Flyers’ Matvei Michkov earns high John Tortorella praise after 2-goal game

Matvei Michkov finally arrived on Tuesday night in Edmonton, scoring the first two goals of his National Hockey League career against the Oilers — both on the powerplay in the first period. And although the Philadelphia Flyers ended up losing the game after blowing two leads, head coach John Tortorella was impressed with what he saw from the rookie phenom.

“He’s a dynamic player, not just his passing, but how he can hold on to a puck and get out of traffic,” Tortorella said after the 4-3 overtime loss, according to NHL.com’s Gerry Moddejonge. “I think it goes a long way with his teammates. He’s out here blocking shots also and doing all the other stuff that creates that team camaraderie, that team concept. That’s really important.”

The 19-year-old, who was selected No. 7 overall by the Flyers in the 2023 NHL Draft, required the fewest career games by a Philadelphia player to record his first multi-goal outing since Vinny Prospal accomplished the feat back in March of 1997, per NHL.com.

Michkov gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at the 4:46 mark of the first period, stuffing a puck past goaltender Stuart Skinner at the right post. He increased the lead not longer after, scoring another PPG at 9:21 on a hard one-timer at the bottom of the right circle.

Things were looking good for Philly after 20 minutes with a 2-0 lead, but goals by Adam Henrique and Connor Brown knotted the score at two. Bobby Brink put the Flyers back on top near the end of the second period, and the score held until the waning minutes of the third stanza.

But Evan Bouchard tied things up at 16:18 of the final frame before Leon Draisaitl scored the eventual overtime winner in the 4-3 final. With that, the Flyers fall to 1-1-1 on the 2024-25 season.

Flyers unable to hold lead despite Matvei Michkov heroics

Despite the loss, the Flyers had a ton of high-quality scoring opportunities, and were still able to salvage a point on the road.

“We had a ton of chances, too, but we just couldn’t put it in,” said Morgan Frost, who assisted on both of Michkov’s powerplay tallies. “Unfortunately, we don’t get the two points, but I thought we played a great game. So, I think we can keep our heads held high.”

“We played a pretty solid game. Sometimes, given their third goal there, you have to tip your cap. Their guys were in good position and they managed to put one past us,” echoed forward Travis Konecny. “I think there are things in the whole game that we can clean up, but overall, the power play looked good.”

Philly ended up 2-for-7 on the powerplay, with Michkov providing all of the offense with the man advantage. Now that he has a couple of goals under his belt, it’ll be interesting to see if the young Russian can build on the encouraging performance.

After beginning the season with three straight road games against the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Oilers, the Flyers will head to Seattle for one more road tilt against the Kraken on Thursday night.

They’ll be back in Pennsylvania for the home-opener on Saturday night when the Canucks visit Wells Fargo Center.

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