Nikita Zadorov has been fined $5,000 for roughing Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic, and the Bruins blueliner now has a bill to pay.
The amount is the maximum allowable under the CBA. It comes after a Saturday night in Boston that got ugly in the third period before the Bruins won 5-4 in overtime.
Zadorov's evening included a double minor and a misconduct, 14 minutes in all, as covered in Nikita Zadorov's 14 penalty minutes against Chicago. The fine is the league's follow-up.
Boston still got the two points. Chicago left with one, and the Blackhawks sit 31st in the NHL at 4-9-1.
Zadorov has 47 penalty minutes through 14 games this season. Vlasic, on the other side, has 8 PIM in 14 games, so the gap between the two says plenty about who has been living in the box.
The big defenseman is also a +6 with four assists. That matters, because the Bruins have not had to choose between his edge and his production so far.
Marco Sturm's team is 10-4-1 and first in the Atlantic Division, so nobody in that locker room is going to lose sleep over a fine. But a player carrying 1045 career penalty minutes over 818 games knows the league keeps score, and the next incident may not stop at a fine.
Why the Bruins can live with Zadorov's edge for now
Boston's goal differential is +19, with 55 goals for and 36 against. A physical, hard-to-play-against defenseman is part of how a team gets there, and Sturm has no obvious reason to change his deployment.
Zadorov also came into this stretch having already made noise against Chicago, as Nikita Zadorov's big hit on Connor Bedard showed earlier in the night.
The risk is simple. Every extra minor in a one-goal game hands the other team a power play, and Saturday's game went to overtime.
The NHL News account (@PuckReportNHL) reported that Zadorov was fined the maximum for roughing Vlasic.
The Bruins are back at it tonight against the Golden Knights, and Zadorov will be in the lineup conversation again. Chicago hosts Colorado the same night, and whether tempers cool down is a question for the next time these two teams meet.
