Photo credit: Our very own Michael Reaves
Sunday night I was sitting three rows behind the Flyers bench which led to me capturing a moment of Matvei Michkov, signing an autograph for a kid after being ejected in the final moments of the game Sunday night. A post I made on X went viral and led to me being in this position writing my first article for Flyers Nitty Gritty. I am thankful for the opportunity and excited to see where this first step of my career takes me.
Those seats gave me an up-close moment of a 1/100 moment of a player signing an autograph for a fan following an ejection. It was an amazing moment that masked the unfortunate 1/100 misplay from Morgan Frost that occurred with 4:17 remaining in the game, which led to a breakaway short-handed goal for the Utah Hockey Club and gave them a 4-2 lead to ice the game.
Fast-forward to Tuesday night, and the Flyers (12-12-4) amid a three-game losing streak, faced off against the Columbus Blue Jackets (12-12-3) on the road.
The Flyers desperately needed to come out fast following a rather sluggish performance Sunday night and that’s exactly what they did. An aggressive start by the Flyers lead to a dominant first period of play by the orange and black.
First Period
Noah Cates opened the scoring slamming home his second goal of the year at the 4:37 mark giving the Flyers an early 1-0 lead. At the 10:56 mark, Owen Tippett notched his 5th goal in as many games, extending the Flyers’ lead 2-0. Jamie Drysdale got an assist on the goal and would go on to play one of his best games in a Flyers uniform. An encouraging sign from a player who has shown flashes of his potential but has struggled with injuries. Drysdale being healthy is a huge boost for this team both 5 on 5 and on the Power Play. Tuesday night’s game was a perfect example of how good he can be when he is healthy.
Second Period
Travis Konecny remains one of the hottest wingers in the league as he scored two goals in the 2nd period to give him 15 total on the season. His first goal came 6:11 into the period on the powerplay, with the second goal marked at 19:00. Konecny has been playing phenomenally as of late and his play with Michkov on the powerplay this year has been impressive. Michkov this season has 12 powerplay points which leads all rookies. Sandwiched between the two Konecny goals was a power play goal by Blue Jackets Zach Werenski at the 16:56 mark his 9th of the year.
Third Period
The Flyers held onto a 4-1 lead heading into the third when Morgan Frost scored a goal 1:55 into the period thanks to a beautiful pass from Matvei Michkov from under the goal line to give the Flyers a 5-1 lead. The goal and assist secured multi-point nights for both Frost and Michkov. Frost played very well in what was an important bounce-back game for him. As for Michkov, he now has his 9th multi-point game of his rookie campaign and is leading all rookies with 27 points in 27 games. A point-per-game pace for Michkov through 27 games shows how quickly he has adjusted to the NHL level and how talented Michkov is at just 20 years old.
The Blue Jackets would score two goals in the third, one by Sean Monahan at the 11:42 mark, his 9th of the season. A garbage time goal with 37 seconds left by Kent Johnson gave him his 9th goal on the season and the Flyers went on to win 5-3 and improved to 13-12-4 on the season.
Points Galore
Frost, Konecny, and Michkov all had multi-point games and 11 total Flyers tallied a point in the win. A great bounce-back game for Morgan Frost who looked sharp and a dominant performance from both Konecy and Michkov led to an overall great team win. Sam Ersson didn’t get much action tonight but got his first win since coming back from IR. The encouraging play from Drysdale is something to follow over the next couple of games.
The Flyers will look to keep the momentum going Thursday at 7 pm, home against the Detroit Red Wings.
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