SUNRISE, Fla. — Edmonton’s Warren Foegele was ejected from Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night for his knee-on-knee hit that injured Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen midway through the first period.
Foegele stuck out his left leg into Luostarinen’s left leg and a scrum ensued after as the Finnish forward lay on the ice and got medical attention. Luostarinen skated off with athletic trainers and immediately went down the tunnel.
Officials reviewed the hit and decided it warranted a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct. It was not immediately clear if the NHL’s department of player safety might consider supplemental discipline for Foegele.
Just 97 seconds afterward, Florida defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was penalized for tripping. The Oilers scored their first goal of the series at four on four when fellow Swede Mattias Ekholm beat Sergei Bobrovsky five-hole on an odd-man rush.
Luostarinen returned to the ice a few minutes later.
After the game, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said he didn’t believe there was much difference between Foegele’s hit and the tripping penalty that Sam Bennett was assessed earlier in the first period for a hit on Evan Bouchard.
“I don’t see any difference on the Sam Bennett penalty…” Knoblauch said. “I don’t see very much difference in those two plays. I see Bouchard got up right away. Their guy didn’t get up right away, which I think … yeah, so that’s what I think.”
Luostarinen was playing in just his second Stanley Cup Final game after missing the series last year with a broken leg.
Foegele returned to the Oilers lineup Saturday night in the series opener after being a healthy scratch for the final three games of the Western Conference Final against Dallas.
— With files from Sportsnet Staff