Flyers’ 3 Stars of the Week: A first for Michkov while team struggles

What a week, huh? The Philadelphia Flyers played four games and lost all of them in regulation, extending the losing streak to six games. Now they’re headed on a road trip against some of the toughest teams in the Western Conference, and it’s easy to envision the losing streak hitting nine by week’s end. If we could award stars to you, dear reader, we would, because that was a miserable week of hockey to witness.

But! Before we get to all that, we have to reflect on last week’s games and choose three stars. That’s no easy task when the Flyers were outscored 22-9, as there are only so many Flyers goals to choose from, so we’re taking a slightly different perspective. Before we get into the three stars proper, an honorable mention goes to Nikita Grebenkin for participating in a double fight in last Monday’s 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. That was awesome.

Also, shout out to Rodrigo Abols in that fight, and here’s hoping he has a speedy recovery from the injury he suffered against the New York Rangers. It didn’t look good.

3. Matvei Michkov

1 goal, 1 point, 4 games played, 16:46 Average Time On Ice (ATOI), 1 fight

It has been quite a struggle for Matvei Michkov this season; the one goal he scored this week was the first with a goalie in net since November. Though the points haven’t been coming, Michkov did chalk up another NHL first for himself: his first fight.

Denver Barkey (who we’ll get to in a minute) took a massive hit in the neutral zone from Blake Lizotte, and Michkov was the first on the scene to stick up for and defend his teammate. It’d be hard to argue that Michkov won the tilt, but it will certainly go a long way with the rest of the team. Perhaps he just needed to vent some frustration about the way his season’s gone, too, and will play with some jam on this road trip after dropping the gloves. For a career first and his first goal in a while, Michkov gets third star this week.

2. Owen Tippett

1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points, 4 games played, 17:11 ATOI

Most of the Flyers skaters looked lifeless this week, but Owen Tippett looked like he was going in every game. His scoring’s finally coming around, and he’s just about on pace for his usual 25-30 goal season. What’s been more encouraging is his playmaking, and he had a heck of an assist on one of Trevor Zegras’s goals against the Rangers.

While the initial pass to Zegras didn’t wind up in the back of the net, Tippett stuck with the play around the net to clean up a rebound and got it back to Zegras for a second scoring chance. Zegras made no mistake and buried that second shot.

Tippett’s underlying statistics this week back up the eye test of his strong play: across all four games, he averaged an 81.32 xGF%, per Natural Stat Trick. This isn’t a one-off, either; ever since Tippett last appeared in trade rumors, his numbers have really picked up. Since December 3, Tippett has had a 60.44 xGF%. Sure, there were a few bad games sprinkled in there, but he’s been controlling play and generating chances consistently for over a month now.

With numbers like that and considering how badly the Flyers were beat in all of their games, it’s an easy second star for the only player who looked engaged throughout.

1. Denver Barkey

3 assists, 3 points, 3 games played, 14:39 ATOI

While Denver Barkey didn’t score a goal this week, he was still a bright spot. Barkey was a healthy scratch against the Buffalo Sabres and, instead of wallowing or moping, he came out the next game looking energized and ready to show he deserves to be in the lineup, posting two assists against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The first assist was a nice pass to set up Nick Seeler (!) for his second goal of the season.

The second assist, however, was much more exciting. Barkey and Michkov had a 2-on-1 in the Penguins’ zone, Barkey found Michkov on a great east-west pass, and Michkov buried the chance. Michkov wouldn’t have cracked third star of this illustrious ranking without Barkey. The goal came too late in the game for the Flyers to really build on it, but seeing the team’s two youngest players connect like this sure is inspiring.

Barkey and Michkov on a line together has seemed to be working, so hopefully Rick Tocchet keeps them together. While the Flyers’ offense has been less than stellar of late, Barkey has been such a bright spot, bringing energy and playmaking. Dogs got that Barkey in ’em, and he’s got a bright future with the Flyers–bright enough to earn first star of the week.

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