Oliver Bonk, Matvei Michkov, and youngsters shine in Flyers’ 4-2 win vs. Canadiens to close regular season
Bonk scored his first-ever goal in his NHL debut, while Michkov, Alex Bump, and Porter Martone also added goals.
The kids are all right.
With their playoff spot solidified, the Flyers rested a few of their veterans and fielded a roster filled with young blood, including 11 players 25 years old or younger.
And it was the youngsters — no one over the age of 23 had a point — who spirited the Flyers to a 4-2 victory against a Montreal Canadiens team that played almost all of their regulars. Matvei Michkov, 21, had three points, Porter Martone, 19, had two points, and Alex Bump had one.
Two of the young players, defensemen Oliver Bonk, 21, and Hunter McDonald, 23, also got on the scoresheet in their NHL debuts.
After getting the phone call — McDonald got his Monday night after watching the Flyers clinch the third seed in the Metropolitan Division, and Bonk woke up Tuesday morning to the voicemail as he was already sleeping when the Flyers won — they drove down from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League and hit the ice for the first double-rookie lap since Michkov and Jett Luchanko at the start of last season. They joked that they did rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go first, and McDonald won.
The two were also paired up on the blue line, like with the Phantoms.
“Yeah, it’s great. We’re best friends out there, and I’ve played a lot with him, so I’m definitely used to what he does, and I think it helps a lot,” Bonk said.
They all helped the Flyers close out the regular season with 43 wins, the most in a full 82-game season since they won 47 in 2011-12. They finished with a three-game winning streak, wins in six of their last seven, and an 18-7-1 record since the Olympic break.
Montreal was still in the running for home-ice advantage in their first-round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Coach Rick Tocchet joked postgame that Lightning coach Jon Cooper, with whom he coached at the Olympics, called to thank him.
Philly took a 1-0 lead as the kids connected on a delayed holding penalty on Montreal’s Cole Caufield, drawn by Bump as he drove to the net. Denver Barkey, who was playing center, snagged the puck in the corner and got it up to McDonald at the point.
McDonald sent it over to his Lehigh Valley defensive partner, Bonk, and he dished it to Michkov along the right boards. Michkov carried the puck up and across to above the circles, where he put the puck on goal. Standing in front was none other than Martone, who tipped the puck in for his fourth NHL goal and extended his point streak to six games (four goals, five assists).
Skating well and confidently in his first NHL game, Bonk earned his first career point with the assist and then got his first goal to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.
Michkov put a shot on goal that Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobeš pushed into the corner, and Juraj Slafkovský tried to move it up the boards to Jake Evans. But McDonald, who was called a “throwback” to the Broad Street Bullies days by his coach at Northeastern, Jerry Keefe, leveled Evans, and the Flyers kept the puck in.
The Russian winger picked it up, and while two Canadiens tried to go after McDonald, he sent it over to Bonk. The Flyers defenseman glided down a few feet and sent a wrister past Dobeš with Luke Glendening heading to the net to create some havoc just in case.
And Michkov wasn’t done as he buried his 20th of the season in the second period to restore the Flyers’ two-goal lead.
Although they won’t get any assists, McDonald made a smart play to try and hit Noah Cates on the weak side atop the crease. It didn’t exactly connect, but the puck eventually slid around the crease to Michkov waiting above the right post. He scored easily and now has seven goals and 22 points since the Olympic break and four goals and 11 points in his past seven games.
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In the third period, Bump got on the board to make it 4-2. A healthy scratch the past two games, he came out with some jump and drove down the left boards with the puck in the offensive zone, powering past Arber Xhekaj.
The puck bobbled around, and it looked like the Canadiens had control, but Slafkovský lost it in front of his own net to Martone, who Bump joked that he wanted to take it from him right away. But Martone tapped the puck to Bump in the slot, and he snapped it past the glove of Dobeš for his fifth NHL goal.
“I think that’s kind of my bread and butter right there,” Bump said. “I think if I get a shot in the slot, just one, I think I got a good chance of scoring.”
Bump has five goals and nine points in 17 games.
“I said to [president Keith Jones] after the game, ‘I got to get this guy in the lineup somehow,’” Tocchet said, explaining that Bump’s time in the press box was not because of how he was playing. “But we’ll figure that [out]. He’s going to get in. We just got to figure out when. Really enjoyed his game tonight.”
Martone maintains his point-per-game pace with 10 points (four goals, six assists) in nine games.
“My line was under-22, so we’re just happy to be here,” Bump laughed about playing with Barkey and Martone. “Trying to do the best we can and contribute in any way, and let’s have fun while we’re doing it.”
Breakaways
Sam Ersson started and made 27 saves on 29 shots with only a Brendan Gallagher tip-in and an Evans goal after the Flyers’ goalie lost track of the puck off a point shot, besting him. … The Flyers sat several regulars. Goalie Dan Vladař, forwards Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, Christian Dvorak, Trevor Zegras, and Owen Tippett, and defensemen Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, and Rasmus Ristolainen did not dress. … In addition to Bonk and McDonald being recalled on Tuesday, forwards Anthony Richard and Jacob Gaucher, and goalie Aleksei Kolosov were also recalled. Kolosov backed up Ersson. … Defenseman Noah Juulsen and forwards Carl Grundström and Garrett Wilson also slotted back in after being recent healthy scratches.
Up next
The postseason. The date and time of Game 1 in Pittsburgh is still to be determined.