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Watch: Trent Frederic defeats Bag Out of Bolt and defends his fallen teammate

Watch: Trent Frederic defeats Bag Out of Bolt and defends his fallen teammate

BOSTON- Although a recent report that the Boston Bruins are a non-unified team was already deemed unfounded, Trent Frederic completely dispelled it with just a few jabs.

Frederic made a mess of Emil Lilleberg, landing a series of hard hits on the Tampa Bay Lightning defense during a fight midway through the second period Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Lilleberg entered the match marked after Injured Bruins forward Mark Kastelic when the two teams faced off last Thursday in Tampa by hitting him in the face with a hard cross with just 2.5 seconds left in the game. Kastelic struggled against Lilleberg, but was clearly dazed as he skated off the ice. He has since missed the Bruins’ last two games and is currently on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.

Kastelic’s teammates didn’t forget the image of him wobbling on his skates and made sure to seek retaliation by attacking Lilleberg early and often on Tuesday, putting special emphasis on every check he was hit.

But no blow had more force than the ones Frederic delivered with his fists.

“It continued the last time we played them,” Frederic said. “Everything comes from that. “I’m defending my teammates.”

The Bruins were already leading 4-0 at the time of the fight, and that only added to their momentum as won decisively 6-2.

“The way they handled the end of the game when we were in Florida was unacceptable,” Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman said. “Our guys stepped up and tonight we made a statement. “It’s a good feeling as a group, coming together and doing the job the right and respectful way.”

Frederic was one assist away from recording Gordie Howe’s second career hat trick in the victory. His seventh of the season put the Bruins on the board at 4:22 of the first period, when the return of Matthew Poitras put him on the backdoor in a two-on-one race.

“Potsy did it all,” Frederic said. “I was just the guy who finished it.”