BUFFALO ― Flyers coach Rick Tocchet likes his pairs.
Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak have been attached at the hip since almost the start of the season. Noah Cates and Bobby Brink have been a duo dating back to the John Tortorella era, as have Matvei Michkov and Sean Couturier.
But Michkov was recently switched to the left wing with Cates and Brink — and it paid off with a Brink goal in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
“Bobby and Noah have been together last year and this year, and they have a little chemistry. I just wanted to switch, get a little juice,” Tocchet explained on Thursday before the Flyers take on the Buffalo Sabres (7:30 p.m., ESPN+, Hulu).
“Noah and Bobby play a little bit more north,” he added. “They’ve got some speed, so that could help Matvei and his game.”
Michkov’s season started slowly, but his game has certainly picked up as the schedule builds. After leading all rookies in goals last season with 26, he had just one tally, along with five assists, in the first 13 games this season. Since then, he has seven goals and 12 points in 19 games.
Tocchet has seen an improvement in the young Russian’s game.
“Well, he’s obviously making less turnovers,” he said of Michkov, who has seen his giveaways drop from almost two a game (22 in the first 13 games) to one a game (19 in the last 19).
“He’s trying to understand. He’s getting his shifts. He’s doing 30-second shifts, which is fine. I have no problem with it. I know he’s coming off early sometimes, and I think there’s a number of reasons why, but I don’t mind the progression when it comes to that. We’ll work on the other stuff, and he’s still building his game.”
Although Michkov’s ice time has been a point of contention with fans, he is often the one opting to skate a short shift, as he goes to the bench with his linemates still on the ice.
According to Natural Stat Trick, he is tied with Cates and defenseman Nick Seeler for the second shortest average shift length at 41 seconds; only Garnet Hathaway and Noah Juulsen average fewer seconds per shift (39). And while the 21-year-old winger ranks ninth in average time on ice among Flyers forwards at 14:40, there are several factors leading to it, like the fact that he leads the team with 32 penalty minutes in 32 games.
Among the forwards, he ranks eighth with 555 shifts, trailing Travis Konecny (623), Tippett (593), Christian Dvorak (591), Cates (582), and Couturier (573), who all serve on the penalty kill and have all played on the power play too at some point this season. The only two players above him who do not kill penalties, but are on the power play, are Trevor Zegras (589) — who leads the team in goals (14) and points (33) — and Brink, who has only just six more shifts than Michkov.
“I do like short shifts, but there’s sometimes you’ve been out there for 30, but you still got juice. You can still stay out there. It’s time and place. It’s a lot of different things,” Tocchet said, speaking in a general sense about short shifts.
“Shift lengths are anywhere from 30 to 40, 45 seconds, and you get up a minute, 55 seconds, it can happen. Sometimes when you have the puck, and you’re just moving around, and you’re not really tired, stay out there and try to score. But I think for the most part, every coach preaches short shifts. I mean, that’s how you drive play.”
The Flyers need Michkov to drive play, and thus far, he has looked better as he gets back into shape and builds his game. Although he doesn’t have a goal in December, he does have four assists in eight games — along with 10 penalty minutes.
And while he is one of five forwards who have played at least half the games this season with a negative plus-minus (minus-2), he has an even rating in December. That was helped by setting up Brink on Monday during his 20 five-on-five shifts and 14:06 of ice time, which was one more shift than Brink and one fewer than Konecny, who played 16:08 and 17:50, respectively.
“He’s got that skill and that vision,” Cates said before the game in Montreal. “I think, just for me, to get him in good spots, get him the puck with time and space … [and] going to the net or getting open, because, you know, he’s special, and he’ll find you.
“So obviously just got to talk with him and work with him a little bit with some things, but just the kind of special skills that he has, you know, we’ve got to try to take advantage of.”
Breakaways
Sam Ersson will start in goal against the Sabres. He is 4-1-0 against with a 1.87 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage against Buffalo for his career. Ersson’s first career shutout came in Western New York, when he made 28 saves on Jan. 9, 2023. … Tocchet said there are game-time decisions, but forward Nikita Grebenkin and defensemen Juulsen and Egor Zamula were the only ones on the ice for the optional morning skate. The Flyers later placed Zamula on waivers Thursday.
