Nikita Zadorov is in serious trouble. The Bruins defenceman cross-checked Rasmus Dahlin after the whistle, snapped his stick on him, then threw a punch.
Boston had already lost the game by then. Buffalo rolled 6-1, and Marco Sturm pulled Jeremy Swayman as the Bruins came apart in front of him.
The frustration boiled over late. With play stopped, Zadorov went after Dahlin in a sequence that had nothing to do with hockey and everything to do with a team coming apart at the seams.
Five-minute major. Game over. Hearing pending.
The Department of Player Safety will absolutely be making a phone call. A cross-check between play, a broken stick, and a punch on a star defenceman? That earns a hearing every time.
Here's the eye test on the clip. The big Russian drives the cross-check into Dahlin's back away from the puck, the shaft splinters on contact, and the follow-up punch lands before officials can step in.
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Marco Sturm faces a Game 5 lineup hole he cannot afford
The Bruins finished the regular season 45-27-10 and 100 points. None of that matters now.
They're staring at a do-or-die game with potential supplemental discipline hanging over a top-four blueliner.
The 31-year-old plays a specific role. He makes $5 million against the cap and gives Boston physicality on a back end without an obvious replacement waiting in the press box.
Lose him for a game and the matchups against Dahlin's line get harder. Lose him for two and the series might already be over.
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The Swedish defenceman, for the record, is the guy you don't want to poke. He posted 74 points in 77 games and went plus-18 for a Buffalo team that ran the Atlantic Division.
Swayman, meanwhile, is in his own free fall. The pull tells you everything. He carried a .930 save percentage through the first three playoff games of this series.
Tonight he didn't get to finish.
Why does a $8.25 million goalie get yanked in a series his team is already trailing? Because Sturm had to send a message to a room that quit on him.
Game 5 is in Buffalo. The Bruins might be missing more than just their composure when the puck drops.
Should Nikita Zadorov get suspended for Game 5?
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Heated altercation between Jeremy Swayman and Bruins bench escalates fast
