Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno has been fined for $5,000 by the NHL Department of Player Safety for kneeing Columbus Blue Jackets forward Jakub Voracek.
The incident occurred in Friday night’s matchup between the Wild and Blue Jackets, when Voracek was skating through the neutral zone with the puck. As he made a move to get between Foligno and Joel Eriksson Ek, Foligno seemed to be juked out a bit, and as a last-ditch effort to make contact with Voracek and knock him off the puck, he stuck out his knee. It worked, as Voracek’s knee made contact with Foligno’s, and Voracek fell to the ice. He was forced to leave the game.
It isn’t known at this time how long Voracek will be out, but it’s a big hit for the team. Not only because the winger is a strong playmaker for the Blue Jackets, but they also lost sniper Patrik Laine to a leg injury. They currently sit 13 points back of the Capitals with a game in hand.
This fine comes just over a month after Foligno was suspended for two games for kneeing Winnipeg Jets forward Adam Lowry in the head during a fight, which was the first suspension or fine of his career.
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