After delivering a series of hammering blows to the face that left his opponent a bloodied mess, the Minnesota Wild’s Marcus Foligno graciously called the linesmen in to break up the fight.
The Wild winger came to blows with the San Jose Sharks’ Nikolai Knyzhov in Monday night’s game, and it didn’t end well for the Shark.
It was Foligno’s 45th NHL fight, it was Knyzhov’s first in only his 20th NHL game, and the Canadian showed mercy by asking the linesmen to break it up … but only after he’d punched Knyzhov three times in the face.
Foligno the nicest guy to ever fill your face in pic.twitter.com/bdmDgGsaZQ
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) February 23, 2021
After the game, Foligno explained why he called a stop to the fight, saying: “I know he’s a young kid and probably didn’t know the fighting aspect of it, so I thought it was enough.
“You know, good on him. I give him a lot of credit. I think there’s things you do when you’re young you have to answer the bell, and you have to do it and you gain a lot of respect from your teammates.”
He continued to say that he has had “guys let up on me before,” noting that his actions were “the respect code kind of thing.”
