No major penalty for Zach Whitecloud's thumping hit on Matthew Knies leaves fans debating: "Clean as a whistle", "2 game suspension minimum"

By ARJUN B

Modified Nov 21, 2024 04:29 GMT

During Wednesday night's game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights at Scotiabank Arena, defenseman Zach Whitecloud delivered a high hit on Leafs forward Matthew Knies. The incident occurred in the second period as Knies was carrying the puck through the neutral zone.

Whitecloud stepped up and laid a massive high hit on Knies, sending the young forward down the ice.

Immediately after the hit, Knies's teammate Simon Benoit jumped in and took Whitecloud down. The referees quickly separated the players and sent Benoit to the box for roughing. Surprisingly, no penalty was called on Whitecloud for the initial hit on Knies.

The non-call led to debate amongst hockey fans on social media. Some argued it was a clean hit, with one fan tweeting,

"Clean as a whistle."

Another fan felt Whitecloud should have been penalized, suggesting:

"Clear lunge upward. Should be 2 game suspension minimum."

Here are some other conflicting fan reactions:

"Refs are terrible. Clear hit to the head, how is that not a major?" one fan wrote.

"Clean play. Knies was bent over. Broadcasters comparing this to the Reaves hit is insane." another fan wrote.

A few fans also brought up Leafs player Ryan Reaves, who was slapped with a five-game suspension for an illegal hit.

"I’m sorry but I completely disagree with the leafs broadcast that it was the same as the reaves hit. Couldn’t disagree more" a user commented.

"It was a head hit. He left his feet! Major penalty for sure. Why was Reeves suspended again? What a joke. The league does not take head injuries seriously based on that call." another user wrote.

The Leafs went on to win 3-0 against the Golden Knights.

P.K. Subban analyses Zach Whitecloud's high hit on Matthew Knies

Former NHL star turned analyst P.K. Subban weighed in on the controversial hit by Zach Whitecloud on Matthew Knies. Subban commented on the hit on X, saying:

"Clean hit by Whitecloud! Love to see those types of hits still in the game! #everybodyiseligible heads up."

Later, the Leafs ruled out Knies for the rest of the game. Toronto's squad is already missing several players due to injuries like Auston Matthews, David Kampf, Max Domi, Max Pacioretty and Calle Jarnkrok, losing the impressive rookie Knies was another tough blow.

Ryan Reaves is also serving the first game of his five-game suspension for delivering an illegal head hit to Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse. Knies has notched 8 goals and 12 points through his first 20 NHL games.