Zadorov in a media scrum on Saturday, put his foot in his mouth and gave the Oilers all the extra motivation they needed to win this series. Its happened before many times in the NHL and the offending player's team usually comes out on the losing side.
This media scrum you can watch here. Zadorov puts his foot in his mouth about 3:51 into the video, so you can watch it if you want. For those unable to watch, here's what Zadorov said: "Pretty much nothing to do in that city except watch hockey."
Ever wondered why player interviews in the NHL are so sanitized? The players receive media training so they don't say something that embarrasses the league or the team, or both. The other side of this coin, of course, is that players' true personalities rarely shine through because they become so afraid to say something controversial, unlike in say, the NBA or NFL where players comments aren't so santized.
Perhaps it's the Canadian culture so deeply rooted in hockey that we teach the players humility and respect for themselves and their opposition, or a deep rooted appeal to families with children to buy tickets and come to the games. I don't know exactly why this is, but it seems to be the way of the NHL. In other major sports leagues that are more American in nature you're much likely to hear controversial comments, not so much in the NHL.
So here's where we come to the crux of this thing. Because of whatever reason this suppression of controversy in the NHL means that in the instances when controversial comments are made, it becomes magnified.