November 24, 2024
Kyle Ross/Imagn Images
Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov was the hero again on Saturday against Chicago
Matvei Michkov is made for the moment.
Wherever this Flyers season ends up, that much is clear.
Against the Blackhawks on Saturday, and at a 4-on-3 advantage from a Chicago holding call, the 19-year-old surveyed the situation with the puck from up high before dropping it off to Travis Sanheim at the point.
The Chicago skaters' eyes all tracked the puck, and Michkov snuck down toward the net with no one looking.
Travis Konecny camped up at the left side of the goal line and Sanheim slid the puck down to him, Sean Couturier hovered over the center of the net mouth to create a pick on the lone defender there, then Konecny threaded a seamless pass to Michkov's stick blade across the crease.
Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mzarek was caught, Michkov fired the overtime winner home, and the Wells Fargo Center jumped to its feet as the horn blared and the comeback was made complete.
The Flyers won, 3-2, climbing out of a 2-0 hole with the Russian phenom, and the rising star who the organization's grand plan is heavily depending on, putting an exclamation point on the rally. He was the hero again.
He's made for this.
"There's not many moments you're gonna get," Michkov, via Russian interpreter Slava Kuznetsov, said from the Flyers' locker room postgame. "When you get the moment, you have to be cold-blooded and realize it, finish it."
He's made for a place like Philadelphia with a quote like that, too.
Just over a week ago in Ottawa, Michkov completed another late Flyers surge when he tucked in the OT winner on a tough-angle shot along the goal line past Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark, sending Philly to a 5-4 win in a show of the rookie's burgeoning skill and willingness to shoot from almost anywhere on the ice.
Was either scenario one of the real big-time moments that come late into the season or in the playoffs? No, not yet.
But these are the ones that have presented themselves so far, and so far, Michkov has capitalized – hopefully with greater down the line, although everyone on the Flyers knows that they still have a ways to go to get there.
"I think he likes being there," head coach John Tortorella said of Michkov in the clutch. "I think he does. I think TK likes that situation. He comes as advertised a little bit."
It hasn't all been perfect, of course.
Michkov was benched for a stretch at the end of October against the Blues, then was a healthy scratch for a couple of games at the end of a road trip two weeks ago, which was inevitable for a young player on a Tortorella-coached team as it was an unpopular choice among fans.
His play away from the puck was always going to be a work in progress. Tortorella has frequently noted that since Michkov joined the team but never outwardly harped on him for it. The rookie is getting there in that regard, and he and Tortorella have found a way to talk and work through it past a steep language barrier.
But Michkov's offensive talents are his gift, and the Flyers don't want to disrupt that. They need that, and they want to let him take off with it.
"That's why it's nice that we have him now, right?" Tortorella said. "We knew it was going to be a little bit of a gong show as far as away from the puck – expected. We're going to slowly try to teach him that, but without getting in the way of what you're talking about, allowing him to play.
"So as we're building, this is a good year that we can have these games to teach but not be overbearing with it, to allow him to experience some success. He's going to help our power play, he's going to help us in those types of situations, and it's something we need."
For years to come.
Having put the game-winner away, Michkov left the ice Saturday with seven goals and 16 points, which stood as second on the Flyers in scoring behind Konecny (11 goals, 25 points) and first among the NHL's 2024-25 rookie class.
He also left outpacing Chicago's second-year star Connor Bedard (3 goals, 15 points), who was taken six spots ahead of Michkov at first overall in the draft two years ago, and with the two likely to go back and forth for years to come.
"I hope it's only the beginning," Michkov said.
"I think he'll try to get it back," he added with a smile. "I have to be ready for it."
But he's made for this.
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