BOSTON — Trent Frederic badly wanted to fight late in the Bruins’ Saturday win over Philadelphia.
He and Flyer forward Travis Konecny tried to slip the intervening linesmen to stage a proper bout. But to no avail as they had to settle for matching roughing calls.
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Whether that frustration was still pent-up in unclear. But when Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson became the latest player to take a run at Matt Poitras — he hit him with an unexpected elbow when he came around the back of the net — Frederic went after him.
Frederic wasn’t available after the game, but his coach liked the reaction.
“I thought it was fantastic. That’s the team coming together,” Jim Montgomery said.
This wasn’t an invitation-acceptance fight. Frederic decided they were going to go at it and Larsson tried to hang on. Frederic landed a right hand to the face and when Larsson tried to spin away, Frederic hit him in the back for the head and between the shoulders before the officials stepped in.
Frederic earned an extra two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the Bruins killed the ensuing penalty.
“That’s an easy kill for us. We have no problem doing that with him sticking up for Potsy in that way,” Charlie Coyle said. “It just shows what we have in here and how close we are. We’re happy to kill off that little two-minute penalty.”
It was Frederic’s first fight of the season, but not for a lack of trying. In the season opener, he said Matthew Tkachuk challenged him to fight and then didn’t participate when Frederic prepared to square off.
