SEATTLE — The game was over. The Winnipeg Jets had a 6-1 lead over the Boston Bruins with 12:33 left in regulation. The last thing Trent Frederic wanted to do was mess up his hands in a fight.
But Frederic, on the ice for the faceoff following Winnipeg’s sixth goal, got annoyed with David Gustafsson. The score did nothing to soothe Frederic’s temper.
“We just went to take a faceoff. I didn’t like how he was lining up,” Frederic said on Wednesday at Climate Pledge Arena, one day after the Bruins’ 8-1 beatdown against the Jets. “Obviously frustrated with the game. I said something. He did the same thing. I won the faceoff back. Gave him a cross-check because I was mad about before the faceoff. Then we both kind of grabbed each other. I don’t know if he dropped first. But we essentially agreed to fight. And that’s that.”
According to HockeyFights, Gustafsson entered the throwdown at a 23-0 career NHL fight disadvantage against Frederic. It showed.
Frederic threw the first punch. That’s all he needed. Frederic caught Gustafsson on the chin. Gustafsson crumpled. Frederic landed two more before linesmen Trent Knorr and Travis Gawryletz jumped in.
WE GOT CHAOS IN WINNIPEG 🥊
– It took Trent Frederic ONE punch to drop David Gustafsson
– Kastelic and Stanley have a spirited tilt
– Heavyweight square-off between Zadorov and Lowry pic.twitter.com/Ad7VC9N9Qn— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 11, 2024
The Jets didn’t like it. Coach Scott Arniel told Jets reporters on Wednesday that Gustafsson is in concussion protocol.
“I would have to argue that he was the one that asked me,” Frederic said. “I wasn’t expecting it.”
Unaware of his opponent
Frederic understands the politics of fighting. Before each game, the 6-foot-3, 221-pounder studies the opposing roster and identifies his likely combatants. Frederic knew 6-foot-7, 231-pound defenseman Logan Stanley (14 fights) was a possible opponent.
In fact, Frederic asked Stanley to go in the first period. Frederic didn’t care for Stanley’s hit on David Pastrnak. The defenseman said no. The Jets had just taken a 1-0 lead. Frederic understood.
Frederic has been on the other side. In the AHL, Frederic recalled being asked to fight by unfamiliar ECHL call-ups. Sometimes he said yes. It wasn’t until afterward that he’d learn of their resumes. Jay Leach, Frederic’s coach in Providence at the time, would correct him for accepting unnecessary invitations.
“I would end up fighting them. They would thank me in the penalty box for fighting them,” Frederic said. “Then I would find out they have 15 fights in the ECHL. You just don’t know. Sometimes they come in all shapes and forms. You don’t really necessarily know. A lot of times I would get in trouble. Leachy, I remember, was mad at me one time when I was in Prov for fighting someone like that. But no one told me. I didn’t know. You’re just kind of battling and you’re in the game. It happens.”
Frederic, in other words, did not process the fact that Gustafsson (6-foot-2, 196 pounds) had never fought when their gloves flew off. Frederic was in a fight. He was going to do what he needed to do to win it.
“There’s nothing I would change or regret,” Frederic said. “I would do it again every time. If someone wants to fight, I don’t care if they’re … whatever, I don’t really care. If you want to fight in a hockey game, especially when you’re frustrated and you’re losing 6-1, I’m obviously going to do that.”
Moments later, Mark Kastelic and Stanley threw down. It was a fair fight.
Adam Lowry didn’t think anything about Frederic vs. Gustafsson was fair. Nikita Zadorov understood the situation.
‘He asked me nicely’
As Winnipeg’s captain, Lowry made it clear that Frederic one-punching the 24-year-old Swede was unacceptable. So the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Lowry asked Zadorov to fight.
“If I don’t fight him, then he’s probably going to start running around and possibly trying to hurt our players,” Zadorov explained. “Because one of their players got hurt right before that. We still have unwritten rules. He asked me nicely. I fought him twice before. I have so much respect for him as a player. I love his game. It was important for him to answer for his team as captain. I agree. So I gave it to him.”
Like Frederic, Zadorov (24 fights) knows what he’s doing with his gloves off. He’s been on the asking end. He isn’t happy when his requests are denied.
“There’s times when our team is not going and you’re trying to get the boys going,” said Zadorov. “You ask the other player to fight you. He’d be like, ‘Do I have to?’ Then you’d be like, ‘Just give it to me, please. I want to spark my boys. Next time you’re in the same situation and you ask me, I’m going to give it to you.’ There’s definitely mutual agreements kind of like this in the league.”
So given the situation, the 6-foot-6, 248-pound defenseman said yes to Lowry. They fought briefly. Lowry was satisfied. No other fights took place.
Fighting matters
The Bruins are 7-3-0 under interim coach Joe Sacco. None of the seven wins have been against a team currently in playoff position.
Meanwhile, it was the latest shelling the Bruins took from a high-end team. There have been shady outcomes: 6-4 against the Florida Panthers, 8-2 against the Carolina Hurricanes, 7-2 against the Dallas Stars.
So on Wednesday, the Bruins regrouped ahead of Thursday’s game against the Seattle Kraken. They had work to do. In particular, Sacco didn’t care for the third-period looseness which let a 3-1 game get out of hand. But Sacco endorsed how the Bruins’ competitiveness showed in the three fights.
“The guys played hard right to the end,” Sacco said. “That’s all we’re asking. We just want to make sure there’s no quit in our game, especially in the third period.”
There is little to gain from an 8-1 flogging. But fights have a way of bringing players together when nothing else is going right.
“We were getting smoked,” said Zadorov. “You’ve got to show some pride. The guys stepped in. They fought. They showed their character. They showed we don’t care. There’s no quit in this room. Everybody cares.
“I know it wasn’t a good game for us. Just didn’t go our way at all. But you’ve got to show some emotion at the end. Show some pride for playing for the Boston Bruins.”
(Photo: Darcy Finley / NHLI via Getty Images)
