NHL Nugget: Milestone Monday (July 3) Trevor Zegras [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAzMTI2ODM0Nzg5ODg1MTEw/usatsi_22169294_168400847_lowres.jpg] Trevor Zegras It was a double delight in the NHL Saturday night, with Connor Bedard and now Trevor Zegras scoring lacrosse-style goals nicknamed 'The Michigan.' With around six minutes left in the third period and trailing 3-1 against the Seattle Kraken, Zegras scored his third-career NHL 'Michigan' goal, now leading all NHLers in that category. The play started as rookie Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov carried the puck into the offensive zone. He passed the puck back along the boards to Zegras at the top of the faceoff circle, and Zegras skated with the puck behind the net with speed. Seeing no Kraken defensemen protecting the right side of the crease and Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord down in the butterfly position, Zegras made the quick decision to pull off a move he's had no problem accomplishing multiple times before. The 22-year-old from Bedford, N.Y., scooped up the puck on his stick without slowing down and fired it between Daccord's shoulder and helmet. What makes the goal more impressive is Zegras was out of the lineup for 20 games as he recovered from a lower-body injury. It was just his second goal and third point of the season in 13 games. Perhaps the former No. 9 overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft is rediscovering his game from the 2021-22 season in which he recorded two lacrosse-style goals, one on Jan. 27, 2022, against the Montreal Canadiens [https://youtu.be/ZdOq9LBylBI?feature=shared] and April 1, 2022, against the Arizona Coyotes [https://youtu.be/qXa7DQnDqEQ?feature=shared]. He even scored the same style of goal last season against the Minnesota Wild – that is, until it was disallowed after an offside review. [https://youtu.be/wj4448gEtcc?feature=shared] Zegras and Bedard's 'Michigan' goals are the first of the 2023-24 NHL season, Bedard's coming just hours earlier against the St. Louis Blues. Kent Johnson of the Columbus Blue Jackets had the most recent lacrosse-style goal before Saturday, and Filip Forsberg of the Nashville Predators and Andrei Svechnikov of the Carolina Hurricanes are the others to have pulled off the move. Svechnikov and Zegras are the only players to have done it multiple times. But just like Bedard, the team with the Michigan-scorer on Saturday lost the game, with the Ducks falling 3-2 to the Kraken.
