September 24, 2026

Matvei Michkov skated with something to prove in Flyers preseason debut

Michkov scored immediately into the Flyers' 2-0 exhibition win over Boston, and all night, looked like the fastest guy out there.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Matvei-Michkov-Flyers-Bruins-Preseason-9.24.26-NHL.JPG

Kyle Ross/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Matvei Michkov instantly starred in his preseason debut Thursday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Matvei Michkov skated like he had something to prove.

It was only preseason, but maybe he did.

The Flyers got called for too many men on the ice early into Thursday night's preseason exhibition against the Boston Bruins, and the 21-year-old Michkov was the one who stepped into the box to serve the bench penalty.

The second Boston's two-minute power play expired, and as a clearing of the puck launched out of the Flyers' zone and down the other way, Michkov sprang out of the box and raced after it across center ice, a whole bunch of steps ahead of anyone in a white and yellow sweater.

He recovered the puck in the corner. He coasted behind the Boston net, and flipped the puck off the ice and onto the blade of his stick to show the threat of a Michigan, then set it back down to get an offensive zone cycle going.

The puck kicked out to Helge Grans by the blue line. The defenseman fired at the net, Michkov drifted in, and the bounce fell off of Porter Martone and right where it needed to be at the top of the crease.

Michkov buried it to the back of the net, after he kickstarted the whole thing, and never really stopped moving.

The Flyers, finally icing a largely NHL lineup less than a week away from Game 1 of 84, beat a mostly reserve Bruins roster 2-0 at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Michkov, who already garnered a ton of attention during training camp in Voorhees after he reported back looking much leaner, much quicker, and ready to start taking interviews in English, was the star of the show in his preseason debut – and for all the right reasons.

He was all over the ice, and he was constantly attacking and generating chances.

"It was really nice to see," head coach Rick Tocchet said of the effort afterward.

Matvei Michkov gets his first of the preseason! pic.twitter.com/Y30dGAycps
— Nasty Knuckles (@NastyKnuckles) September 24, 2026

After his opening goal, Michkov hopped back on from the bench and straight into an ongoing Philadelphia attack, took the puck in, and cut right through the middle and to the crease to keep pressure up.

Later on, through an o-zone entry, Michkov again carried the puck to the net front, but this time handling in across the left faceoff circle, and dragged a slick pass to Trevor Zegras, who set up camp by the left post of Boston goaltender Rick DiPietro to try and jam a shot away.

Then, digging into the corner for possession late into the first, Michkov won the race to the puck, turned his numbers out to shield it, and stayed strong on his feet to box Bruins defenseman Billy Sweezey out of the play.

Sweezey is listed at 6'1" and 201 pounds. The 5'10" Michkov came back to Philly from the summer at a listed 172 pounds, but looked stronger in that instance anyway, and just often looked like the best player on the ice outright.

He skated like he had something to prove. In really every respect, following last year's disappointing effort – when his conditioning was lacking and highly criticized, his ice time was often limited, and then when he was ultimately scratched twice in the playoffs – he does.

But Thursday night was as good of a start as any for that, as he continued attacking and controlling the puck around the Boston net well into the third period, looking a step ahead of everyone, while coming up with one more open scoring chance that he just missed off the far post.

"He made a ton of plays tonight," teammate Trevor Zegras said. "I thought he was great in and around the net."

"I think this is so good for me," Michkov said last week in Voorhees, when he spoke to the assembled press in English for the first time and discussed the near 30 pounds he lost in the offseason. "I feel, right now, lighter on the ice...every skill has more speed, you know? Better speed."

On Thursday night, after 18:16 of total ice time that only trailed Zegras' 18:30 for the highest among Flyers forwards, he skated like he needed to prove it.

So far, so good there.

"Step by step," Michkov said postgame.