Matvei Michkov does not seem to have enjoyed his time on the catwalk and the young Russian sensation has taken great measures to ensure that the situation does not repeat itself in the future.
Michkov had a goal and an assist and scored in the shootout in his return to lead the Flyers to a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.
The Flyers’ 2023 first-round pick was left out of Philadelphia’s last two games, against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers. He had only collected one point in five outings before being sent to the stands.
With his two-point performance Monday, Michkov now has five goals and 12 points in 14 games this season, which places him second in rookie scoring behind Logan Stankoven.
Travis Konecny also stood out with a goal, as well as a goal in the shootout for Philly.
The outcome of the game could have been very different for the Flyers, however, who blew a 3-0 lead. Philadelphia started its match strong when Erik Johnson took advantage of a pass from Quebecer Anthony Richard in excess to open the scoring after only 100 seconds of play.
Then at the end of the period, Michkov contributed a superb tic-tac-toe on the power play to allow Konecny to double the Flyers’ lead with his eighth goal of the season.
Michkov came back after just over five minutes of play in the middle period to score his first goal in six games. Michkov was forgotten behind the Sharks defenders and took advantage of a long pass from Ryan Poehling to escape. He lodged the puck between the pads of Vitek Vanecek to increase Philadelphia’s priority to three goals.
Things started to go wrong for the Flyers late in the middle period when they saw the Sharks come within one goal thanks to quick goals from Jack Thompson and Mikael Granlund.
With just over two minutes left in the third period, Barclay Goodrow pushed a pass from Henry Thrun into the back of the net to send both teams into overtime.
Then once in the shootout, Michkov was the second player to start. Some nice feints allowed him to slip the puck into the net, after laying down goaltender Vanecek.
Konecny then scored to confirm the Flyers’ victory.
Samuel Ersson blocked 28 of 31 shots aimed at him in the victory, while Vanecek allowed only three goals on 43 shots.
Related News :