Marcus Foligno of the Minnesota Wild has been suspended two games for kneeing Winnipeg’s Adam Lowry while he was in a defenseless position.
The fight was the second of two between Foligno and Lowry during Winnipeg’s 2-0 win over the Wild Tuesday night. After Foligno took Lowry to the ice, he continued to be the aggressor even though two referees were trying to pull him away from Lowry.
“Foligno lifts his leg off the ice, moves his knee over Lowry and drops it into his head, pressing Lowry’s head into the ice. This is an intentional decision by Foligno,” the NHL Department of Player Safety announced Thursday.
“Foligno clearly and intentionally uses his knee to inflict force on the head of his vulnerable opponent. We have heard Foligno’s argument that this was not a violent knee strike or an exceptionally forceful blow, and we agree. It is only the relative lack of force on this play that keeps Foligno from being subject to much more severe discipline for an action that is unacceptable for an NHL player to perform.”
After the game, Foligno, whose right knuckles were scraped from throwing punches, said he was “ticked off with just some things that those guys do from time to time.” But he also denied kneeing Lowry.
“I saw them complaining about maybe I got my leg in there or something, but that was me just kinda ticked off and trying to get at him,” Foligno said. “There was no intent to not throw with your fist or use another body part.”
“It is what it is,” he added.
The two-game suspension will keep the Wild without Foligno for Saturday’s game against Carolina and Monday’ meeting with Detroit, both of which are at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
