BOSTON — After the Bruins’ 4-3 win over the Sabres at TD Garden on Thursday, Nikita Zadorov called out Buffalo’s Jordan Greenway for failing to answer the bell when he challenged him to fight.
It was a precedent dating back to game seven months ago. When the Bruins and Sabres played on March 17, Zadorov laid a heavy, but unpenalized hit, on Buffalo star Tage Thompson.
Greenway, one of the few players of similar stature to Zadorov (6-foot-7, 255 pounds), challenged the Bruins defenseman to fight to avenge the hit. Zadorov, in an attempt to honor unwritten rules of engagement, obliged.
So when Greenway’s second period hit knocked Elias Lindholm out of the game on Thursday, Zadorov sought out Greenway for a scrap. The Boston University product skated away, leaving Zadorov frustrated.
“If I have to fight after clean hits — when I hit their top player, I gave the guy a fight last year. I think it would be fair to give me a fight back,” he said. “I know it was not intentional, but that’s one of our best players. That’s my brother. I thought that would be a fair trade-off. But he didn’t want it.”
Zadorov called out the Sabres bench during the game and had an animated discussion with Bowen Byram between the two benches.
Marco Sturm said Zadorov wasn’t the only one itching to take on the 6-foot-6, 231-pound Greenway.
“It’s family to me. We all stick together,” Sturm said. “They all wanted a piece of him, and that makes me happy.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
