Matvei Michkov and Alex Ovechkin had already faced off twice in their NHL careers before Thursday night, but neither meeting (both games were in late October) lived up to the billing. Though both scored in the second contest, the Capitals ran the show in both games, and Ovechkin’s goal was an empty-netter in a three-goal Washington victory.
Their third head-to-head showdown was a step above, though. Michkov came out of the gates flying and easily could’ve had more than two goals to his name. Ovechkin also stepped up, scoring a critical goal for the Capitals to move one step closer to catching Wayne Gretzky. Their teams played a tightly contested game, with Washington rallying for two goals in the third to continue their dream regular season with a 4-3 victory.
Game Recap
It was clear from the moment the puck dropped that Michkov had his A-game. He snuck into the slot on his opening shift and unleashed a dangerous backhander that Charlie Lindgren fought off. Undeterred, Michkov made his way to the middle of the ice again a few minutes later, drawing a penalty on another near-miss. After more unsuccessful playmaking throughout the period, he got back in the trigger position when Travis Sanheim hit for a home run pass late in the first period. This time, Michkov got the payoff, beating Lindgren to the glove side to snap a seven-game point and nine-game goal drought.
Michkov may be the next Russian star rising the NHL ranks, but he was far from the biggest in this game. Ovechkin reminded everyone that he isn’t ready to pass the torch anytime soon by pulling the trigger on a centering pass from Martin Fehervary and beating Ivan Fedotov in the period’s final minute for career goal No. 879. It was another tough blow for the Flyers after giving up a goal during the last minute of their previous period when Dylan Guenther beat the buzzer in overtime for the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday.
Instead, it was Washington surging to a 2-1 lead early in the second on a Connor McMichael deflection just after a Capitals power-play expired. But the Philadelphia man advantage answered in short-order as Emil Andrae (guilty of Philadelphia’s first penalty) ripped a one-timer that turned into another deflection goal, this time by Tyson Foerster.
Michkov’s big night continued four minutes later, although this development started with a scare. Fehervary had the puck in a prime scoring area but stumbled to the ice, losing the chance and gifting the Flyers an odd-man rush. Three high-level passes from Michkov to Jamie Drysdale to Rodrigo Abols and finally to Michkov on the backdoor restored Philadelphia’s lead and gave Michkov his third career multi-goal game and first since Dec. 7.
Michkov nearly brought the house down early in the third period on a Michigan attempt that almost capped off his first NHL hat trick. However, Lindgren made the save, and moments later, Lars Eller sniped on Fedotov from a near-standstill to tie the score with 13:37 to play. Another impressive shot, this one from Jakob Chychrun off a gorgeous cross-ice, high-to-low feed from John Carlson, put the Capitals back in the lead late in the third. Chychrun’s 15th goal of the season put him in sole possession of third place in scoring by defenders, trailing only Zach Werenski (17) and Cale Makar (19).
It also stood up as the game-winner. Washington defended well in the late moments, although Foerster had a couple of wacks in the dying seconds to beat the buzzer that somehow stayed out of the net. The Flyers have dropped six of seven after a 5-0-1 stretch, fading to 15th place in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals move to first in the entire league with the win, as Washington is tied in points with the Winnipeg Jets (79) with one fewer game played.
Both teams have one more game before the 4 Nations Face-Off break, each at home. The Flyers host another struggling team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, on Saturday night while Washington welcomes in Utah on Sunday afternoon, one of two games in the league that day.
