Philadelphia Flyers prospect Matvei Michkov has been tearing the KHL up since arriving at HK Sochi, but on Oct. 1, he got to take on SKA St. Petersburg – the club who loaned him to Sochi – for the first time. The youngster got to play spoiler, as Sochi defeated SKA at home for the first time in six years.
During his time with SKA, Michkov was regularly made a healthy scratch or was given a drastically reduced role if he was on the ice at all. As a result, head coach Roman Rotenberg and SKA made the decision to send Michkov out on loan, which was music to the Flyers’ ears.
The 18-year-old Flyers prospect has been on a tear since being sent on loan and is now up to 10 points in eight games with Sochi. Michkov took no prisoners when it came to facing his former team, as the young star went off for one goal and two assists in a very surprising 5-4 Sochi win.
For the dynamite winger’s first point and only goal of the contest, Michkov waded up the right wall in the offensive zone and executed a picture-perfect one-two with Artur Tyanulin, who returned the puck to Michkov for a tap-in at the far side. Later on, the Russian star would again thread a pass through to Tyanulin, who connected with Amir Garayev to add another tally for Sochi.
For the magician’s final act of the match, Garayev struck once more for Sochi on the power play, earning Michkov his second assist and third of three points. Sochi sought to close the game out up 5-3, but former NHLer Alex Galchenyuk potted a last-second goal for SKA. Ultimately, the hosts pulled out the upset victory 5-4.
It must be an amazing feeling for Michkov to play the villain and stun the team that cast him away without giving him a fair shake in meaningful KHL action. For the Flyers and Flyers fans, it’s just one more reason to be excited about their star prospect and his apparent competitive streak.