The NHL suspended Minnesota Wild forward Kevin Fiala three games for his ugly hit on Matt Roy of the Los Angeles Kings.
During Thursday’s 5-3 Wild win over the Kings, Fiala received a boarding major and game misconduct for the hit on Roy.
As you can see in the Department of Player Safety’s explanation, the league believed that Fiala was “entirely in control” as the play developed. It was a hit at “high speed, and at a dangerous distance from the boards.” There are multiple mentions of Fiala “seeing Roy’s numbers” before boarding him.
Other factors the NHL mentioned after they suspended Fiala for three games for boarding Roy:
- Roy suffered an injury on the play.
- On the other hand, Fiala doesn’t have a suspension history.
This post’s main image captures how dangerous that play really was.
Yikes.
Overall, this was a really bad hit, one that the league should legislate out of the game. It would be great if other dangerous, generally needless checks were also discouraged, but this decision is better than nothing.
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.