Home / News / Trent Frederic says he was almost choked out on the ice by Ryan Lomberg: ‘The lights were going to turn off for a second’

Trent Frederic says he was almost choked out on the ice by Ryan Lomberg: ‘The lights were going to turn off for a second’

By Chris Cerullo

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April 21, 2023 2:21 pm

The Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers were involved in a very heated and rough Game Two of their first-round playoff series on Wednesday. The drama stemmed from a high elbow headshot from Bruins forward Tomas Nosek on Panthers forward Eric Staal.

That play resulted in a lengthy, expletive-filled argument between the two benches during a stoppage in play.

The raucous conversation only served to raise the temperature in the final minutes of the game and that was most on display when Florida’s Ryan Lomberg put Boston’s Trent Frederic into an almost MMA-style choke submission.

The altercation in question occurred with just three seconds remaining in regulation with the Panthers up 6-3 and moments away from knotting the series up at one win apiece.

The two tough forwards got into a strange fight where both players threw multiple gloved punches at one another before Lomberg dragged Frederic to the ice. Lomberg then somehow ended up on top of the much larger Frederic, pinning him to the ice with his left arm pressed up against Frederic’s throat.

After the final horn, Frederic was so furious about the situation that he reportedly needed to be restrained from going after Lomberg in the dressing room tunnels postgame.

“I was being choked a little bit,” Frederic said before Game Three on Friday. “Couldn’t breathe. 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. It is what it is.”

Wednesday’s game featured 92 total penalty minutes which included seven game misconducts. Both Lomberg and Frederic were each given a misconduct for their roles in the end-of-game brawl.

Unresolved issues like this tend to spill over and could provide drama in Game Three, especially, when you consider that Frederic likely wants to get some sort of revenge on Lomberg. At Friday’s pregame media availability, Frederic hinted that he may have a little extra pep in his step when the puck gets dropped but doesn’t want to hurt his team with his reaction.

“Just gonna play hard and it’ll give me a little extra motivation,” Frederic said. “Try not to react in a negative way to affect the team. Just go play hard and I think it’ll just fuel me a little more. I’m excited to play tonight even more than I normally am.”

Only time will tell if Frederic actually sticks to “just playing hard” in the heat of battle. Things will get started for Game Three at 7:30 pm ET inside FLA Live Arena.

Screenshot via Bally Sports Florida

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