Flyers’ Matvei Michkov scores first two career goals vs. Oilers

Both goals came in the first period of Tuesday’s game, with the first one coming about five minutes in the frame on the power play. Owen Tippett threw the puck on net, which then bounced towards Michkov’s direction on the goal line. Michkov proceeded to jam the puck into the pads of Stuart Skinner, and it found a way through to trickle past the goal line, giving Michkov his first career goal and the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

The second goal occurred about five minutes later, also during a power play for the Flyers. After Jamie Drysdale made an excellent play to keep the puck in the offensive zone despite pressure on the blueline, the puck wound up on Travis Konecny’s stick. Konecny then passed the puck across the zone to Morgan Frost, who then set up Michkov along the goal line, with the puck finding its way through Skinner again and into the back of the net to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.

While Michkov was goalless going into the game, he did have a point to his name, as he also got an assist during Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames. That puts Michkov at 2 goals and 1 assist for 3 points on the year through his first 3 career games.

Michkov was the seventh-overall pick for the Flyers in the 2023 NHL Draft out of the KHL. He was considered to be a top prospect in the draft, but speculation that he may stay in the KHL for several years after the draft scared off a few teams, dropping him to seventh overall. But to the surprise of many, Michkov only played one more season in Russia before signing a three-year entry-level contract with the Flyers in 2024, allowing him to play in the NHL this season.