October 19, 2026
Eric Hartline/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Matvei Michkov scored twice for a team-leading six goals Monday night.
Matvei Michkov kept wheeling, from the point to behind the Colorado net and all the way back, and no one was getting the puck from him.
Not until he flung a shot from up high, that had eyes through traffic, past Mackenzie Blackwood, and to the back of the net.
At that point, just more than halfway through the second period, Michkov was in total control, and on a mission. And for the second straight game, the 21-year-old's effort, this time with two goals, powered the Flyers to a second straight win, 3-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena, in what has felt like a night and day difference from the brutal and winless first two weeks that began the season.
"This is not my work," Michkov said on the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast during the first intermission. "This is teamwork, and we need to play harder."
Granted, this is maybe the best Michkov has ever looked in his still very young career, and right now, it might be turning around the Flyers' entire season.
His line, centered by Noah Cates, with Porter Martone at left wing while he takes up the right, has been winning more battles and races after the puck, possessing it sharper and stronger, and driving it to the net with quicker and more creative cycles.
Michkov in particular has been making his living along the half wall in the offensive zone, which led directly to Porter Martone's goal and then his own go-ahead tally while on the power play in Saturday night's first win over Ottawa.
On Monday night, against an ever-fierce Avalanche team, Michkov picked right up from where he left off.
Colorado got tagged for a too many men on the ice penalty seven minutes in. Michkov and the Flyers' top power-play unit went to work.
From across the ice, Michkov, along his spot on the right wall, wired a pass over to Trevor Zegras, who ripped a shot toward the net with bodies in front.
The puck bounced off Martone and a battling Colorado defender at the top of the crease, then right to Michkov by the far post, who drifted in undetected for a shot that Blackwood had no chance of sliding over to stop. The Flyers took the lead, and never looked back.
MATVEI MICHKOV DOES IT AGAIN ON THE POWERPLAY!!!
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) October 19, 2026
1-0 #FLYERS!!! pic.twitter.com/l8QkXJ0SI1
In the second period, Cates stripped the puck away at the offensive zone blue line, as the Avalanche were trying to make their way out of it, then got a pass down to Michkov, who stayed at the front of the Colorado net underneath anyone.
Michkov broke out a wicked move to deke the puck behind his feet and back, then just missed the backhander wide.
He was quick to make up for it, though, when the Flyers regained possession, he took in a drop pass from Zegras, then wheeled from the point to behind the net and all the way back until he fired away for his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
Matvei Michkov scores his second of the night! ✌️ pic.twitter.com/l5AJC9nv3P
— Nasty Knuckles (@NastyKnuckles) October 20, 2026
No one was taking the puck from Michkov once he had it. He wasn't going to let them.
He was skating to score – to win, with a "little bit of luck maybe," Michkov said of his first goal during NBCSP's intermission break. "I don't know."
What is known, though, is this: Michkov came into this season, his third in Philadelphia, with a lot to prove, but with just as much optimism within the organization that he would flourish.
Last season was rough for him. He struggled for much of it, didn't report for it in the condition he needed to be in, and ended up a healthy scratch in the playoffs twice.
But he took accountability for it, and the lessons to heart.
During the Flyers' exit day interviews with the media back in May, at their practice rink in Voorhees, Michkov was immediately back on the ice and working after his turn with the press was done.
Head coach Rick Tocchet couldn't help but be impressed. He said he thought it was going to kickstart a sort of "vengeance tour" for Michkov when he reported back to the Delaware Valley in September.
It's October 19th, and absolutely, things have been far from perfect for the Flyers.
But right now Michkov is their leading scorer, and maybe their best player, with a turn of fortune and more complete play this week that finally brought them to consecutive wins.
So in the words of an old Flyers slogan from years ago...Vengeance. Now.
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