Flyers takeaways: Matvei Michkov’s statement game; Emil Andrae shows he should stay for good

Standing in front of the media in the Flyers locker room, Erik Johnson acknowledged the elephant in the room: “Sort of a little bit of a trap game.”

This wasn’t like last season when the Flyers gave the struggling San Jose Sharks their first win — 12 games in. No, it had the makings of a trap game because the Flyers were back home after almost a week of travel through the old Southeast Division and the Sharks were wrapping up a back-to-back.

However, the team that left Philly was not the team that returned. Like Juan Ponce de León, they went south in search of, maybe not the Fountain of Youth, but of their identity. The sunshine and warmth of North Carolina and Florida reawakened it, and the Flyers found their footing. So, like in the past two games, when the Sharks started circling, and tied things up — “three or four minutes [where] we do some dumb stuff,” according to coach John Tortorella — the Flyers did not fold on Monday.

With that, here are three things we learned from the Flyers’ 4-3 shootout win:

» READ MORE: Flyers let an early lead slip away against the San Jose Sharks but secure a 4-3 shootout win

OK, yes, this was known, but it continues to burn brighter and brighter.

After watching from the press box as a healthy scratch for two games, the Russian phenom returned with a statement: setting up teammates, playing smarter positionally, mixing it up with one of the toughest players in the league, scoring a breakaway goal, and even throwing rabbit punches. Like his goal celebration suggests, are you not entertained?

There is no denying Michkov’s talent offensively. He showed that again on Monday night with a dominant game that included his first goal at five-on-five (he came in with three power-play goals and one on a 6-on-5 delayed penalty), a power-play assist for Travis Konecncy, and sheer determination in overtime to get the win before scoring the winner in the shootout.

“Every game is important,” he said through a translator. “Every game, the motivation is there, and every time when I hit the ice I feel like I need to put everything out there for the team.”

Michkov, 19, also showed that he had learned from his two games watching. His defensive zone miscues were not as glaring, and he recorded just his second positive plus-minus rating (plus-2) in his 14 NHL games. In the first period, Michkov was an effective forechecker and pressured the Sharks in the neutral zone. It even looked as if Tortorella went up to him at one point to give him some positive feedback on the bench.

He also played with an edge, beyond his two hits. He stood up to Givani Smith, who went blow-for-blow with Nick Deslauriers last season. But he also learned that having an edge has a line. Michkov went after Macklin Celebrini toward the end of regulation after the No. 1 pick in 2024 appeared to knock the stick out of his hands. That’s where the rabbit punches came in.

“I’m sure when he was sitting in the penalty box there in overtime, that was probably enough for him to think twice next time,” said Konency, who also plays with an edge. “You can take a little bit of the compete back. It’s hard to teach the compete, and he’s got it.”

» READ MORE: Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov is the latest Philly sports savior. Can he match the hype?

Konecny, who scored a nifty goal off a quick feed from Michkov, heaped praise on the 19-year-old.

“He’s competitive, and that’s what we love about him,” he said. “He brings all the other stuff to the game, the skill and that offensive mindset, but he also competes, and he hangs in there. ... He’s obviously great, and in the things you guys don’t talk about, he’s also trying to do those, too.”

And then Michkov showed some of his personality.

“I watched the two games. It’s good to watch and get some time off and rethink. Plus, being in Florida it’s a good time to get good rest,” Michkov said with a smile and a laugh.

He then was asked about Konecny’s praise regarding the little details of his game. Michkov again responded with a smile and a laugh: “If Travis says so, I will keep it.”

Last season, Andrae played in four NHL games and believed he could show more. His eighth game of this season was a statement game.

Skating on the top pairing with Travis Sanheim, he played 25 minutes, 40 seconds, including 3:34 on the top power-play unit, where he earned an assist. The 22-year-old tied Konecny for the team high in shot attempts, including four that were on goal. And he added two takeaways and two blocked shots.

“I won’t complain,” he said when asked about his increased minutes.

And they are hard-earned minutes. He showed vision with his secondary assist on the Konecny goal and then set up Konecny for another in the second period at even strength, but the winger sent it into the pads of Vitek Vaněček and not the open net. Andrae almost scored in overtime off a great look by Bobby Brink but missed the net.

“Just trying to do my best every game, trying to improve,” Andrae said. “I do think that I can improve stuff defensively, just to be more reliable going forward. I had some ups and downs in the game, but I still feel like I deserve what I get [in ice time], so I just got to keep going.”

“Well, he’s played so well that now he’s on a better pairing,” his former defensive partner Johnson said with a toothless grin. “So good for him, but he played really well and deserved his ice time, and deserves his time with Sanny. He looks like he belongs and has the confidence to make plays. Really happy for him.”

Watching the game on Monday night, it looked like Cates’ legs never stopped moving — which is a good thing when you’re the fourth-line center and tasked with providing energy.

But it wasn’t like he was just going through the motions and creating havoc. In his 14:07 of ice time, including almost three minutes of penalty killing, Cates had three shots on goal, two hits, and one blocked shot.

In the first period, he outraced Sharks defenseman Timothy Liljegren down the left wall to create a two-on-one with Garnet Hathaway. Cates kept the puck as he dragged it around a diving Mario Ferraro for a Grade A chance. Later in the period, he drew the penalty that led to the Konency power-play goal, and in overtime, Cates, Sanheim, and goalie Sam Ersson put on a penalty-killing clinic.

» READ MORE: Q&A: Former Flyer Jeremy Roenick professes his love for Philly ahead of his Hall of Fame induction: ‘We just matched’

In a four-on-three penalty kill, because it was overtime, Cates was the high man on the triangle. He was out there for almost the entire time, 1:50 of the 2-minute Sharks power play.

Eleven seconds in, after Rasmus Ristolainen stood up at the blue line on Celebrini, he knocked the puck out of the zone. He played tough at the top of the triangle when the Sharks did set up and Ristolainen tied up Alex Wennberg in front so he couldn’t get a rebound on a Mikael Granlund shot.

Cates later made a huge block on a shot by Granlund. He tracked down the wayward puck and held it along the boards as time ticked down. The Sharks got it back, but Cates was near the blue line checking Granlund and then using his skate to pin the puck to eat away even more time. And then Ersson made three straight saves to keep the Sharks off the board.

Cates has been a healthy scratch and has been moved all over the lineup as a wing and center. But he’s finding success.

“It speaks to what he’s able to do as a player,” Konecny said. “There’s not a lot of guys that can play wing and center — I don’t even know if he played center before the NHL, and he came in and played it in his first season.

“He does all the things that everyone should do. We always joke that he’s like the younger [Sean Couturier]. Coots is just, he does all those things; he’s annoying to play against, always in the right areas. And that’s what Catesy does. He plays the right way. He plays hard, and, yeah, he gets rewarded with some of the things some guys don’t do, [like] big blocks, and those are the things that he does that we really appreciate.”