On Thursday night, as the Philadelphia Flyers took on the Boston Bruins, Matvei Michkov took a high hit from David Pastrňák that left him bleeding, and the most alarming part wasn’t the contact itself – it was the Flyers’ lack of response afterward.

After the horn sounded in TD Garden last night after the Flyers’ 6-3 loss to the Bruins, one thing was for certain – the team lacks energy. This is not the same team that beat the brakes off the Anaheim Ducks on January 6, and definitely not the same team that racked up over 46 penalty minutes against the Lightning on January 12. They are lacking a clear spark to get their groove back, and after their star 21-year-old took a borderline dirty hit by one of the Bruins’ star players, they had a chance to respond – and didn’t.

Hit on Michkov was bad, but the non-response was worse

Matvei Michkov was skating behind the net when 29-year-old Bruins star David Pastrňák hit him up high, leaving him lying face-first on the ice. Michkov got up in a hurry to get back into the play, but later on the broadcast, they showed a bloody cut on his cheek from the hit.

Wow no one sticks up for michkov? pic.twitter.com/wZEcMkScGS

— Kev (@kevnavz1) January 30, 2026

Was the hit dirty? Maybe. It’s up for interpretation, but one thing is for sure: in a game where you’re down three goals in the 3rd period after getting blown out three games in a row, it would have been a great time to give this team a spark.

You didn’t need someone to drop the gloves with David Pastrňák. You just needed something – a shove, a couple of words, a stick in the back of the knee – any indication that the Flyers were willing to respond as their 21-year-old teammate lay on the ground. Instead, nothing happened. Michkov’s linemates on that shift were Bobby Brink and Trevor Zegras – two players who, combined, have one NHL fight – and the defensive pair was Cam York and Jamie Drysdale, neither of whom has dropped the gloves at the NHL level. The players explain the silence, but it doesn’t excuse the lack of response.

Michkov himself has already stood up for a Flyers teammate

It’s no secret that Matvei Michkov has struggled this year compared to his breakout rookie campaign. Is that in large part due to the fact that he came into camp out of shape, had to learn his second new system in two years, is playing on his off wing, and has been lacking ice time? Possibly, but excuses are excuses. The kid needs to produce, but at the same time, he has shown that he’s not lacking that tenacity that we saw from the Russian winger last season at times.

During the Flyers game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 15, 20-year-old rookie Denver Barkey took a hard open-ice hit from Blake Lizotte. The winger was shaken up, and who was the first player to jump in to defend his young teammate? Matvei Michkov. Obviously, Matvei Michkov isn’t known for his fighting skills, but he did what was right and stood up for his younger teammate and dropped the gloves.

Sometimes in a game, you’re getting blown out, defending your teammates and dropping the gloves, or even getting involved in a scrum, can benefit the team down the road. These are exactly the moments that are supposed to define the “culture” Flyers staff members often reference. The fact that no one responded after Michkov was hit – just two weeks after he stood up for a teammate – says a lot about the Flyers’ current issues.

What this says about the Flyers’ identity

With the Flyers having lost 10 of their last 12 games and falling eight points out of the playoff race, their season is clinging on by a thread. It’s not a shock that after a back-to-back and with the team getting blown out yet again, the players would be deflated. However, a majority of the guys on this team are here to stay, so stand up for your teammate and show the kid – and the team – that you still care, and drag them into the fight, the same way Travis Konecny has singlehandedly been doing.

On Thursday night, Nic Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway slotted back into the lineup after missing Wednesday night’s matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets – in which the Flyers lost 5-3. They are supposed to be your “tough guys” who stick up for your players and assert physical dominance, and you saw nothing from those guys. Even captain Sean Couturier, who stood up for Michkov against Boston before in 2024 when he fought Billy Sweezy. He has been struggling as well, so maybe a fight could have done him some good to get his spark back. 

In the end, it felt like another low point for a Flyers team that now looks closer to a top-10 draft pick than a playoff spot. Culture has been a point of conversation during this team’s collapse in the past few weeks, and Tuesday night offered another reason to wonder. When there’s no response after their 21-year-old star winger takes a high hit, it’s fair to wonder whether this is a culture issue – or a team that’s completely run out of energy.