When the Boston Bruins signed Nikita Zadorov over the summer, they were hoping he would come in and be the physical presence that they have been looking for on the backend. So far, the returns have not been great as the former Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks defenseman has spent a lot of time in the penalty box. In fact, he was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty against the Pittsburgh Penguins from the bench.
To his credit, he has never backed down from a confrotation and never will. That was the case on Tuesday night at the TD Garden when the Black and Gold hosted the Detroit Red Wings. Late in the second period, Zadorov was called for a slashing penalty when he got Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond as he crossed the Boston blue line. After the whistle, he gave Raymond a cross-check to the ice.
Raymond ended up being fine as he remained the game after appearing to be in pain and he scored both of the Red Wings' goals in a 3-2 Bruins overtime win in a contest that saw Zadorov score Boston's first goal on a slap shot in the opening period. After the game, the bruising blueliner called out Raymond.
Nikita Zadorov calls out Lucas Raymond
After the game Zadorov didn't mix words about Detroit's young star and after what he thought was embellishment by Raymond.
"I don’t like when the guy’s shaking his hand,'' Zadorov said. "I barely touched his hand, so I think that’s got to get out of the league. It’s a man’s league. We all get slashed. We’re all in pain. But you don’t go like this and show the referee that you get slashed. So I think it’s just a little bit disrespectful.”
Anyone who follows hockey knows that embellishment is a big part of the game. It always has been and always will be. We'll never know how hard Zadorov actually slashed Raymond, but for Zadorov to call out Raymond after the game, you have to think that there's something to him trying to embellish it.