The defenseman acknowledged facing one of your former employers brings out a mix of emotions.
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Nikita Zadorov has massive shoulders.
On Thursday night against the Flames, he had a chip on one of them.
Zadorov is one of two Bruins (along with
Elias Lindholm) who spent time in Calgary. The 6-foot-6-inch, 248-pound Zadorov played two-plus seasons for the Flames before he was dealt to the Canucks midway through last season.
The defenseman acknowledged facing one of your former employers brings out a mix of emotions.
“I’ve got a lot of friends there still on that team. A lot of good memories,” he said before the Bruins’ 4-3 overtime win, during which he was minus-1. “Obviously there’s a lot to prove, as well. You have a chip on your shoulder to play against your old team because for some reason you didn’t stay there or didn’t work out, but you want to prove yourself. Somebody made a mistake, right?”
Zadorov has played in every game and
Jim Montgomery sees a player who continues to adapt to his new environment, but as with the entire team, there have been hiccups.
“I don’t see him pressing,” said the coach. “I think overall, I think he’s finding his way in our systems, and I think at times he looks like he’s understanding exactly what we’re trying to accomplish and at times he looks like he’s not and that’s, but I wish it was just him. Then it would be easier to solve.”
Zadorov believes he’s getting more comfortable with how the Bruins roll.
“I think past five games I was really dialed into it and it’s been good, been easy so far,” he said. “Obviously, we’re in the little slump right now. The puck’s not going in, every bounce is going back to us. We’re trying to stay positive in here and all the guys try to work together, but when the unit of five works within the system, I think the system is perfect for us.”
Zadorov said staying positive and working hard are the ways to break out of a slump, and that’s what he sees from his teammates.
“I thought that was like a playoff game against Toronto five-on-five-wise, and we had two shutouts before, so I thought we were in a good place,” he said. “Obviously, they scored three power-play goals, one empty-net goal, what are you going to do? The special teams have got to be better. We all know that, but five on five, I thought we have been playing good. We’ve been improving. There’s a lot of room to improve still, but I think we’re getting going.”
When things aren’t going smoothly team-wide, it’s natural to start pressing.
“You meet pressure with pressure, so I think the guys in this league who thrive, that’s the guys who can take that pressure and then put it into the hard work and make sure it works for them,” said Zadorov. “Obviously, you can’t be on top of your game your whole career. You can’t be on top of your game for your whole season. There’s going to be some slumps. There’s going to be slumps in the team game. There’s going to be slumps in the individual game. You’ve just got to deal with it. It’s the National Hockey League. It’s the best league in the world. That’s our job. So, I think you go up there, whatever’s not working, you try to do little things, right? You start with that and then the big things will come up.”
