Trent Frederic is making sure Alex Ovechkin gets to know him.
The Boston Bruins forward mixed it up with the Washington Capitals star periodically in the B’s shootout loss at TD Garden. on Wednesday night.
What got the most attention was when things came to a head in the third period, with Frederic repeatedly cross-checking Ovechkin, only for the latter to turn around and spear the former in the nether regions.
“Good. Slept well last night,” Frederic said over Zoom when asked Thursday if he was feeling any pain. “Nothing really bothering me, so all good.”
As for the $5,000 fine Ovechkin received, the highest allowed by the CBA, Frederic is indifferent.
“That’s out of my paygrade. The NHL does a good job with all that stuff so I just leave that up to them.
But things had gotten tense long before that.
Earlier in the game, the two got tangled up and Ovechkin went crashing into the end boards. When he skated back toward Frederic, the young Bruin dropped his gloves, but Ovechkin didn’t reciprocate.
“I think when I dropped them, he went into the boards weird,” Frederic said. “When he got up he wasn’t happy about it. The read I got was ‘I don’t know if you want to fight me’ or what, so that was the read I had. Maybe came off a little quick, but just kind of protecting myself at the same time too.”
This isn’t the first time Frederic has gotten under the skin of a Caps top-six winger, having fought Tom Wilson earlier in the season — much to the chagrin of Peter Laviolette.
So with the two teams set to meet again Friday, we’d imagine Frederic will once again play a prominent role.
