The Boston Bruins' 7–2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night was one of their worst of the season. Emotions ran high, and one postgame soundbite sparked controversy.
Following the loss, defenseman Nikita Zadorov gave a brief response when The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa asked him about goalie Jeremy Swayman's attempt to fight Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper after a hit on Marat Khusnutdinov.
“Is that what it is? I don’t know,” Zadorov said. "No comment."
Two days later, Zadorov made it clear that the initial comment was misunderstood and the product of a heated moment.
“You gonna ask me about Sway’s comment?” Zadorov asked Shinzawa after Tuesday's practice. “You blew it up. Well, when you ask a question like this after a 7-2 loss, the players are frustrated. Obviously, at the time, I was frustrated, and whatever I said, it wasn’t towards Sway. I didn’t expect that question from you.”
Zadorov told reporters he called Swayman to clear the air and blamed the media for pushing narratives.
“You guys are doing your job. As soon as you put it up on Twitter… it gets blown up because of views,” Zadorov said. “It was just taken out of context.”
Swayman defended his actions right after the game against the Kings was over, explaining why he went after Kuemper to fight him in a rare goalie-versus-goalie clash that the refs prevented from happening.
“He touched one of my guys," Swayman said. "That’s not something I’m going to accept. Kudos to him. He stepped up. It got broken up.”
Zadorov added that supporting teammates is part of the Bruins' culture and said he was simply trying to focus on finding positives after a difficult night.
“Obviously we appreciate in this room guys stepping in for each other,” Zadorov said. “That was the culture here before I came here and I’m trying to follow it.”
Both Zadorov (six years, $30 million) and Swayman (eight years, $66 million) signed long-term contracts with the Bruins ahead of this season.
The former finished his media briefing by saying that he hopes to play in Boston for a long time along with Swayman, hopefully winning the Stanley Cup together.
“We’re going to be together for a long time,” Zadorov said. “Going to be a lot of success with this team and be back in playoff hockey, and hopefully win the (Stanley) Cup.”
