Warren Foegele was given a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for a knee-on-knee hit in Game of the Stanley Cup Final. The forward wasn’t served any supplemental discipline on the play and could be back in the lineup for Game 3 as the Edmonton Oilers try to get back in the series, down 2-0.
There were plenty of fans upset with the Foegele hit, including a few Oiler fans who thought it was a careless penalty early in a game the Oilers needed to win. Some weren’t sure it was an intended knee-on-knee hit, and a new camera angle of the play from a fan camera seems to let Foegele off the hook.
Oilers’ head coach Kris Knoblauch didn’t like the call. He said after the game, “You’re going to hit a guy and the guy moves out of the way – it’s pretty tough to change where your feet are. I don’t see very much difference in those two plays (Warren Foegele penalty and Sam Bennett penalty).” Knoblauch was referring to Bennett’s hit on Evan Bouchard while the defenseman was near his own goalie and didn’t stay down.
Knoblauch suggested that Bouchard not selling Bennett’s hit and Eetu Luostarinen staying down on the ice after his collision was the difference in the ruling. “I see (Evan) Bouchard got up right away, their guy didn’t get up right away,” said the Oilers’ coach.
The Foegele Hit From Another Angle
If you look at the video below, Foegele is reaching out his skate to play the puck, the two players smash thighs, and Foegele goes flying through the air, in part, because Luostarinen’s stick is in Foegele’s feet. This is not to suggest it was an intentional trip by Luostarinen, but it might explain why the hit looked so devastating. It was two guys making a play for the puck, trying to get out the other’s way, and barely avoiding a bigger collision.
The big debate was whether Foegele stuck his knee out before the hit. It seems obvious he turns his skate, but slow-motion replays of the hit suggest he only did so to play the puck with his skate. From there, a reverse angle of the hit indicates that there wasn’t actually knee-on-knee contact. The hit looks to be more thigh-focused.
Now we know why the league didn’t look at this play for supplemental discipline. We also know why Luostarinen was almost immediately back out on the ice and playing.
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