Yeah the Flyers Blew a Couple of Leads, but the Glass is Half Full with Two Matvei Michkov Goals and a Point in Edmonton
Matvei Michkov scored his first goals in a Flyers uniform, and while the first one wasn’t exactly a work of art, the second one was power play one-timer and they all count just the same:
MATVEI MICHKOV HAS HIS FIRST TWO NHL GOALS IN THE SAME PERIOD! 🟠⚫️
📺: @espn ➡️ https://t.co/m0LyTCHYnH pic.twitter.com/YUbC4cg50q
— NHL (@NHL) October 16, 2024
Some will focus on the fact that the Flyers blew a couple of leads and could have/should have come out of this one with two points. Fact check: true. They did blow a couple of leads after jumping out 2-0 and then getting it to 3-2 before conceding late, settling for a road point after losing in overtime. Michkov hung Sam Ersson out to dry in the 3v3 period, just sort of casually skating off and seeming oblivious to the second effort that ultimately won the game for Edmonton. There’s work to be done there, and the defensive pairs are going to be a bit of an adventure this year. We’ll see how Ersson and Ivan Fedotov hold up as a 1-2 combo throughout the year.
But if I told you before the season that they’d take a point from the Oilers in their house, then you’d probably be happy with that, circumstances be damned. If you’re framing this season as year of a two-year rebuild, like we are, then the half-full glass includes Michkov getting his NHL goal-scoring account started, the early improvement on the power play, and the fact that they’ve got 3 points in 3 games while starting on the less-than-desirable Western Canada road trip. Jett Luchanko has shown well. The offensive skill level is higher. You see these flashes of what they can be once it all starts clicking and Danny Briere gets off these dead contracts and they turn the corner.
Torts seems to sense that from a wider perspective. He’s seemed subdued in the postgame scrums, or maybe he’s just as tired as we are, staying up till 1 a.m. to watch.
“I felt there was a little more flow to our game,” the head coach said. “Blocked some shots when we had to, I thought our penalty kill was outstanding. Not just the third period, I liked our game. How many penalties were being called? And some non-calls, you weren’t sure where the game was going to go. But we kept our concentration and played.”
The Flyers have been a fun watch so far. That’s all that matters right now. On to Seattle.