Montreal's Tomas Plekanec Suspended 2 Games for Slew Foot

In the second period of Wednesday's Montreal-Edmonton game, Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec was handed a two-minute minor for tripping Denis Grebeshkov. As you can see from the video, it not only appears to be a trip, but the always dangerous slew foot maneuver.

The NHL apparently agrees, as it has announced Plekanec will be suspended two games without pay.

Grebeshkov suffered a high-ankle sprain on the play, and is expected to be out of the lineup for at least two weeks.

Just because it must be pointed (again): Knocking a player out of the lineup for two weeks (at least) with a dangerous, dirty maneuver ... two games. Make an off-color sex joke about your ex-girlfriend ... six games.

Crazy.

On the plus side, I'm actually somewhat relieved that Plekanec received some discipline for this, because I was getting ready to ask why he received only two minutes for knocking Grebeshkov out of the game, while on the same night Ottawa's Jason Smith was handed 16 minutes in penalties (a triple-minor and a 10-minute misconduct) for his hit on Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta.

There's no YouTube of Smith's hit, but if you advance to the 23-minute mark of this highlight from TSN, you can see it.

Granted, Smith hits Kaleta from behind, but as Pierre McGuire points out from between the benches, he clearly lets up and avoids risking serious injury on Kaleta.

Should a penalty have been called? Absolutely.

Should he have been issued 16 minutes in penalties? Absolutely not.