Elias Lindholm wasn’t the only new Bruin hoping Thursday’s 1-0 win will give him a foothold as he tries to establish himself in Boston.

Nikita Zadorov, whose play has been up and down through the first 20 games and who said Friday he’s still trying to find his voice with his new team, delivered what was probably his best performance as a Bruin Thursday. He had five hits in 19:51 of ice time, including a record 5:03 on the penalty kill during Boston’s 4-for-4 shorthanded performance.

“I thought his reads were really good, I thought he had a good stick,” coach Joe Sacco said after Friday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena. “And I just thought he brought a physical presence to the game. This is what we were looking for. We were looking for someone to strengthen ourselves physically.

With Hampus Lindholm out, Zadorov is relishing the opportunity to be first in line in man-down situations with Brandon Carlo. Thursday’s perfect PK performance moved the B’s from 25th to 22nd in the league.

“I love it. I love killing (penalties),” Zadorov said Friday. “I think it’s really important and it keeps me going. It’s a pleasure when we see the confidence of the coaches on this point. We did a pretty good job (Thursday) against two competent units. Obviously there have been a lot of rebounds against us in the past, in PK especially, so I think it’s really important to be good at that during the game because it gives you a chance to win games hockey.

Zadorov, 29, has been in the NHL since he was a teenager and had Sacco as an assistant with the Sabers during his rookie season, Sacco’s only year in Buffalo in 2013-14. Although he has seen some things, what happened Tuesday when Jim Montgomery was fired took him into uncharted territory. He said the reset had to happen.

“No coach was fired mid-year, so this is a new experience for me,” Zadorov said. “But I saw the Joe Mazzulla quote: ‘Coaches are hired to be fired.’ At the end of the day, it was a business. We weren’t playing well. We weren’t where we were supposed to be and something had to change. This is where we are right now. Joey is a good coach. I had him in Buffalo as an assistant coach. I talked to a lot of the Colorado guys he coached there and got some advice about it. We’re just going to play for him right now.

What these tips were, Zadorov kept to himself.

It has been a difficult immersion at times for Zadorov as a Bruin. He still holds the league lead in minor penalties with 13 (Charlie McAvoy is second with 12), although he hasn’t taken any in his last three games. He attributes some of those calls to excessive early-season exuberance, plus being in messaging mode with the first two games against Florida. Zadorov said he is starting his game better lately.

“I thought I played well for seven or eight games. I love my hockey. Obviously I can clean up some things to be perfect. No one is perfect, but we strive for it all the time,” Zadorov said. “You try to be your best every night and at the end of the day you have to be uncomfortable sometimes to help your team win some hockey games. You have quiet guys in the room who aren’t used to flaming it up, talking, being active or bringing energy. These guys need to buy in, buy in and help us out, because we’re in this together right now. Same as me. There are some maybe uncomfortable things that I didn’t do in the past, but in this situation you have to push yourself to be better and do everything in your power to help your team win hockey games.

When asked what those “uncomfortable” things were, Zadorov talked about the need to refine his behavior in the room so he can help others and himself, as well as immersing himself in the culture that he signed up.

“I’m an active guy, I’m an emotional guy. I try to keep him free in the room all the time, I try to keep the young guys free. We have a young team. “Zadorov said. “But I also see that when I do too much before the match, it affects my performance because I get too excited and I lose focus on my personal game. So I just have to find that balance, be a voice in the room and Helping the team Mostly, I’m a new guy here and I’m settling in and I’m getting to know guys, they’re getting to know me, so they might sometimes not take it the right way, like I do. I said.

“I’m a pretty direct person. Sometimes it takes people a while to understand me. So I think I just find the happy medium and bring joy. Bring joy into the room, bring the excitement of going out and playing games, competing and trying to win hockey games. I thought we played slow in the first 20 games. I don’t think it’s Boston Bruins hockey. I don’t think that’s what the fans expected from us. We have blue-collar fans. They expect hard work up there, they expect it to be hard. So I think that’s the message I got and I passed it on to the guys to bring to the game every night. If we do that, we will be difficult to play against and good things will happen.

Loose washers

Sacco said he was dealing with the goaltending situation day by day. Although he acknowledged the strong play of Joonas Korpisalo, he said he was leaning toward Jeremy Swayman for Saturday’s game in Detroit. … The B’s made a roster change, sending Georgii Merkulov back to Providence and bringing in North Billerica native Marc McLaughlin, who has scored goals in five straight games.

“Marc played really well at Providence, so he deserves an opportunity here at some point. From what I understand, his game is the best it’s been since he’s been at Providence,” Sacco said. … Judging by Friday’s lines, it appears McLaughlin will have to wait for his chance. Tyler Johnson replaced Merkulov on the Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic line and Johnson was also on the right elbow on the second power play unit.

Originally published: November 22, 2024 at 2:34 p.m. EST