Nikita Zadorov is a monster, and he has company: ‘Bruins hockey right there’

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BOSTON — Owen Power is a 6-foot-6, 226-pound strongman. Nikita Zadorov made the Buffalo Sabres defenseman look like a preschooler.

In Saturday’s first period of the Boston Bruins’ 3-1 win, Power had just gotten rid of the puck when Zadorov arrived. Power was in trouble. The 6-foot-7, 255-pound Zadorov plowed into Power with enough muscle to send the defenseman tumbling into Joonas Korpisalo’s lap on the Bruins bench.

“How do you miss him?” Jeremy Swayman asked of his juggernaut defenseman. “He’s great. His intensity. His attention to detail. He’s a tough defenseman to beat when he’s on his game. Really love the intensity and attention to detail he’s brought.”

It was not just Zadorov’s game-high six hits that made the big man noticeable. In the third period, with the Bruins up 2-1, the Sabres pulled Alex Lyon to make a six-man push to tie the game. Zadorov was one of the Bruins’ five skaters alongside Charlie McAvoy, Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak. 

Halfway through the six-on-five endgame, Andrew Peeke, Pavel Zacha, Sean Kuraly and Mark Kastelic came on to replace their teammates. Zadorov stayed on for a 2:46 shift, his longest of the night. The shift ended with a Kuraly empty-netter.

“Overall, that’s Bruins hockey right there,” coach Marco Sturm said following his team’s third straight win. “With the crowd behind us, that was a fun game.”

Sturm needed Zadorov for every shift. Hampus Lindholm, the team’s No. 2 defenseman, was unavailable because of a lower-body injury suffered during the previous game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Lindholm underwent testing on Friday and is scheduled to skate on Sunday. The Bruins have not determined whether Lindholm will make the team’s upcoming three-game road trip.

Sturm expected Lindholm to be his left-side stopper in goal-protection situations. But against the Sabres, Zadorov became his No. 1 choice. Mason Lohrei’s strength is at the other end of the ice. Jordan Harris, who made his Bruins debut on Saturday, is a smaller defenseman, better designed for puck movement than D-zone stiffness.

Zadorov responded with a rugged and reliable 21:32 night at the office. He led the Bruins with 4:13 of short-handed ice time. The Bruins were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

“We want to be aggressive,” Sturm said of the PK. “But I also feel like we feel comfortable now doing it. When you play that kind of system, it usually takes a while. At the start, it’s like, ‘Should I go? Should I not?’ So there is a little bit of a trust issue, which is normal. Now they don’t even think. They just go. They know exactly to do. We’re all on the same page.”

On the blue line, Zadorov, McAvoy and Peeke are leading the charge when it comes to making life rotten for opponents. They enjoy punishing forwards who stray with the puck in front of their net.

But part of the reason the Bruins have ticked off six straight points is because of the team-wide acceptance of how they need to fall in line behind their pit bulls. Sturm has acknowledged that the Bruins are short on skill when compared to some of their competitors. It is nonnegotiable, then, for the Bruins to bring the pain in other areas: forechecking, defense, four-line smothering.

So far, they’ve executed the game plan.

“The players we brought in, they knew what to expect,” said Pavel Zacha. “From the start of training camp, everybody was there. It was hard practices. Lot of battles. Everybody knew that for the other teams playing Boston, it was going to be hard games coming in here. Everybody’s going to be saying it’s hard to win in this arena.”

The Bruins outshot the Sabres in the first period, 17-2. They were in complete command. Zacha scored the period’s only goal after smart board play by Harris. As Harris scooted down the wall with the puck, Zacha knew to pop out and make himself available. Zacha hammered Harris’ feed past Lyon.

“Went down and just tried to keep it in, because no one was on me,” Harris said. “I was trying to look at what the play was, maybe try and take a shot. Then I saw Pav pop out, kind of like a power play. He just wired it.”

Mark Kastelic gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead in the second when his long-distance shot deflected in off Conor Timmins. Given their control of the puck, the Bruins should have stretched their lead. But Jason Zucker made it a one-goal game when his shot tipped in off Peeke’s stick.

But so far, the Bruins have been a sturdy group. 

“Everyone is excited to play,” Sturm said. “Everyone works. We’re a family. That’s what families do. We support each other. We help each other. That was our message.”

This news was originally published on this post .

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