Matvei Michkov hit a significant milestone on Tuesday night in Edmonton. In his seventh ever period of NHL action, the 19-year-old Philadelphia Flyers rookie scored his first career goal — and then just a couple minutes later scored his second.
The two firsts is just another thing to check off during this first taste of what Michkov can bring to the Flyers and do in the best league in the world. So far, three games in, he is looking absolutely electric.
And it’s not just the goals, either.
Flyers head coach John Tortorella made sure that we don’t just talk about Michkov’s goal-scoring ability or his ability to create scoring chances out of nothing with his passing and offensive reads, he is just really blossoming into an all-around talent.
“Well 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. “I think it goes a long way with his teammates when he’s out there blocking shots also. And doing all the other stuff that creates that team camaraderie — that team concept. So that’s really important.”
It really makes it clear that Michkov’s effort does not go unnoticed. Especially, considering that his first career goal will be remembered as a grimy, dirty puck battle with a goaltender to jam it past the goal line.
“He likes to score,” Tortorella said when discussing how greasy Michkov’s first goal was. “So, he’s in the areas. I think that is, as a new guy coming in, with a big spotlight on him, I think that’s what has drawn his teammates to him. It’s not the goals tonight, but some of the other things he does too. He’s he’s helping our power play — he’s a dynamic guy.
“It’s something we’ve talked about, since I’ve been here for the past three years, that those are the types of players you need to add to your roster as we go through here to be a better team.”
And his talent is really apparent. Through the first three games, Michkov now has two goals and three points to his name. Beyond that, diving deeper into the play with him on the ice, he is above water (50 percent) in every underlying metric except 5-on-5 goals and overall and raw scoring chances. Shot attempts, unblocked shot attempts, expected goals, high-danger chances — Michkov makes the Flyers better than the opponents in these categories.
This is because he just simply does not give up on a play, and it’s been evident through the first couple of games.
“It was talked with me about how he is a competitor,” Tortorella said. “That doesn’t surprise me and you can see that. I didn’t know much about him as far as away from the puck, but it seems like he has picked up a number of things we have tried to teach him very early on in the season. I just think he’s done a really good job as a young kid coming in here with all the things being talked about and the spotlight on him; he has handled himself very well.”
It seems like he is fitting in perfectly fine.
