Even if John Tortorella is no longer leading the Philadelphia Flyers, Matvey Michkov will still suffer the head coach's wrath, and the organization will undoubtedly hope the Russian gets the message across quickly.
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Rick Tochet doesn't seem too pleased with the 20-year-old's performance. The trainer has benched him several times since the start of the campaign. On Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, he had a hard time assessing the forward's consistency in defensive territory. In the third period, he left the zone before his team recovered the puck.
Early on, Michkov was seriously behind in the game, leading to the Wild's only goal in the second period. The opponent controlled the disc while the skater in question was still in the neutral zone.
Result: Tocchet forced him to miss games the entire distance, and the hockey player finished the match with just over 12 minutes of playing time. In overtime, he did not put his skates on the playing surface.
“He must be in good shape. [après avoir été ennuyé par une blessure à la cheville à l’été] and he must stay on his toes with the team, the driver said on Sunday, as reported from NBC Sports Network . You can't leave the area like this. I think he has improved in that aspect, but there are times when decisions have to be made. Against Minnesota I'm betting on nine [attaquants] in my opinion, this will give us a better chance of winning. And we changed tactics. This is not a criticism of him. He worked hard to control the puck.”
Whoever scored a goal in five matches played an average of 14 minutes 50 seconds per game.