Game 3 between the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers has just become even more exciting.
With the Oilers winning yesterday’s tilt by a 4-3 overtime final, this series is heading back to Edmonton tied at one apiece. What has already been evident is that these two teams do not like each other, with plenty of rough stuff taking place both during play and after whistles.
One player who has been involved in plenty of that is Canucks defenceman Nikita Zadorov, who is now public enemy number one amongst Oilers fans, if not already, after some comments he made to reporters today.
“They have good fans. Die hard fans,” Zadorov began. “I mean, there’s pretty much nothing else to do in that city except watch hockey. That’s why they love their team and support them so hard. It’s been fun, I’ve only had good experiences there, for sure.”
Though he did compliment the fan base, the comments about the city itself won’t resonate well with those who attend Game 3 at Rogers Place. In fact, it wouldn’t be a surprise to hear the boo birds come out when the 29-year-old has the puck on his stick.
Those boos won’t bother Zadorov, however, as he seems to thrive in a villain role. He was spotted jawing at the Oilers bench shortly after scoring to give his team a 3-2 lead late in the second period, and had several bouts with Evander Kane. He admitted that the words used between the two would need to be censored for the public audience, but wouldn’t go into what was said.
“That’s going to be between me and him,” Zadorov said. “I’m not throwing guys under the bus, it’s between me and him.”
“It’s a 1-1 series going back to Edmonton. It’s only going to get like that. Competitive guys on both sides. Lots of physicality and lots of guys who play with the edge.”
🗣 Nikita Zadorov speaks on the increase of physicality as Round Two goes on. pic.twitter.com/wGNCTQT7Ax
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) May 11, 2024
Zadorov has proven to be a great midseason pickup for the Canucks, not only providing physicality but some unexpected offensive touch as well. Through eight playoff games, he finds himself with four goals and seven points.
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