BOSTON — It was an interesting night for Bruins forward Trent Frederic.
The young Boston forward almost got into it with Minnesota Wild winger Mats Zuccarello before the referees broke up the scrap in the first period. Things would heat up and explode from there in the second period after Frederic laid a hard hit on Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov which sent him to the locker room.
Kaprizov looked to be falling down near the boards as Frederic went to finish a check. While the specific legality of the play is up for debate, the 23-year-old was hit with a boarding penalty. Unsurprisingly afterward the Wild players and Frederic continued to beef with the Bruins forward getting into two different fights after.
After the game Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy gave his thoughts on the hit and discussed what he saw on the play.
“I didn’t see it live since it was in that corner over there so you’ve got to look up at the scoreboard,” Cassidy said. “It looks like he turned away from (Matt Grzelcyk) in a one-on-one situation and Freddy was tracking back into the zone. I don’t know if he stumbled or ducked, that part I don’t know the player well enough. But Freddy sort of leaned into him but I don’t think there was any malicious intent other than separating him from the puck which you better do or he’ll hurt you. You just have to do it in a legal manner. I thought it looked clean from my point but they didn’t see it that way.”
Frederic weighed in on the hit after the game as well.
“He’s a good player. Obviously I hope he’s alright, obviously I didn’t mean to hurt him but I was just going to make a hockey play and finish a check, Frederic said. “I haven’t really seen it but I think he kind of fell as I was doing it. It’s hard to kind of pull of that so I hope he’s alright.”
Hopefully Kaprizov is OK and healthy after the scary play.
