'Couldn't breathe. Maybe panicked a little too early'
Trent Frederic and Ryan Lomberg got into it in the final seconds of Game 2 on Wednesday, and the incident was much more serious than what is appeared to be, according to the Bruins forward.
The Florida Panthers beat Boston 6-3 at TD Garden on Wednesday, and the final moments of the game featured two heated incidents. Tomas Nosek and Eric Staal were caught on a hot mic in an expletive-filled exchange, and in the final seconds, Frederic and Lomberg brawled on the ice. The officials tried their best to separate the two forwards, and they did after significant resistance.
The struggle might be because Lomberg was choking Frederic “a little bit,” which the 25-year-old claimed Friday before Game 3.
“Couldn’t breathe,” Frederic told reporters, per The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa. “Maybe panicked a little too early. But it was getting close there where the lights were going to turn off for a second. I’ve never seen that one.”
The NHL Department of Player Safety did not levy any punishments for the incidents in Game 2, but this might not be the last fans hear between Frederic and Lomberg.
Puck drop at FLA Live Arena is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. ET, and you can catch all the action on NESN, including an hour of pregame coverage.