Matvei Michkov, Flyers surprise sluggish Avalanche, hand visitors 3-2 defeat

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on Oct 19, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PHILADELPHIA — Given the opponent’s form, it’d be hard to not classify this as the worst performance of a young Colorado Avalanche season.

Matvei Michkov had two goals, Trevor Zegras had three assists and the Philadelphia Flyers, who entered Monday night with one win in 10 games, surprised the Avalanche, 3-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Avs rookie T.J. Hughes cut the Flyers’ lead to 3-2 with 5:21 remaining in the third period. It was Hughes’ second career NHL goal — and his second in as many games. But the Avs could not find an equalizer.

“Sluggish and sloppy,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Execution was a big factor for us tonight. The pace we were playing at — it was sloppy. Passes weren’t good. Handling passes wasn’t good. It’s hard to go anywhere when you’re beating the puck up.

“That’s what I thought we did for the bulk of the night.”

Martin Necas got Colorado on the board late in the second period. For the second game in a row, the Avs scored just a few seconds after a power play ended. Necas wired a shot from the top of the right circle past Philadelphia goalie Joseph Woll at 17:54 of the second. It was Necas’ fifth goal of the season, and came after he missed part of the first period because the puck went off the crossbar on an Artturi Lehkonen shot and hit him in the face.

Cale Makar created the power play with a huge hit on Noel Acciari. Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim took offense, and then took a roughing penalty in retaliation after a clean hit.

That late goal in the second did not lead to an early push in the third period. Colorado did have a second power play chance, but nothing came of it.

Then Acciari got his revenge by deflecting an Oliver Bonk point shot past Mackenzie Blackwood at 6:34 of the third to re-establish the Flyers’ two-goal advantage at 3-1.

Michkov put the Flyers in front at 7:41 of the opening period. Zegras put a shot into traffic from the left circle with Philadelphia on the power play. Avs defenseman Josh Manson and Flyers forward Porter Martone were engaged at the top of the crease as puck entered the slot and kicked out to the right.

Michkov pounced, and put the rebound past Blackwood while Martone was making contact with the goaltender. The Avalanche challenged for goalie interference, but the officials determined that Manson pushed Martone into Blackwood, so the goal was allowed.

“I think it’s goalie interference,” Bednar said. “I think Manson lifts his stick and bumps him a little bit, and (Martone) doesn’t make an effort to avoid the goal. He just stays in there. He’s in there too long and causing too much disruption on the goalie.

“I thought it was goalie interference. They didn’t think so.”

It did appear that Manson’s actions put Martone into Blackwood, but they had disengaged and the Flyers’ rookie forward made a move to remain in the goalie’s way before Michkov shot the puck.

“It was a battle,” Manson said. “He started outside the crease. I wasn’t trying to push him. I just lifted his stick. As I lifted it, he goes into the crease and affects (Blackwood). I’d like to see that called a no-goal, but I understand the call they made.

“I don’t think I pushed him in any way, so maybe that’s one they’ve got to look at an analyze.”

The Avs were on the penalty kill because of a too many men penalty, which happened because Fedor Svechkov jumped over the boards too soon before Nathan MacKinnon got back to the bench.

It was a sleepy opening period for the Avs, in general. The Flyers outshot them 13-8 in the opening 20 minutes.

Philadelphia had been outshot in the 26 of its 30 periods entering this contest, a big part of the club’s woeful 1-6-3 start. The Flyers entered the game allowing a league-worst. 32.9 shots per game, while logging the second-fewest at 21.2 per night.

Michkov made it a 2-0 advantage at 12:23 of the second period. He came off the Flyers bench and collected a pass from Zegras at the left point, then proceeded to do a full lap around the offensive zone. When Michkov was back near the left point, he turned and whipped a shot through two Avs defenders that beat Blackwood inside the far post.

It was Michkov’s sixth goal of the season. The rest of the Flyers have combined for just 11 goals this season.

“I don’t think we were sharp,” Manson said. “I think we got off to a slow start. A couple of unfortunate bounces. They’ve been battling and trying to find it.

“I think we found our game, but it was maybe a little too late.”

Footnotes

Bednar said Monday morning that Logan O’Connor will make his season debut Friday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Ball Arena. O’Connor missed the start of the season with a lower-body injury, then was away from the team after his father passed away. Bednar said Nicolas Roy (lower body) is expected to start skating back in Denver while the Avs are on this two-game East Coast trip, but Zachary L’Heureux (upper body) is “a little further away.”

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