weren\u2019t pleased about<\/a>. The Pittsburgh captain, who came onto the ice when things started to settle down, skated directly to Foerster to keep him out of the scrum after Zegras reignited the blaze. (A league source confirmed that Crosby won\u2019t receive any supplemental discipline, as, in the league\u2019s view, he didn\u2019t come off the bench with the clear purpose of getting involved in the altercation.)<\/p>\nThe result was Zegras having to watch the shootout from a TV monitor set up in the hallway between the Flyers\u2019 bench and the doors to the dressing room. He was particularly chuffed to see Bobby Brink\u2019s fancy move and goal, as they had been working on breakaways after a recent skate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was cool to see him go from practice to the game,\u201d Zegras said. \u201cIt was nasty.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t Brink\u2019s goal that garnered the most attention on social media; rather, it was that Zegras-Acciari sequence. There was surely some nostalgia at play, as it harkened back to some previous iterations of the Flyers-Penguins rivalry that has had its fair share of memorable and malicious moments over the years and decades but has waned recently.<\/p>\n
For Zegras, it was his first experience facing the Penguins in an orange and black sweater. He seemed to be aware that there might be some added juice to the evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a rivalry that, in my opinion, growing up, was one of the better ones in the league,\u201d said the 24-year-old. \u201cObviously, with the guys on Pittsburgh, it makes it much more special. It was a great hockey game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zegras has been particularly effective for the Flyers at home. Eight of his nine points have come in Philadelphia, including both of his goals in a 4-3 shootout win over the New York Islanders last Saturday. On Tuesday, he managed a secondary assist on Brink\u2019s late-first-period power-play goal that tied the score at 1-1, after he was the one who drew the interference penalty on the Penguins\u2019 Matt Dumba in the first place.<\/p>\n
Midway through the second period, Zegras\u2019 slick setup of linemate Matvei Michkov nearly resulted in a goal, but Michkov\u2019s strong move to the net was denied by goalie Arturs Silovs.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the fact that even before he grabbed at Acciari\u2019s helmet, Zegras initiated the first iteration of the brawl in the first place, when he took a soft shot a half-second after the clock had expired at the end of overtime. That\u2019s one of those unwritten hockey rules that will generate a crowd of surly opposition every time, and this was no exception.<\/p>\n
Zegras is something of a lightning rod nationally, but seems to be in a prime position to become a fan favorite in Philadelphia, particularly if the 5-3-1 Flyers can remain competitive. Those types of moments with Acciari \u2014 against the team Flyers fans undoubtedly hate more than any other \u2014 can only help in that regard, and if Zegras can remain on his point-per-game pace, well, that won\u2019t hurt either.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he plays better the more he\u2019s engaged like that physically,\u201d said Cam York, Zegras\u2019 buddy since high school. \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to be doing that every game, but he does get feisty like that sometimes. If (the fans) love it, great. I\u2019m sure it won\u2019t be the last time we see it from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Tocchet: \u201cI think Trevor\u2019s endeared (himself to) the fan base because he\u2019s got some pizzazz to his game, but he also knows he has to play a winning kind of brand. You watch him, he\u2019s getting inside, he\u2019s involved in scrums, he\u2019s helping his teammates. Fans are going to love that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet has explained a few times in recent weeks that he sees Zegras doing all of the right things in practice and off the ice, such as driving the puck to the net, taking shots when they\u2019re there and doing all he can to learn the various defensive responsibilities that are non-negotiable to the Flyers coach. Last week, Tocchet said that Zegras texted him after a game to set up a meeting the next day about the power play.<\/p>\n
Zegras apparently took to heart the message Tocchet gave him before the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked at the start of training camp. I said, \u2018Are you doing stuff for clicks on social media, or are you doing stuff to win hockey games?\u2019\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cHe wants to win hockey games.\u201d<\/p>\n
For at least one night, Zegras accomplished both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VOORHEES, N.J. \u2014 Coach Rick Tocchet couldn\u2019t help but get a bit philosophical after the Philadelphia Flyers\u2019 3-2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,1789,99],"class_list":["post-260329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-philadelphia-flyers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}