played their best period in the third.

What the drama did seem to do was give the Flyers a reason to reset. Briere flew back from the GM meetings and spoke to the team Wednesday, and Noah Cates said the message was simple.

“Just kind of reset, clean slate,” Cates said. “Get back to having fun. Being in our detail, being in our structure, and everyone kind of being a better version of himself, for the crest and for the team.”

That line of ‘for the crest’ has been echoed by multiple Flyers, evident by Seeler saying that morning the argument with Michkov was never the story inside the dressing room.

“It really wasn’t a big deal at all until the media got a hold of it,” Seeler said. “We spoke after the period, and it was done with, over with.”

Sean Couturier was blunt about the Oilers game itself, and about how the Flyers felt leaving it.

“I thought we played a good game,” Couturier said. “We were above them. We were ready to battle. Unfortunately, they got that extra opportunity.”

That extra opportunity is the problem the Flyers still have to solve. They are 5-10-6, and they are 0-6 in games that go past regulation. One strong night in Edmonton does not fix either number.

However, the effort and focus were there for 60 minutes against one of the best teams in the West, and the locker room looked united while outside noise was at its loudest. The Flyers didn’t play like a team which has a locker room that is in turmoil. They’ll get an immediate test of whether their change in play was real when they visit Columbus on Saturday.

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