BOSTON — It’s not in Nikita Zadorov’s nature to beat around the bush. The Bruins’ early season struggles left them positioned to spend the rest of the season in a multi-team battle for a playoff spot.
Rather than pretend it’s too soon to discuss it or pretend he’s not keeping track of the standings, Zadorov faced the topic head-on.
“You have to face reality one in a while. You can’t put it in the back pocket all the time saying ‘let’s just focus on the day-to-day.’ We still look at the big picture,” he said. “I didn’t come here to miss the playoffs. I’m here to see playoff hockey. I’m here to see Boston Garden buzzing. That’s definitely extra motivation for us.”
He then turned to the media gathered around his locker and suggested that negative stories written this season have been their own source of motivation.
“You guys have done a good job writing us off,” he said. “That’s extra motivation for this group too.”
The three-team trade that sent Mikko Rantanen to Carolina on Friday marked the official start to trade season even though there’s over a month until the the March 7 deadline. Cam Neely said last week that the Bruins had to prove they were worth improving at the deadline or the team would consider selling pieces with the future in mind.
Zadorov referenced those comments and said the Bruins were looking to prove worthy of investing in.
“We see the message from the management as well. We have 12 or 13 games before March 7 and six games before the break (for the NHL 4 Nations Faceoff),” he said. “We have to put ourselves in a good place in the standings to have the green light I guess.”
He thought Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Avalanche was a good start.
“We were more desperate. We’re fighting for a playoff spot. We’re fighting for points,” Zadorov said. “We had a message. We can’t miss any points at home. It was a really good response from our group.”
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