The NHL has handed out its punishment to Marcus Foligno for his knee to the head of Adam Lowry Tuesday night in Winnipeg.
This is fortunate for Foligno that it was not more games and something I am sure he will learn the lesson from and be better for it moving forward. You never like seeing the ugliness come into the game and there is absolutely no place for that in hockey.
Foligno knows that and as a tough player who plays the game as physical as anyone he will be the first to admit what he did was wrong and way over the top. Foligno has never been a dirty player despite his rugged style if play and has often times gone out of his way to protect an opponent in a similar situation
For whatever reason on Tuesday he snapped and he will have to pay the price. As one of the leaders of the team this is something he will grow from and hopefully some if the younger players can gain from this unfortunate incident.
One player in particular is Brandon Duhaime, who likes to mix things up and play a physical brand of Hockey. There have been times this season where he has entered an altercation that was precipitated by the opposition, clearly in an effort to fire up their squad. There is a time and place for the aggressive game and Duhaime clearly takes his lead from Foligno.
The Wild are a far better team because of guys like Foligno and Duhaime who keep opponents honest and allow the skill players to do what they do. However crossing the line is not what the Wild are known for and they will turn this page and take the necessary actions to ensure things like this are the exception and not the rule.