Trevor Zegras exits ugly collision as Flyers beat Utah

Trevor Zegras headed to the Flyers' locker room with an apparent injury after an ugly collision Sunday, even as Philadelphia pulled away from Utah.

The Flyers went on to win 6-3, and a team that has had very little to feel good about finally got a result. The mood around it is complicated.

Zegras is the one who matters here. Before today's game he had 13 points in 15 games, and he had been one of the few steady sources of offense on a team that was struggling to score.

Nothing in the latest injury report lists him as hurt, so there is no official word yet on what happened or how serious it is. Any update will come after the game, and the timeline is unknown for now.

The win itself matters. Philadelphia came in at 3-8-4 and had lost three straight, with its last outing a 5-2 loss at Washington on Wednesday.

That record also came with a goal differential of -22, a number that sums up how rough the first month has been. Scoring six against Utah is a rare release valve.

Rick Tocchet had spent the early part of the season searching for consistent offense. Zegras, with 5 power-play assists, had been central to a unit that needed him.

What a Zegras absence would do to the Flyers' top six

Losing him for any stretch would leave a real hole in the lineup. Philadelphia has scored 29 goals in 15 games before tonight, and it does not have a long list of playmakers to replace him.

At 25, Zegras is a former ninth overall pick of the Anaheim Ducks, drafted in 2019. Over his NHL career he has 266 points in 364 games, which tells you how much offense he has produced when he's in the lineup.

The Flyers also stand 1-5-1 on the road before today's game, so any stretch without him would be especially tough away from home. That is the part of the schedule that worries me most for Daniel Briere's group.

Now it comes down to what the medical staff finds. If Zegras is cleared, he's a big part of the lineup. If he's not, the Flyers have to find answers fast.

Philadelphia hosts Minnesota on Tuesday, November 3. Whether Zegras is on the ice for that one is the question hanging over a win that should have felt better.

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