Matvei Michkov. Just typing his name is enough, sometimes, to set social media ablaze.
You are either on his side, or you're not. There's no time for nuance, context or anything else. Either you are pro-Michkov or anti-Michkov. Either you think he's overrated or the Flyers are killing his development. There is no middle ground.
But for one night, one very important night, in the most crucial game of the season, everyone who even utters his name was in alignment.
The Flyers wouldn't have won without him.
Michkov wasn't the lone star in a thorough, 4-1 Flyers win over the New York Islanders that had all kinds of playoff implications. The Flyers played as good a team road game as one could, and when thigs got sticky they leaned on their season-long MVP Dan Vladar, who was sensational in goal.
But it was Michkov who was buzzing in the offensive zone. It was Michkov who picked up the slack while other players seemed to not have their legs after the first period.
It was Michkov who scored a goal and had two assists on two smart plays that has the Flyers on the brink of a playoff spot with six games to go.
A skeptic could argue that his goal was fortunate, as was one of his assists and that an ill-timed interference penalty early in the third period could have doomed his team.
But when you are going as well as Michkov was going on Friday and you are that engaged in the game, you create some of your own luck — both good and bad.
And if you're the Flyers, you'll gladly take the Friday night version of Michkov every game, even if it comes with that penalty that you need to kill off, because it also bring so much promise on the offensive side.
MIchkov got a boost from a new linemate as Alex Bump checked back into the lineup after being scratched for two games against Washington and Detroit, replacing Denver Barkey.
The first goal Michkov set up was Bump's, and it was kind of fortunate for both. It wasn't necessarily a pretty play, but one where the Islanders got caught over-defending one side of the ice, a defender fell down, and as a result Bump was afforded a lot of time and space and surprised usual Flyers-killing goalie Ilya Sorokin with a shot from the half wall.
Alex Bump - Philadelphia Flyers (4) pic.twitter.com/282HOGJQ9N
Goalies usually make saves on shots from there, so the Flyers can send Sorokin thank you cards in a few weeks, but it gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead in a dominating first period.
The Flyers registered 12 of the game's first 13 shots to build that lead. Owen Tippett matched a career high when he scored his 28th goal of the season to open the scoring.
It was exactly the kind of start the team needed.
Because from there, the Islanders brought pressure.
And when he was called upon, Michkov delivered.
The Flyers were judicious about using Michkov and Bump as the game wore on. Bump had the lowest ice time of any player, getting just 9:09 on 15 shifts. Michkov was third lowest among forwards at 11:43 on 19 shifts. And he likely would have been second-lowest had not Trevor Zegras seemingly suffered an injury after taking a hit from Adam Pelech that severely limited his ice time over the final two periods.
Zegras immediately headed down to the room after this hit 💥 pic.twitter.com/95Bm1GBvL5
But when Michkov was on the ice, he was making a difference. There's a thing in hockey. You can watch a game and say a player is or isn't noticeable.
Sometimes, for a defenseman, being not noticed isn't a bad thing. It could mean that the individual is doing his job and isn't making any mistakes, getting caught flat-footed, or turning the puck over.
But you never want to be unnoticeable as a forward. It means you aren't creating. You're just existing. A night earlier, against Detroit, Michkov wasn't noticeable.
Against the Islanders, you saw him every shift he took. He was making you see him. It was how he was playing. And the Flyers needed him.
Zegras was banged up. Uber-prospect Porter Martone, who set an NHL record for shots on goal by a rookie in his first two NHL games with 14 against Washington and Detroit, had just one shot against the Islanders. So did Travis Konecny. Tyson Foerster made an incredible back-checking play to break up a shorthanded chance for the Islanders, but production-wise, playing on back-to-back nights for his first two games after missing four months might have been a lot.
The Flyers didn't have many places to turn for players to stand out. So, Michkov did.
In the second period, he scored a goal on a heads-up play.
Earlier in the game, Michkov had tried a bank shot attempt off of Sorokin's mask that didn't work, but there must be something in the way his countryman plays goal that Michkov thinks he can take advantage of these crazy bank shots, because he hunted down a puck behind the net and threw a no look shot/pass toward the crease that hit off the back of Sorokin's pad and banked in for Michkov's 17th goal of the season.
It’s Friday night but the bank’s still open for Michkov. 🤑#PHIvsNYI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/nHsRSYvRZ4
It snapped a 12-game goalless drought for Michkov, and was his first goal at even strength since Feb. 26.
And it came at a time the Flyers needed it, with the Islanders starting to steal momentum. Michkov's goal spread the lead to 3-0.
But Michkov's prettiest play came after his one big hiccup in the game.
With the Flyers leading 3-1 in the third period, Michkov took a careless interference penalty. The Islanders already had regained that momentum, and now they were going to be pushing even harder with a chance to get back within a goal.
Fortunately for the Flyers they killed off the ensuing power play, and Michkov made up for his mistake.
Bump had a nice play to breakout of the defensive zone and then made a couple of nice back-and-forth passes with Michkov.
It was a small area play that bought Michkov a little space and just enough time to sense Travis Sanheim jumping into the play on the far side of the ice. Michkov made a beautiful pass to Sanheim who snapped home the fourth goal that gave the Flyers the needed cushion to secure the win.
Matvei Michkov finds a trailing Travis Sanheim who RIPS IT past Sorokin 🚀
And it's a 3-POINT NIGHT for Michkov 👀 pic.twitter.com/W3wv8nyyil
Michkov didn't see much ice time after that. He didn't need to, though. The Islanders started pulling their goalie with eight minutes to play, and the Flyers turned to their better defensive players to shut it down, but Michkov had done his job. He was a difference-maker.
The Flyers are now tied in points for the final playoff spot with 88. However, they lose all tie-breakers to the teams they are tied with (Ottawa, Detroit and Columbus), so technically, the Flyers are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
But, the easier path to the playoffs is to get the No. 3 seed in the Metropolitan Division and not worry about the Wild Card. They are one point out of that spot and have a game-in hand on the Islanders, who have 89 points.
The Flyers will be scoreboard watching on Saturday. The Islanders had to fly immediately after the game to Carolina to face the first place Hurricanes. Meanwhile, Columbus will host a Winnipeg Jets team who is 10-5-4 since the Olympic break and trying to make their own late-season push to the postseason.
If the Jackets lose in regulation and the Islanders lose anytime, a Flyers win on Easter Sunday over Boston will put them in a playoff spot with five games to go.
And that possibility exists, in no small part, to the game that Michkov played on Friday. The kind everyone has been hoping for all season.
And for one night, one game, everyone was aligned in their opinion of him. And it's much better when it's that way, isn't it?
