On January 19, the Vancouver Canucks hosted the Arizona Coyotes in a National Hockey League (NHL) regular season match. In the middle of the first 20 minutes, the home team’s Russian defender Nikita Zadorov got into a fistfight with visiting forward Liam O’Brien.
The Russian’s blows caused his opponent to lose his protective helmet. Zadorov continued to hit his opponent’s head and pinned O’Brien aside before the referees separated the hockey players. Both players were given a 5-minute penalty. After the first period the score is 1:1.
Zadorov has been playing in the NHL since 2013. The defenseman has been playing for the Calgary Flames since 2021. He also defended the colors of Chicago, Colorado and Buffalo at different times.
The Russian played his first game for Vancouver against Calgary on December 3, 2023. The defender played 17 minutes and 35 seconds. His new team won with a score of 4:3 and Zadorov also made an assist. The Russian star scored a total of 1 goal and 3 assists in 20 matches with the Vancouver jersey.
Previously reportedKucherov became the ninth Russian with 500 assists in the NHL.