Boston Bruins
“If they want to keep doing it, they’re [going] to keep getting it. That’s how it is.”
Nikita Zadorov had enough of Zach Benson in Game 2. AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes
Nikita Zadorov finally had enough.
In the third period of Boston’s eventual Game 2 victory over the Sabres, the Bruins’ 6-foot-6 blueliner took exception to Buffalo’s knack for poking and prodding Jeremy Swayman after the whistle.
Zach Benson — not exactly a physical deterrent against Zadorov at just 5-foot-10 — was the focus of the imposing defenseman’s frustrations.
As Buffalo tried to claw back from a four-goal deficit, the pesky Buffalo winger jammed his stick in against Swayman’s pads in an attempt to fish for the loose puck at 6:14 in the final period of play.
Zadorov responded accordingly, dropping Benson to the ice with his shoulder — sparking an extended scrap for both the Bruins and Sabres.
It was far from the first time that Sabres have attempted to bump and jostle Swayman after the whistle in an attempt to get under the goalie’s skin.
And if it continues in Game 3 and beyond during this first-round series, Zadorov is expecting a similar prescription of punishment against the Sabres.
“When I grew up, all my coaches were telling me to protect my goalie,” Zadorov said. “So when somebody slashes my goalie, that’s my job to step in. If they want to keep doing it, they’re [going] to keep getting it. That’s how it is.”
Granted, Swayman hasn’t needed all that much help when it comes to tuning out the noise from both the Sabres and their crowd at KeyBank Center.
Through two games against Buffalo, Boston’s netminder is sporting a .932 save percentage and 2.1 goals saved above expected.
Still, Swayman was thankful on Tuesday night that his teammates were willing to clear opposing skaters out of the crease.
“That’s an identity. Every team knows that,” Swayman said of Zadorov coming to his defense. “I feel extremely confident in my blue paint because of that. They allow me to play free and understand that you’re going to get contested.”
Ever since Marco Sturm declared that the Bruins were the “more physical” team entering this first-round series, both Boston and Buffalo have been eager to both prove — and dispel — that statement.
After Buffalo doled out a whopping 53 hits in Game 1, the Bruins and Sabres combined for 94 total penalty minutes in Game 2 — with Zadorov, Andrew Peeke, Tage Thompson, and Benson all slapped with misconducts for that third-period scrap.
“I mean, I feel like it was nasty from the first shift, from [the] first game,” Zadorov said of that physicality. “I mean, it’s playoff emotions, intensity. It’s always going to be up there.”
Buffalo does have the size and scrappiness to at least answer Boston’s expected snarl in a best-of-seven series.
But the case can be made that being willing participants in the Bruins’ pugnacious approach isn’t the best option for a Sabres team that is at its best when operating at 5-on-5 play and generating chances off the rush.
As the series shifts to Boston, it’s to be expected for Benson and the Sabres to continue to do what they can to be a fly in the ointment against Swayman.
Just don’t be surprised when Boston’s crop of big-bodied skaters is more than happy to swat the Sabres away.
“We’re going to defend our goalie,” Tanner Jeannot said on Wednesday morning. “If there’s some shots on him that we don’t like, then obviously we’re going to defend him. Yeah, we need to be smart about it.
We don’t want to put ourselves shorthanded. So it’s something we’re going to talk about. But yeah, we’re always going to be there for our goalie. There’s no question about that.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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