Marcus Foligno Slams Officiating, Calls Out Garnet Hathaway for Cheap Shot on Eriksson Ek's Injured Nose
Philadelphia Flyers forward Garnett Hathaway became the most unpopular man in Minnesota tonight as he ticked off the entire Wild team with a dirty hit, but especially Marcus Foligno.
The Wild are off to a hot start to the season as the Flyers handed them just their first loss in regulation tonight. It has actually been a rather fun season so far for the team, especially with beloved goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury up to his usual antics. Not to be out done though, his goalie partner Filip Gustavsson scored a very rare goalie goal during their fourth game of the season. Unfortunately, tonight's contest did not feature anything like this though as the Flyers scored seven times to secure their second win of the season.
The game was not without controversy though. Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway ended up going to the penalty box twice, his second trip coming with just 2 minutes left in the game and a one-goal difference on the score board. This was obviously a critical moment in the game and the referees decided to even it up, sending Matts Zuccarello to the box for roughing, negating the powerplay.
Wild veteran Marcus Foligno called the referees out for this move in his post-game comments. Furthermore, he was more ticked off about the fact that he was given just a two-minute minor earlier in the game when he blatantly elbowed Joel Eriksson Ek in the face.
Hathaway is an established veteran at this point with more than 500 career games in the NHL. Unfortunately though, he has developed a reputation as one of the dirtiest players around the league and he is certainly familiar with game misconducts and suspensions. It certainly is not just the Wild that have a problem with him.
With that being said, there isn't really anything that can be done at this point. The game is over and the officials made the decisions that they did. The Wild will not forget this though as they prepare for their next matchup against the Flyers which will come on December 14th.
