Nikita Zadorov felt Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond broke an unwritten NHL rule Tuesday night.
The Boston Bruins defenseman took exception to Raymond selling a slashing call on Zadorov with 5:51 left in the second period. The imposing 6-foot-6, 248-pound Zadorov then took another shot at Raymond, crosschecking him in the back after the whistle.
The first-year Bruins blue liner was clearly upset with Raymond’s perceived tactic and Zadorov went after him yet again following Boston’s 3-2 overtime win at TD Garden.
“I don’t like when the guy’s shaking his hand. I barely touched his hand, so I think that’s got to get out of the league,” Zadorov told reporters, per team-provided audio. “It’s a man’s league. We all get slashed. We’re all in pain. But you don’t go like this and show the referee that you get slashed. So I think it’s just a little bit disrespectful, so I went after him.”
Zadorov was only called for the slash while Raymond wasn’t whistled for embellishment. Zadorov’s frustration certainly was more with Raymond than being called for another penalty, in which he leads the league.
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“The referees, Wes (McCauley) and Jon (McIsaac), they’ve been in the league for a while,” Zadorov said. “They’ve seen hard play. They see when guys play hard and I think they even agree it should be out of the league. You don’t sell penalties. They see it. That’s why there are two refs.”
Once Zadorov got out of the penalty box, he got tangled up with Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot, who looked for retribution after the crosscheck on Raymond.
Zadorov’s physical encounters with Raymond and Chiarot weren’t the only highlight of the night for the 29-year-old Russian. He also blasted a slapshot past Detroit netminder Ville Husso in the first period for his second goal of the season.
Featured image via Brian Fluharty/Imagn Images
