Calgary captain Mark Giordano isn’t scheduled to face a disciplinary hearing for a hit that injured Ducks d-man Cam Fowler, an NHL spokesman confirmed on Wednesday.
The incident occurred in the third period of Anaheim’s 3-1 win over the Flames on Tuesday night. Giordano went knee-on-knee with Fowler, and wasn’t penalized on the play. Fowler crumpled to the ice and had to be helped off by teammates, and didn’t return.
“He came through the middle with a lot of speed and I was honestly coming across trying to make a hit on him and I got to watch the game, but I think our legs collided. I don’t know how bad, I just hope he’s OK,” Giordano said after the game, per Yahoo. “You don’t like to see guys get hurt. There was no intent to hurt him there.
“I was just trying to come across in a 2-1 game to try to stop him from getting to our net, trying to make a hit and the result was, I don’t know if our legs collided or not, I think they did and I hope it’s nothing too serious.”
Cam Fowler is out after an ugly knee injury. Awful news for him and the Ducks before the playoffs. https://t.co/jG6dVHi3E0 pic.twitter.com/cP1JdJadGX
— SB Nation NHL (@SBNation_NHL) April 5, 2017
Ducks blueliner Kevin Bieksa wasn’t happy with the hit. From the L.A. Times:
Bieksa said he didn’t get a good live view at the play but said, “It didn’t look clean. It didn’t sound clean.
“We’re a team that sticks up for each other. That’s always been one of our MOs. We’re a physical team. But you know what? We care about each other. We care about Cam. We don’t want to see a teammate on the ice, getting helped carried off, so we’re going to respond the way we did.”
The Giordano-Fowler hit was part of a nasty affair that boiled over in the third period:
-- Shortly after that incident, Josh Manson fought Giordano, landing some heavy shots before they hit the ice.
-- After throwing a huge hit on Matthew Tkachuk at the blue line, Ducks d-man Korbinian Holzer fought Matt Bartkowski, while a near line brawl broke out on the other side of the ice, with Ryan Kesler and Michael Frolik jousting. Bartkowski was given an instigator penalty and a game misconduct, as well.
-- Holzer had been previously involved in a large scrum after he went after Micheal Ferland, who was given a misconduct.
-- The two teams combined for 106 minutes in penalties in the final frame.