BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins' [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/boston-bruins] season has come to an end. The Buffalo Sabres [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres] eliminated the Bruins in six games [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/boston-bruins/game-day/bruins-eliminated-in-game-6-by-the-buffalo-sabres], winning all three games at TD Garden. In the quiet of the locker room postgame, the Bruins lamented their missed opportunity to do more this season. When it comes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there's nothing players won't do. Famously in Boston, Zdeno Chara played through a fractured jaw in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. Patrice Bergeron played through broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a separated shoulder in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final. This year's warrior? None other than the hulking 6'7 Nikita Zadorov. Zadorov revealed after the Game 6 defeat that he tore his MCL "clean off the bone" in Game 3 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/boston-bruins/game-day/bruins-drop-pivotal-game-3-at-home-3-1], then proceeded to play through it the rest of that night and the series. The way Zadorov plays his punishing, physical style, it's remarkable what he put his body through for the Bruins. Zadorov called the emotions "empty," and that it's "motivation," for next year. Zadorov will have the summer to heal before the Bruins return in the fall.
