VOORHEES, N.J. — Before the start of training camp, Rick Tocchet approached Trevor Zegras about changing the narrative around the talented 24-year-old.
A narrative that Zegras was all flash and glamour, a player that only wanted to light up highlight reels and make waves on the internet.
“I said, ‘Are you doing stuff for clicks on social media or are you doing stuff to win hockey [games]?'” the Flyers’ head coach recalled Wednesday. “He wants to win hockey games. Everybody has this perception that he wants to be on social media doing the Michigan and all that stuff.
“He doesn’t want to be that perception and I think that’s helping his game. He should be doing stuff not for clicks, he should be doing stuff for winning hockey. And that’s what he wants. I think there’s a fallacy that he wants to be some social media guy.”
Through nine games with the Flyers, Zegras has been more than just a dazzling clip circulating online. The offseason trade acquisition has been in the middle of things and the offense has come in different ways.
On Tuesday night, Zegras picked up an assist in the Flyers’ 3-2 shootout win over the Penguins. The game became heated at the end of overtime as Zegras and Tyson Foerster had a melee with Pittsburgh’s Parker Wotherspoon and Noel Acciari.
Zegras knocked off Acciari’s helmet as Foerster appeared to be underneath both Penguins players in a pile.
“I felt like we were kind of just mixing it up,” Zegras said Wednesday. “When your teammates are in there, you’ve kind of got to jump in there. I just didn’t like that there were two of them on him. Not that I was going to go in there and try to fight him, but I thought that was the best way to get him off of him.”
Pittsburgh initially didn’t seem thrilled that Zegras took a shot as the horn was sounding on overtime.
“I don’t even know if I heard the buzzer,” Zegras said, “I was just playing until someone told me to stop.”
It was Zegras’ first taste of the Flyers-Penguins rivalry. He didn’t seem to shy away from it.
“That’s a rivalry that, in my opinion, growing up, was one of the better ones in the league,” Zegras said. “Obviously with the guys on Pittsburgh, it makes it that much more special. It was a great hockey game, they’re a really good team and I thought that was a really good win by us.”
The Flyers had to win the skills competition without Zegras, who is 14 for 22 lifetime in the shootout. He received a misconduct, along with three other Flyers and four Penguins, for the tussle after overtime.
Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink came through for the Flyers. Brink used a slew of dekes to bury the winner.
Zegras watched the shootout in the hallway outside the Flyers’ dressing room.
“What a move by Bob, what a move,” Zegras said. “We worked on shootouts, actually, the other day. We were just talking about different types of moves, what the approach is. It was cool to see him go from practice to the game with it. It was nasty.”
The Flyers have gotten two goals and seven assists from Zegras in his first nine games. They’re 5-1-1 in games that he has recorded a point. At the start of camp, Tocchet wanted Zegras to attack more offensively.
On Wednesday, the head coach highlighted improvement from Zegras.
“Trev, he’s a great kid,” Tocchet said, “and you can be honest with him.
“The other day in practice, he had four shots that were unbelievable shots because he drove and he shot the way you’re supposed to do it instead of going down and it’s more of a show.”
Zegras didn’t look to put on a show Tuesday night. He very much played like a Flyer.
“He’s a louder guy,” Foerster said with a smile, “so he fits in well around here.”