Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson involuntarily face punched Brian Boyle Thursday after delivering a clean, but humangous big hit to Brian Gibbons in the second period.
Video
Wilson 👊 vs. Boyle 🤛
Stream #CapsDevils live: https://t.co/GYZM39Ms8L pic.twitter.com/OFVDcz4zDa
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) January 19, 2018
First, let’s admire this wonderful kabong of Brian Gibbons.
Wilson delivered the check shoulder to shoulder and, per Craig Laughlin, it wasn’t charging because he stopped skating and glided into the hit.
Here’s one more look.
But oh no, here comes buzzkill Brian Boyle because clean hits are not allowed in this league anymore.
Wilson won the fight handily and even drew an instigator penalty on Boyle. Boyle received two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting, and a ten-minute misconduct in total, while Wilson only got five minutes for fighting.
According to the Capitals PR, Wilson has drawn the second-most penalties in the NHL since the 2013-14 season.
Tom Wilson has drawn two penalties tonight. Wilson has drawn 160 penalties since the 2013-14 season. That's the second-most in the NHL during that time frame (Nazem Kadri: 193).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 19, 2018
Devils head coach John Hynes thought it was friggin’ bullshat that Wilson didn’t get a minor penalty for the initial hit.
Haters gonna hate.
