Boston Bruins center Trent Frederic Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Bruins player details scary moment during playoff game scrum

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 4/21/23

Emotions boiled over late in the Florida Panthers' Game 2 win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, and things got scary for Bruins forward Trent Frederic during that altercation.

It was during that late game scrum that Frederic said he was being choked by Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg and that he could not breathe.

"Couldn't breathe," Frederic told the Boston media on Friday ahead of Game 3. "Maybe panicked a little too early. But it was getting close there where the lights were going to turn off for a second. I've never seen that one."

You can see the entire sequence here as Frederic and Lomberg wrestled each other to the ground.

Frederic saying he could not breathe is certainly scary, and definitely not something you hear very often about a fight like that.

The Panthers, who sneakd into the playoffs as the second Wild Card team in the Eastern Conference thanks to a late-season surge, split the first two games of the series in Boston and are giving a record-setting Bruins team quite a challenge in the series.

Boston won an NHL-record 65 games during the regular season and entered the playoffs as significant favorites over Florida. The Panthers have more than held their own and have arguably outplayed the Bruins through the first two games.

The Bruins have been without star center Patrice Bergeron for the first two games, and he did not travel with the team to Florida for Games 3 and 4 of the series. Boston is hopeful he will be ready for Game 5 when the series shifts back to Boston.

Along with the absence of Bergeron, starting goaltender Linus Ullmark — one of the top contenders for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie this season — is also a game-time decision for Friday's game.

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