Nikita Zadorov makes his feelings known about fighting Jamie Benn in retaliation for hit on Brandon Carlo

By Ankit Kumar

Modified Nov 20, 2024 14:31 GMT

During the Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars game, Jamie Benn hit Brandon Carlo hard. Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov quickly stepped in, challenging Benn to a fight. Zadorov dominated the fight, landing several strong punches before taking Benn down.

The Bruins signed Zadorov in the offseason to bring toughness to the team. Talking about the hit, he said:

"Well, my teammates laying on the ground. Think that's a good response."

After the 7-2 loss, Nikita Zadorov expressed frustration with the team’s performance. Although the Bruins had some good moments recently, like their comeback against the St. Louis Blues, their effort in this game was lacking.

“We're taking step forward and taking step backwards. You know, it's it's hard to win in this league. There's good teams. They're going to put you on your heels. You got to deal with pressure," he said in his interview with NESN.

"I mean, we're four two and one last seven, right? We were four one and one last six. But going into this game, you know, we had a good comeback in St Louis. I thought we did a lot of good stuff in St Louis, and today we weren't there. Our effort wasn't there. Hard to play against, it wasn't there,” Zadorov added.

Nikita Zadorov couldn't score any goals or assists. He had a -2 plus/minus rating and 17 penalty minutes. Zadorov spent 19 minutes and 24 seconds on the ice.

Nikita Zadorov and Boston Bruins suffer 7-2 loss to Dallas Stars

Evgenii Dadonov scored twice to help the Dallas Stars win 7-2 against the Boston Bruins on Thursday. Oskar Back, Mason Marchment, and Matt Duchene each had a goal and an assist. Tyler Seguin added two assists, and Jake Oettinger made 23 saves. Dallas also won 7-1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday.

Duchene scored early, and Dadonov’s penalty shot made it 2-0. Boston’s Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak scored for the Bruins, but the team struggled with consistency. Coach Jim Montgomery said they failed to execute properly.

“They executed at a high level, and we didn’t match the execution,” Montgomery said (via NHL.com). “It’s been frustrating all year that we haven’t been able to string together three or four consistent games where we feel like our habits and details are consistently there.”

Back scored his first NHL goal to make it 4-1. Dadonov added another goal, and Logan Stankoven and Roope Hintz also scored. Marchment finished the scoring at 7-2. Boston’s goalie Jeremy Swayman said the team needed to reset and fix their mistakes for future games.