Tom Wilson Scores Playoff Hat Trick Against Dale Hunter’s London Knights

April 21, 2013 7:48 pm

Photo credit: Plymouth Whalers

Washington Capitals first-round pick Tom Wilson put up another impressive playoff performance. In game two against regular-season champions the London Knights, Wilson scored three goals and added an assist (unofficially as of right now) as his team won 4-3 in double overtime.

Potential 2013 first-rounder Bo Horvat opened the scoring after winning a puck battle in the corner, giving the Knights a 1-0 lead that they preserved until the end of the first period. Wilson tied the game in the second, holding his stick behind his back to score a wild deflection goal.

Crazy.

The Knights took the lead back thanks to a powerplay snipe by Chris Tierney. Wilson went into beast mode after that, getting more physical as the game wore on. In the second period, he laid this big hit on Horvat.

In the third period, Wilson tied the game, scoring a powerplay goal off a rebound.

Three minutes later, 2013 first-round prospect Max Domi’s powerplay goal put the Knights back on top, but they couldn’t protect that lead. With 44 seconds to go, Wilson again tied the game, goal assisted by another Caps prospect, Connor Carrick.

Early in OT, the Knights had a sizable advantage. The Whalers improved as the first overtime period wore on, getting a few chances late. Whalers goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was tremendous (61 saves in the game). More of the same continued in the second OT. The Whalers killed off four penalties in OT before getting their first man advantage. They took full advantage of it. Gianluca Curcuruto’s shot was stopped, but Wilson stole the rebound again, feeding it to a wide-open Rickard Rakell, who didn’t miss the open net.