Everything was set up perfectly and Trevor Zegras took full advantage. As his former team, the Anaheim Ducks, made their way to Philadelphia to face the Flyers, multiple things were in place for the star forward to get some revenge against the team that gave up on him before he even reached his prime.
The Ducks were heavily limping as they entered the doors of the Xfinity Mobile Arena. Before Tuesday night, they lost their last six straight games and last earned a win all the way back on December 20 against the Columbus Blue Jackets; and even before that they lost four of the previous five games making it a total of two wins since December 9. After starting the season as the new and hot team, the Ducks were tumbling down and proving to be a completely fake team that was riding some percentages to undeserved wins.
So, it was the perfect time for a former player to kick them directly in the head while they’re down. Add the fact that Cutter Gauthier is coming back to Philadelphia with his tail between his legs and ready to face a crowd that have never felt such hatred for an opposing player in a very long time, and Zegras’s ability to come up big in the important games in his first season in the Orange and Black — it was guaranteed to at least be a good one.
Zegras takes advantage of perfect opportunity and gets revenge
Sure, Gauthier opened the scoring and we had a slight panic, but Zegras quickly calmed out nerves with an absolute rocket of a one-timer off a nice little passing play through linemate Christian Dvorak.
TREVOR ZEGRAS IS HAVING FUN!! 🔥
He’s got one against his former team! pic.twitter.com/MfMjw76S8C
— NHL (@NHL) January 7, 2026
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Right back in it, Zegras tried to connect with Travis Konecny as the puck was fumbled on the zone entry but thankfully, Christian Dvorak was right there to pick up the loose pieces, weave his way through a couple of Ducks defenders and find his star winger awaiting at the side of the net for a picture-perfect one-timer opportunity. And considering just how often we’ve seen Zegras rocket a shot high up past the opposing netminder this season, it was bound to happen once again.
Later in the first period, as the Flyers were on the power play, Zegras set up in the same area on the ice and was ready to rifle home a chance set up by another favorite teammate of his.
SAME SPOT. SAME GOAL. SAME TREVOR ZEGRAS!!
He’s on hatty watch! pic.twitter.com/7LuqjzpdOM
— NHL (@NHL) January 7, 2026
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Owen Tippett had control of the puck along the boards, laid it off for a streaking Cam York, helped along by Sean Couturier, and the defenseman faked a little bit of a shot while in motion to fake out some Anaheim penalty killers. But instead, York quickly sent it to Zegras who, once again, one-timed it into the back of the net with almost every single Ducks defender baffled as to how he got over there so silently and unnoticed.
Zegras finished the game with those two goals as his only earned points to make it a total of 17 tallies and 41 points in 41 games this season. He also managed to attempt a total of seven shots on Tuesday night, with three of them hitting the net.
While the two first-period goals was certainly nice to accomplish against his former team, it was his impression of how much passion the fans in attendance were showing that really made him blown away.
“It’s incredible, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never felt anything like it. The fans are nuts. The boos were awesome, the cheers were even better,” Zegras said during the first intermission.
That’s what the building sounds like when there is finally a game worth getting up for in it. Zegras also continued to show appreciation for the fans and gave one of the best post-game interview clips we’ve seen in a while.
Officially Philly. pic.twitter.com/M566sJelHs
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 7, 2026
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
After the Flyers secured the 5-2 win over the Ducks, Zegras was asked how it feels to score two goals against the team that gave up on you. And all he could say, is that it was “f–king amazing”. God, we cannot get enough of him and will never praise the Flyers enough for them bringing him in.
Flyers push through Ducks rather easily for 5-2 win
While Zegras shone bright and was truly the best player on the ice for what he was able to do in the first period, the Flyers as a whole truly took full control of the game.
Sure, maybe it was because they were technically handed eight power-play opportunities and spent a total of 17:04 on the man advantage, compared to the 4:53 the Ducks were able to get. But, because they are the Flyers, they scored just one power-play goal during Tuesday night’s game, and in the small amount of time they had, Anaheim managed to score two.
The Flyers finished the game with a dominant 39-18 advantage in shots on goal and in all situations, registered a total of 51 unblocked shot attempts compared to the Ducks’ 34. And even if we want to dive deeper, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers managed to earn 4.59 expected goals, while the Ducks got just 1.92. It was an overwhelming amount of offense coming off the Flyers’ sticks and from just all the high-danger areas on the ice.
Maybe it was getting up for Zegras to have this revenge game hit so hard for him, or maybe it was trying to prevent Cutter Gauthier from really dominating enough to walk away with a win; but whatever their motivation was, it was more than enough for them to earn the full two points on Tuesday night.
It’s just nice to see a player leave a bad situation and turn into the player he’s always meant to be. It’s even better when it benefits your team.