Trevor Zegras wants the NHL to take action against Jay Beagle for what the center did on Friday night.
Zegras’ Anaheim Ducks beat Beagle’s Phoenix Coyotes 5-0 on Friday. The Ducks were leading 5-0 with just under six minutes left in the game and had the puck in Phoenix’s zone. Zegras was in front of the net trying to punch in a sixth goal, but the whistle blew after the puck was covered up, right around the same time Zegras poked his stick at the goalie.
Despite the whistle blowing, Beagle skated in and crosschecked Zegras in the back, knocking him down, apparently upset that Zegras was poking at the goalie. Troy Terry wasn’t happy about Beagle’s crosscheck on Zegras and went after the Phoenix center. Beagle then got his hands on Terry and hit him with a number unanswered punches.
Terry obviously did not want to fight, which is what made Beagle’s actions excessive.
There is some more background to the matter.
Zegras scored a “Michigan goal” earlier in the game that may have upset Beagle.
Zegras didn’t hold back when talking about Beagle after the contest.
“I get that he’s going to punch [Terry] if he wants, but the fact that he’s down and he’s not engaged in a fight, you’re going to hit him three more times? I think it’s embarrassing. I think he should be embarrassed,” Zegras said of Beagle.
“I’m embarrassed that it even got that far. … That’s a nonsense crosscheck with two minutes left in a 5-0 game. I’m embarrassed for [Beagle] and I think the league should step in and do soemthing about it. … I think it’s embarrassing and a bad look for the league. And for [Beagle], it’s humiliating and I think he should be f—ing punished,” Zegras said.
Zegras makes several fair points about Beagle beating up on Terry after Terry was already going down. The extra punches took it too far and could lead to some discipline. But it’s not like Zegras is completely innocent.
One, Zegras reasons that Beagle shouldn’t be doing that in a 5-0 game. But the big lead didn’t prevent Zegras from poking at the goalie and trying to score to make it 6-0. Then it was Terry who started with Beagle by going after him. Beagle’s actions against Terry went too far, but let’s not forget that Zegras poked the goalie first, and Terry instigated with Beagle too.
The league is likely to discipline Beagle, who has just one goal all season, compared to 31 for Terry. And as we’ve seen, some really don’t like those Michigan goals by the Ducks.
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