Kevin Fiala is fitting right in with his new teammates. He’s even showing off his stick skills — some of which don’t require a puck.
Fiala returned a lost stick to Minnesota Wild teammate Anthony Bitetto. More impressive, he used his stick to flip Bitetto’s up into the air.
While it was impressive, it’s also totally illegal.
According to Rule 10.3:
A player who has lost or broken his stick may receive a replacement stick by having one handed to him from his own players’ bench; by having one handed to him by a teammate on the ice; or, by picking up his own unbroken stick or that of a teammate’s from the ice.
A player will be penalized if he throws, tosses, slides or shoots a stick to a teammate on the ice, or if he picks up and plays with an opponent’s stick. A player may not participate in the play using a goalkeeper’s stick. A minor penalty shall be imposed for an infraction of this rule.
No call was made on the play by referees Graham Skilliter and Chris Lee.
This isn’t the first time players have gotten away with the impressive-yet-illegal stick flip. Sidney Crosby pulled it off in 2015. So did Minnesota’s Luke Kunin back in December.
