Things got chippy during the Buffalo Sabres‘ commanding 6-1 triumph over the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov lost his cool as he went at Rasmus Dahlin with a vicious cross-check, and the NHL’s Department of Player Safety has now intervened.
“Boston’s Nikita Zadorov has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for cross-checking Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin,” the NHL‘s Department of Player Safety announced on its social media, @NHLPlayerSafety.
The Bruins are truly up against the ropes. Down 3–1 in the series and set to go back to KeyBank Center in Buffalo, where the home fans will turn the barn into mayhem. Zadorov has been handed no suspension, though, and the Spoked B will hope to turn things around before it’s too late.
Something has got to change for Boston, and that was made clear after Marco Sturm ripped the Bruins apart following the 6–1 defeat against the Sabres.
Zadorov has been a penalty machine
Drafted by the Sabres with a first-round pick in 2013, Zadorov clearly had no love for his former NHL club in the first-round matchup of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So far in the postseason, Zadorov has recorded 37 penalty minutes (PIM).
That’s already a postseason career high for the Russian blueliner, who is coming off another career high in PIM during the 2025–26 regular season (152 penalty minutes). In Games 2 and 4, Zadorov missed 16 and 17 minutes, respectively, due to penalties.
Bruins could punish Zadorov
In addition to the news of the $5,000 fine from the NHL, Sturm and the Bruins may be handing down a punishment of their own to Zadorov. According to reporter Bridgette Proulx, Zadorov was absent from the team’s practice on Monday, as was Viktor Arvidsson. The latter had left Game 4 with an injury, but Zadorov showed no signs of being hurt.
Thus, considering he’s been a liability on the ice, it may all indicate Zadorov may serve as a healthy scratch as Boston faces elimination in Game 5. The Sabres are indeed scoreless on the power play so far, but it’s only a matter of time before they break the drought. If Zadorov continues to gift Buffalo man-advantage opportunities, it could well be sooner rather than later.
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