The Boston Bruins were unable to carry over the momentum from their recent strong home play, falling 4-2 at home to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.
The loss snapped their momentum and tightened the Eastern Conference wild-card race, with Boston still holding the first spot, leading to blunt criticism from defenseman Nikita Zadorov after the game.
Nikita Zadorov Rips Bruins After 4-2 Loss to Maple Leafs
The Bruins started well when Elias Lindholm opened the scoring early in the first period. However, Matthew Knies responded with a shorthanded goal in the second to tie the game. Max Domi then gave Toronto a 2-1 lead late in the period.
In the third, William Nylander extended the lead to 3-1 before Charlie McAvoy cut the deficit on the power play. Knies eventually sealed the 4-2 win with an empty-net goal in the final seconds.
After the game, Bruins defenseman Zadorov didn’t hold back when assessing the performance. “We were just flat. We didn’t have emotions against the Toronto Maple Leafs and that’s on us for sure, and we’ve got to do better than that. It’s important points for us at home and to drop it like this is embarrassing,” Zadorov said.
The physical tone escalated late in the second period when Zadorov boarded John Tavares from behind. Easton Cowan immediately dropped the gloves and challenged the much bigger defenseman. Zadorov received a five-minute major for boarding, while Cowan was handed a two-minute roughing penalty.
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Zadorov later addressed the hit, saying, “It was a major call, I mean, I try to play my game, try to be physical, little awkward, I felt like, I don’t know, I think it was right call at the end of today.”
Early in the third period, tensions remained high as Zadorov fought Dakota Joshua in response to the earlier incident. Both players exchanged punches before being separated, and each received a five-minute penalty for fighting.
McAvoy echoed Zadorov’s frustration after the loss, acknowledging the team’s flat performance wasn’t good enough.
“Flat. We tried our best to talk about it before the game what this would be like coming off a very emotional win and playing against a team that’s obviously not in the (playoff picture) that we’re in. We talked about it all day today that we couldn’t show up flat and we still did. It just wasn’t good enough for us.”
Boston won’t have much time to regroup, as the Bruins are set to face the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, looking to bounce back and hold onto their playoff positioning.
