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No intent to injure in my opinion. However a slew foot is an automatic match penalty. And that might be close enough. Highly inconsistent to other calls though. Should have been a 2 minute tripping or interference call in my opinion.
Also I am fairly certain you can hear Marchand laughing in the background somewhere when the penalty is called.
I'm in agreement ~~but a slew foot is not an automatic match penalty.~~
~~A Match penalty, at the discretion of the referee, based on the degree of violence of impact (including the impact with the ice) may be assessed to any player who slew-foots an opponent~~.
~~A Match penalty will be assessed to any player who injures an opponent by a slew-footing infraction that would otherwise call for a double Minor penalty.~~
~~ref~~
Edit - My bad -
According to the NHL rulebook:
Rule 52 – Slew-footing 52.1 Slew-footing - Slew-footing is the act of a player using his leg or foot to knock or kick an opponent’s feet from under him, or pushes an opponent’s upper body backward with an arm or elbow, and at the same time with a forward motion of his leg, knocks or kicks the opponent’s feet from under him, causing him to fall violently to the ice. 52.2 Match Penalty - Any player who is guilty of slew-footing shall be assessed a match penalty.
However, I might be missing something or it could be that the rules vary between leagues.
That's the Hockey Canada rulebook, not the NHL rulebook.
Intent to injure is for sure a stretch, but no doubt about the slew foot. Is match penalty an appropriate penalty for this? I know it can be dangerous, but it seems a 5min major would be adequate.