The puck had been in play for two seconds at TD Garden on Sunday afternoon when Brady Tkachuk and Nikita Zadorov dropped their gloves. The Boston Bruins defenseman landed punches and threw the Florida Panthers forward to the ice while the crowd was still finding its seats.
Both took five-minute majors. Boston scored three times before Florida got on the board.
Supporters were not kind about the sequence.
Literally nothing happens, then Brady gives us the most embarrassing visual ever by covering his face on his knees. I’ll take it,” one wrote.
“Brady Tkachuk and losing show fights to start a game. Name a better duo,” said another.
“Brady just loves to get his squad off to a s***ty start getting his ass kicked off the opening draw,” a third added, while someone else kept it shorter: “For as much as he fights, Brady sure can’t fight.”
Sunday at TD Garden:
| Penalty minutes | Misconducts | Fights in first seven minutes | Final score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 126 | 7 | 2 | Boston 4-1 |
Have Brady Tkachuk and Nikita Zadorov fought before?
The two went at it late in a game at the same building in January 2025, both collecting game misconducts, and the Bruins’ own Behind the B cameras caught Zadorov chirping him during a stoppage beforehand.
“You want to get the crowd going?” Zadorov asked him.
What followed on Sunday was the most penalized game in the NHL this season. The two clubs combined for 126 penalty minutes, with eleven infractions worth 34 minutes in the first period alone and seven misconducts across the afternoon. Tkachuk and Eetu Luostarinen picked up ten-minute misconducts at the end of the second.
Boston were the better side regardless, winning 4-1 for a fourth straight victory with Jeremy Swayman making 40 saves.
Tkachuk did contribute something, setting up Carter Verhaeghe on the power play at 18:05 of the first. That took him to 20 points in 17 games, making him the sixth-fastest player to reach 20 as a Panther.
He and his brother Matthew Tkachuk flew to Toronto straight afterwards, along with Bill Zito and Brad Marchand, for their father Keith’s Hall of Fame induction on Monday.
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