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Here’s why Wild winger Marcus Foligno shouldn’t have been ejected from Game 5

dane mizutani, pioneer press
·4 min read
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Marcus Foligno was already fully dressed in his suit on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center in Dallas while the rest of his teammates were gearing down.

After getting ejected for knee-on-knee contact just 2 minutes, 14 seconds into Game 5 of the first-round playoff series, Foligno struggled to find the right words on the heels of the Wild’s 4-0 loss to the Dallas Stars.

He made clear that he felt he let his teammates down by forcing them to play without him for nearly 60 minutes of regulation. He also made clear that he didn’t agree with ruling that got him kicked out of the game in the first place.

“A major?” Foligno asked rhetorically to reporters in the Wild locker room. “I don’t agree with it.”

The play in question featured the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Foligno colliding with the Stars’ 6-foot-3, 225-pound Radek Faksa at full speed. It looked like a car accident, and while Foligno managed to stay on his skates, Faksa flipped before crumbling to the ice.

The officials reviewed the play after the whistle and assessed Foligno with a major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct.

That decision has sparked a bit of controversy over the past 24 hours, with many coming to Foligno’s defense. Though it looked gruesome in real time, the replay shows that Foligno is preparing for a shoulder-to-shoulder hit when Faksa turns at the last second. As a result, instead of Foligno hitting Faksa with his shoulder straight on, he clips him with his leg as he’s trying to finish his check.

“He’s rotating out of the way,” Foligno said trying to explain his opinion of the play. “I don’t move my leg at all. I stay my course. That’s how I see it.”

He acknowledged that he would have understood a minor penalty for tripping, which obviously wouldn’t have elicited an ejection. The fact that Foligno would have delivered a legal check had Faksa not turned is something the Wild wish the officials had taken into consideration.

“He jumps out of it and that’s what creates the knee-on-knee contact,” teammate Matt Dumba said while noting that Faksa returned to the game shortly after being helped off the ice “He was right back out there next shift.”

It’s wasn’t only the Wild who had that opinion. The panel from NHL on TNT talked at length about the play, with former players Paul Bissonnette and Anson Carter both saying that Foligno should not have received a game misconduct.

“I think it’s very unfortunate for both sides,” Bissonnette said. “It sucks for Marcus Foligno because he was clearly going to make a shoulder-to-shoulder hit.”

In the video clip that had nearly 400,000 views on Twitter less than 24 hours after its release, Bissonnette and Carter reenacted the play to show how Foligno is in good position before Faksa puts himself in a vulnerable position by rotating his body.

“I don’t think it’s malicious at all,” Carter said. “I think Marcus Foligno went in and he’s already committed to the hit.”

It’s worth noting that rules analyst Brad Meier, a former NHL official, was also in studio for the discussion. He noted how the onus is on Foligno above anyone else to finish his check legally. He also clarified that the major penalty of kneeing was a result of the degree of impact regardless of intent

Meanwhile, back in the Twin Cities, former Wild star Wes Walz agreed with Bissonnette and Carter, and he shared his take on Bally Sports North at intermission. As far as Walz is concerned, an important distinction is that Foligno didn’t stick his leg out to create unnecessary contact with Faksa. He simply continued on his original line.

“It’s a hockey play,” Walz said. “It happens a lot with the speed of the game.”

Needless to say, Walz disagreed with Foligno getting kicked out of the game, saying on the broadcast that he felt it should have been a minor penalty for tripping. He added that Foligno trying to finish his check and Faksa trying to get out of the way are both natural reactions in the moment.

“It’s human instincts that hockey players have,” Walz said. “It becomes hardwired into our DNA over time.”

There won’t be a suspension coming for Foligno, meaning he will be back on the ice for Game 6 as the Wild try to stave off elimination. Will he have to change the way he plays in Game 6 on Friday night at the Xcel Energy Center?

Not if Wild coach Dean Evason has anything to say about it.

“Since I’ve been here, he hasn’t changed his game,” Evason said. “He’s not changing it in a couple of days.”

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