Did Montreal's Brendan Gallagher slew-foot Bruins' Zach Trotman?
Whenever the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens play, there is bound to be some extra physicality thanks to the longstanding rivalry between the two clubs. Tuesday night's game proved no different, but the referees might have missed a possibly dangerous play in the first period involving Bruins defenseman Zach Trotman and Habs forward Brendan Gallagher.
Trotman was playing the puck behind the Boston net when Gallagher came up from behind him and dragged his skate between Trotman's skates, tripping Trotman and causing him to fall backwards. No penalty was called on the play.
The NHL defines a slew-foot as:
52.1 Slew-footing - Slew-footing is the act of a player using his leg or foot to knock or kick an opponent’s feet from under him, or pushes an opponent’s upper body backward with an arm or elbow, and at the same time with a forward motion of his leg, knocks or kicks the opponent’s feet from under him, causing him to fall violently to the ice.
Slew-foots are punished with a match penalty per Rule 52 of the NHL rulebook. Although the referees did not catch the play, the SportsNet broadcast team picked up on it and posted the video to Youtube.
What do you think?
Luckily Trotman seemed to be fine despite the collision, and he appeared to avoid a head injury or knee injury which tend to be common off slew-foots.
