The Philadelphia Flyers’ first home preseason contest resulted in their first preseason victory in three tries on Thursday night, defeating the Boston Bruins, 2-0.
The Flyers iced a lineup full of regular NHL talent, so the result, more or less, was to be expected. Matvei Michkov was buzzing the entire night and opened the scoring in the first period at 4:02, and Cole Knuble scored at 2:52 of the third period. Joseph Woll stopped all 28 shots that came his way in a very impressive performance.
Matvei Michkov
Michkov’s performance was incredible on Thursday. He was skating well, he was strong on the puck, and he was displaying the creativity with the puck that makes him so fun to watch.
“Mich, I thought, obviously was skating really well,” said Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet. “Felt it with the puck, so it was really nice to see.”
After a down year where he still scored 20 goals and 51 points, Michkov looked like someone primed for a huge breakout season in his third year.
Cole Knuble
Knuble continued to impress the Flyers as he recorded another goal, this time crashing the net after he sprung Jett Luchanko for a quality scoring chance and buried the loose puck.
While Knuble was sent down to AHL Lehigh Valley on Friday, he gave both Flyers fans and the organization something to be excited about when he inevitably gets called up. Knuble and Jett Luchanko both lead the Flyers with three points each this preseason, and Knuble is the only Flyer this preseason with two goals.
“Really good. They’re stacking some good games together,” said Tocchet on Knuble and Luchanko. “Cole’s really playing well and I thought Luch has gotten better every game, so that’s huge for us.”
Joseph Woll
With Dan Vladař’s injury scare reduced to a simple day-to-day designation, the Flyers should have both of their goalies ready to go by the time Wednesday rolls around for opening night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. But if there’s any event where Vladař does miss any significant time, Woll showed that he can hold down the fort.
After playing a solid yet losing game against the Washington Capitals on Monday, Woll looked much stronger in his shutout performance on Thursday. He saved his best for last with a turnaround save on Riley Duran to preserve the goose egg late in the third period.
“Yeah, I felt pretty solid,” said Woll after the game. “I thought we played a pretty solid game in front of me as well. Our defensemen stepped up with five guys and played a pretty clean game all the way through.”
Up Next
The Flyers host the Capitals in their preseason finale on Saturday evening. Puck drop is scheduled for 5:00pm ET at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
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