When it comes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, playing on the road doesn't bother a lot of players. I mean, the experienced players don't mind it. When a team goes into another team's building, they are almost guaranteed to hear boos.
It's nothing new, and it is certainly nothing new for Boston Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov. So when the Buffalo Sabres fans were booing him anytime he touched the puck or was near it, they let him have it. Heck, they were even chanting Jeremy Swayman's name during the games. I know playoff hockey is something new to most Sabres fans, but if you think you're getting under the skin of those players, well, you're not.
Bruins fans chanted Alex Lyon's name in Games 3 and 4, but Buffalo fans were quick to say Bruins fans needed to come up with their own chants. Tell us you haven't been part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in well over a decade without telling us you haven't been part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in well over a decade. It happens in almost all arenas.
After practice on Thursday morning at Warrior Ice Arena, Zadorov addressed being booed in Western New York, and well, it didn't bother him.
Bruins Nikita Zadorov had a funny line about being booed in Buffalo
Booing Zadorov means the big blueliner is doing something right, right, Nikita? Of course, it centers around his actions against Rasmus Dahlin late in Game 4 in Boston on Sunday afternoon.
“There’s probably like five rinks in the league that boo me every time I touch the puck,” Zadorov said. “It’s nothing new for me. When I played [against the Edmonton Oilers], they did the same thing. I mean, it’s fun. It means you’re doing something that people hate…That’s my job, I guess.”
Now Zadorov and his teammates would love another game at the KeyBank Center for a potential Game 7, but that would require a win in Game 6 on Friday night at home. Boston has dropped the first two games at home in the series, and dropping a third would end the season. If the series ends and Buffalo advances, then Sabres fans will be waiting for Zadorov next season, and the booing will commence. Heck, it hasn't stopped for Brad Marchand in Montreal or Toronto.
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