Matvei Michkov posts two points, Flyers recover with a shootout victory

It seemed like the Flyers were going to cruise to an easy win after scoring the first three goals of the game. But for Philadelphia, nothing can come that easily.

After allowing three straight goals, the third coming with nearly two minutes left in the third, the Flyers lead had vanished. Overtime would come and go with a handful of chances by each side. It was chaotic until the final minute when San Jose was playing for a shootout.

And it was the Flyers who got the last laugh as they scored the only two goals of the skills competition to come away with the shootout win. It was Philadelphia's third straight shootout as they've won two of those games.

So how did we get here?

It was a rather quick start and not your typical goal scorer. The first few minutes were very eventful for Erik Johnson. As the veteran approaches 1,000 games in the NHL, he showed off his repertoire. With Anthony Richard streaking into the offense zone, the speedy forward had Johnson on the other side of an odd-man rush. The defenseman took the pass in stride and whipped one past Viteck Vanecek.

On the ensuing face-off, Johnson dropped the gloves with Givani Smith. It seemed like the fight came out of nowhere. Until the replay showed Smith getting in the face of Matvei Michkov. Johnson was not going to let that fly. Even if it meant taking some punches to the face.

That lead held for the majority of the period until the Flyers added to it. And it was a beauty of a tic-tac-toe play between Emil Andrae, Michkov, and Travis Konecny. The Flyers' power play had been in a rut since some early season success. The unit finished 1/3 on the night, but getting that one was a step forward.

Michkov came back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch for two straight games. Eyes were going to be on him to see how he responded to the effort. Seems like he took it well as he increased the Flyers' lead to 3-0 with a breakaway goal just over five minutes into the second.

At this point, it felt like everything was falling into place for a comfortable victory. And then the Sharks scored two goals in less than three minutes to get back into the game. Jack Thompson had a puck deflect off his skate while Mikael Granlund found the tiniest of holes above the shoulder of Sam Ersson. Just like that, it was 3-2 heading into the third period.

Chances galore came for both teams but it was a tough luck bounce that allowed the Sharks to tie the game late. A pass deflected off the stick of Owen Tippett and went right to Barclay Goodrow. With Johnson unaware of the puck being there, Goodrow fired it through his legs and into the net.

A Michkov penalty right at the end put the Flyers in a precarious situation heading into overtime. They survived and traded dangerous scoring chances with the Sharks up until the end. Shootout goals by Michkov and Konecny gave the Flyers a needed victory.

Sam Ersson finished with 28 saves on 31 shots, but made some grade-A stops in the overtime as he was hounded at times. He also stopped both shooters he faced in the shootout.

Welcome back Matvei Michkov

There was hardly any concern about how Michkov would respond after the healthy scratches. He is a competitive player and is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. So it's no surprise that he finished the night with two points and the shootout winner.

It was a little bit of everything for the 19-year-old in his return. He helped set up the Flyers' second goal in a play that was as quick as can be. With Andrae manning the point in the power play, the defenseman spotted Michkov waiting inside the face-off dot. Not wasting any time, Michkov tapped it into the wheelhouse of Konecny. Using all of his might, Konecny fired it in.

It doesn't get any prettier than this.

Five minutes into the second period, Egor Zamula took the puck away in the defensive zone. He chipped it ahead to Ryan Poehling who spotted Michkov behind the defense. Poehling's pass led him into the offensive zone. It was Michkov who did the rest, knocking the puck between the five-hole of Vanacek.

Aside from the two points, Michkov finished with two shots, two hits, two takeaways, and nearly 16 minutes of ice time. Penalty aside, it was a solid return to the lineup for Michkov.

He and the Flyers will go for two straight wins and points in three straight when they travel to Ottawa to face the Senators on Thursday.