Blackhawks' Kieth ejected for high stick vs. Wild
The Chicago Blackhawks haven’t been playing particularly well lately and they found themselves in a rather difficult position early in the first period of Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
They were already playing without one of their top defenseman after Brent Seabrook was scratched due to illness. Then they lost their best defenseman for the rest of the game when Duncan Keith was given an intent to injure, match penalty for high-sticking Charlie Coyle.
The incident happened just behind the play after Coyle hit Keith and knocked him to the ice. As Keith was down and on his back, he swung his stick and smacked Coyle right in the face.
Have a look.
Coyle was cut on his nose as a result of the high-sticking but was eventually able to return to the game.
The match penalty means that Keith is automatically suspended for the Blackhawks’ next game, pending a review by the league.
Keith has been suspended for this type of thing before. During the 2013 playoffs he was suspended one game for a similiar retaliation high-sticking incident involving Los Angeles Kings forward Jeff Carter. That previous suspension probably will not help him when it comes to the league review. How many games he actually gets is anybody’s guess at this point given the seemingly arbitrary nature of player discipline in the league lately.
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith could be facing a suspension for this. (YouTube)
