A new venue minus an old antagonist.
The Ducks will be playing the Arizona Coyotes Tuesday for the first time in a regular-season game since Jay Beagle pummeled the Ducks’ Troy Terry on April 1 at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz.
How heated were the post-game words?
Trevor Zegras’ wizardry sparks Ducks past Coyotes in game with ugly finish
Very.
“Coward,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said, of Beagle, to the Register’s Elliott Teaford. “It was cowardly. (Terry) was cut wide open and basically defenseless.”
In the same story, Trevor Zegras refused to say Beagle’s name and even said he was not going to say “his name.” The Ducks defeated the Coyotes, 5-0, and Zegras had scored another electric lacrosse-style goal.
Terry would miss one game because of limited vision, due to swelling near the eye.
Troy Terry back in Ducks’ lineup, says he’s done talking about Jay Beagle fight
Now, the Coyotes are playing their home games at the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena in Tempe. The temperature on Thursday between the teams should be lowered – although, of course, you never know – because Beagle isn’t with the Coyotes this season, Plus, there has been a fair amount of turnover on the rosters of both teams since that game on April 1.
As for Beagle, the 37-year-old isn’t playing anywhere in the NHL. He only appeared in eight more games after the Terry incident, suffering a lower-body injury on April 20 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Zegras and Terry have continued their upward trajectory. Terry will be playing in his second straight All-Star Game and was leading the Ducks in scoring until Zegras passed him with the three-point performance in Buffalo on Saturday.
Terry has 38 points (12 goals, 26 assists) in 47 games, while Zegras has 40 points (17 goals, 23 assists) in 47 games and has a five-game point streak.
On Monday, Zegras was named the league’s third star of the week with eight points in his last four games, including two goals and one assist against the Sabres in a 6-3 loss. His father Gary was on hand for the Sabres game. It is the fifth three-point performance of his 146-game NHL career.