Nikita Zadorov kicks up controversy with his recent comments about Jeremy Swayman.

The Boston Bruins suffered an ugly and embarrassing loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night, giving up 7 goals to the Kings and eventually watching the Kings cruise to a 7-2 victory.

While the game was largely a forgettable one for the Bruins, there was one particularly notable moment during the game where we were almost treated to a fight between Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper and Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman, only to have the National Hockey League’s officials ruin all the fun.

It was a fairly intense moment and one that resulted in Swayman receiving praise from fans on social media for sticking up for his teammates, but it seems there’s a chance that the Bruins locker room doesn’t feel the same way about Swayman’s recent behavior on the ice.

Following the conclusion of the game, Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov was asked a question by a man who sounds very much like Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe, and that question produced an eyebrow raising answer from Zadorov. Shinzawa asked Zadorov if he appreciated Swayman sticking up for his teammates and Zadorov’s bizarre response left more questions than answers.

“Is that what it is?” asked Zadorov. “I don’t know, no comment.”

Zadorov’s tone seemed to indicate that he did not agree with Shinzawa’s characterization of the situation, and the “no comment” that followed was a real head scratcher. You can hear the exchange yourself in the short clip below:

Fans have been quick to speculate that this is a sign of problems with Swayman within the Bruins locker room, but I would caution anyone trying to read too much into what was a very short response from Zadorov.

It may very well be the case that Zadorov was simply frustrated with the 4 unanswered goals that Swayman allowed following his attempt to fight Kuemper, although I will admit this doesn’t exactly look great.

What do you think of Zadorov’s comments? Was he simply frustrated with the Bruins season or did this come off like something more personal to your ears? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.