Yesterday, the Philadelphia Flyers put together a wholly lackluster effort against the New York Islanders, who are just ahead of them in the standings for the third Metropolitan Division playoff spot. The Flyers lost 4-0 and, outside of some chances on an early power play, never looked all that threatening. One player, in particular, has looked especially toothless lately: Trevor Zegras.
After the game, head coach Rick Tocchet was clear: Zegras isn't pushing the pace, and he needs to step up.
"It looks like he’s not pushing the pace — he’s sort of waiting around. It’s a bunch of guys, our second guy — we call it second quick — was nowhere to be found. First guy goes in, and you need your second guy to go in there and look for a puck or a body, and we’re late. Trevor has been like that for a while now. So, he’s got to start to step up and push the pace.”
In the 10 games since the exclamation point that was the win over the Anaheim Ducks, Zegras has a paltry five points and a minus-5 rating. The good news is that, over that same time, things still look okay under the hood, as he's got a 55.95 expected Goals For percentage (xGF%) at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick, and he still leads the team in scoring.
The lack of production on the scoresheet and proneness for defensive gaffes, however, have really cost Zegras. His ice time's been trending down, and against the Islanders, Tocchet moved him off the top line.
Of the Flyers' line combinations, the one that's played together the most is Zegras, Christian Dvorak, and Travis Konecny, leading Flyers forwards with nearly 240 minutes as a unit, per Money Puck. Tocchet moved Zegras off that line to play with Bobby Brink and Noah Cates, which meant Matvei Michkov was elevated to the top of the lineup.
This appears to have been only a temporary shake-up, as Zegras was back on a line with Dvorak and Konecny in practice. After practice, Tocchet discussed how that line has been cheating for offense, and that they need to get back to playing the right way.
With the challenge to play with more pace thrown in the postgame presser, and now a charge to play the right way, we'll have to see if Zegras can rise to the occasion in Columbus tomorrow.