During the Boston Bruins' latest matchup against the Washington Capitals, defenseman Nikita Zadorov left the contest after his first shift. The 6-foot-6 defenseman left after receiving a hit from Capitals forward Tom Wilson.
With Zadorov being one of the Bruins' top defenders, there was natural concern about his absence. However, he thankfully returned at the end of the first period.
Following the game, Zadorov shared with reporters that he missed most of the first period because he needed to get stitches on his ankle after Wilson unintentionally cut it with his skate.
© Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
"I just got cut there," Zadorov said. "It's fine. Few stitches... I felt a cut right away, and I looked there, and I see it's pretty deep. I could see it between my skate and my shinpad, and then I just sprinted to the bench. When I figured I could put the weight on my ankle, I felt like it was fine. So it ended up it was just the skin. I got lucky there pretty much because there's a lot of areas where it could be worse for sure."
Zadorov dodged a serious bullet there, and the Bruins must be happy about that. Losing Zadorov would have certainly stung, as he is an important piece of their blueline.
In 39 games this season, Zadorov has two goals, nine points, 74 penalty minutes, and 102 hits.
