Photo Credit: Our very own Michael Reaves
Michkov mania has been rampant for the past few months throughout the Philadelphia region and abroad, for good reason. Matvei Michkov played in his first game as a Flyer, unofficially since it doesn’t count, technically speaking. Fans were treated to a fun-filled night of seeing his skating abilities and stick handling abilities, especially behind the net.
Matvei has answered the two games worth of benchings well. He has registered two goals and one assist in two games since his benchings. For his efforts, Michkov is now second in the league lead in scoring by a rookie with 13, and first in the league lead with goals by a rookie with six. Michkov also has an overtime winner too:
Whether it’s a game of ping pong or air hockey, Michkov is very competitive. He just wants to win, and multiple players and Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella has said that, as well.
He hates to lose, Michkov just wants to win. Michkov lives and breathes the sport of hockey, that’s it. Following the rookie game he made that clear after talking about his first goal, “Not happy about the loss today, but after the game we will get better.” Competitiveness cannot be taught, that is something that is ingrained in you and Michkov has it, Travis Konecny said after the victory against the San Jose Sharks.
On-ice everything is great, so how is everything off-ice? Everything seems to be going great for Michkov. We have learned he is a family man. Following a rookie game he got a little emotional talking about his first goal and what it meant to him and his family. One could sense that goal meant a lot not only to him, but his family. His mom and brother were upstairs in the arena watching the game, and they were able to see his first goal as a Flyer.
Another thing we have learned is both him and Egor Zamula are very close. There was a reason the Flyers extended Zamula, and obviously helping Michkov adapt to North America was one of the very reasons. The two are best friends now, and it’s great to see. Ivan Fedotov is also very close to Michkov. Michkov is also learning the English language, and he even answered a question in English after the game on Friday night saying, “Thank you.”
One major tidbit of learning about Michkov is how competitive he is. He hates to lose, he just wants to win. Michkov lives and breathes the sport of hockey, that’s it. Following the game on Friday night, he made it clear after talking about his first goal, “Not happy about the loss today, but after the game we will get better.” Competitiveness cannot be taught, that is something that is ingrained in you, and Michkov has it.
Everything is going as planned with Michkov now in the states. It’s going to take more time for him and his family to become adapted to North America, but it couldn’t have gone any better than it has been. I get a sense that he won’t need a translator by the end of the season, and he has become friends with Travis Konecny.
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