No help from refs as Rangers rough up Wild's Joel Eriksson Ek
The Minnesota Wild have a couple of cases to present to the NHL after Joel Eriksson Ek was roughed up three times in a matter of minutes in Thursday night's season opener against the New York Rangers.
With the Wild trailing 3-0 in the second period, the officials missed what appeared to be a boarding penalty on New York's Jacob Trouba. That drew a "Refs you suck!" chant from the sold out Xcel Energy Center crowd and the Wild scored a goal a short time later to cut the lead to 3-1.
it’s a new season but death, taxes and jacob trouba being a pos pic.twitter.com/koRHnriYXo
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) October 14, 2022
Then, still in the second period and with the Wild on the power play after an Adam Fox tripping penalty, Chris Krieder cross-checked Eriksson Ek in the side of his head. That drew a two-minute high stick penalty and gave the Wild 1 minute, 24 seconds of a two-man advantage.
Shesterkin save on Eriksson Ek .. Chris Kreider 2-min penalty for high sticking .. Wild going 5-on-3#NYR 3 #MNWild 1 P2 pic.twitter.com/opIE7bYAAJ
— Sᴘᴏʀᴛs 24/7 (@Sports_24x7_) October 14, 2022
But with the Wild power play coming to an end, Eriksson Ek and Ryan Lindgren were called for roughing penalties even though Eriksson Ek did nothing. The replay shows Lindgren cross-check Eriksson Ek in the back twice, then continue to pummel him as Eriksson Ek looked around for help from the officials.
guys being dudes imo pic.twitter.com/FGYhggsZhA
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) October 14, 2022
Time will tell if the Wild ask the league for explanations, but Joel Eriksson Ek certainly appears to have a case for one no-call and another bad call.
Note: The Wild were trailing 5-2 in the third period at the time this story was published.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.