Matvei Michkov scored twice and Trevor Zegras notched three assists as the Philadelphia Flyers nipped the visiting Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Monday.
Joseph Woll made 24 saves for Philadelphia, which played without injured regulars Travis Konecny, Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett, Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen. The Flyers have won back-to-back games since opening their season with nine straight winless outings.
Martin Necas and T.J. Hughes tallied for Colorado, which has alternated wins and losses in its last eight games. Mackenzie Blackwood turned aside 21 shots for the Avalanche.
Michkov opened the scoring with a power-play goal 7:41 into the contest. Zegras took a shot that caromed to Michkov in the opposite circle and he buried it to mark his third straight game with a goal.
Michkov made it 2-0 at 12:23 of the second period on a play where he carried the puck behind the net, then through the circle and back near the blue line. He then wristed a shot toward the net, where Noah Cates was setting up a screen, and the puck slipped past Blackwood for his sixth of the year.
However, Necas responded less than six minutes later with a shot from the top of the right circle that beat Woll, moments after an Avalanche power play had ended. The goal was the fifth of the season for Necas, who had taken a puck to the mouth earlier in the game.
Noel Acciari made it 3-1 at 6:34 of the third period with a deflection off a point shot by Oliver Bonk. It was the first goal as a Flyer for Acciari, who scored 13 times for the Pittsburgh Penguins a season ago.
The Avalanche got within 3-2 with 5:20 remaining as Hughes grabbed a loose puck in the right circle and snapped one past a helpless Woll.
Colorado pulled Blackwood with two minutes left and the visitors controlled the puck for the duration of the game. Michkov’s icing with just under a minute to go caused some tense moments down the stretch with a group of tired skaters, but Philadelphia held on.
–Field Level Media
