Chicago’s Duncan Keith was assessed a match penalty for intent to injure during Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to Minnesota, after he appeared to swing his stick at Wild forward Charlie Coyle’s head.
Keith was knocked down by Coyle mid way through the first period, with the Blackhawk’s defenseman appearing to lash out at the Wild center from the ice.
Coyle received treatment from the Minnesota medical staff and was later able to return to the game.
Unless rescinded by the NHL, a match penalty carries an automatic one game suspension, which would rule Keith out of Friday’s game against Winnipeg. However, Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune has reported that the NHL Department of Player Safety plans to review the play and thus could carry out further disciplinary action against the 32-year-old.
Keith was previously suspended for one game following a similar incident, after hitting Los Angeles Kings’ forward Jeff Carter in the head with his stick during the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Duncan Keith needs to stop swinging his stick at people in retaliation. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/7BXpaofSAi
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) March 30, 2016
In 67 games for the Blackhawks this season, Keith has nine goals and 43 points.
Chicago now faces a somewhat unique situation, in that Friday may be the first time the Blackhawks have hit the ice without one of Keith or Brent Seabrook, who missed Tuesday’s game due to illness, in the line up since they broke in to the league in 2005-06.
Prior to Tuesday’s contest, Seabrook had not missed a game since the 2012-13 season.
The defeat to Minnesota all but ends Chicago’s hopes of catching Dallas and St. Louis at the top of the Central Division, with the Stars and Blues now five points clear of the Blackhawks with five games of the regular season remaining.
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