“The withdrawal from the squad cooled Michkov down and made him look at things from a different perspective” – Kanareikin

Former head coach of Spartak Fedor Kanareikin believes that the removal from the squad helped the Russian forward of the Philadelphia Flyers Matvey Michkov.

Michkov missed the games with Florida (3:4 B) and Tampa Bay (2:1 B) by decision of the coaching staff. On Monday, he scored a goal, made an assist and converted the decisive shootout in a game against the San Jose Sharks (4:3, B). The Russian was recognized as the first star of the meeting and the third star of the day in the NHL.

— In this withdrawal of Michkova from the squad, Tortorella saw benefits for the development of the player in the future. This situation cooled Matvey and allowed him to look at things from a different perspective. He sat outside of hockey, saw what the team does on the ice, and maybe he didn’t do enough work on the ice in terms of team tactics. Perhaps he made some mistakes, and it’s always good to look at it from the outside, cool down, make the right decisions and move on.

Did being taken out of the squad for two games help Michkov? Of course, of course, this conclusion helped him. This pause was forced. If Michkov scored points, it means that he went out on the ice with double zeal to prove that he is the part of the team that wants to play in the lineup,” Kanareikin quotes Soviet Sport as saying.