Game Three of the Caps and Penguins second-round series had just about everything a hockey fan could want: big saves, epic momentum shifts, and a late game-winning goal. It also had tension. Lots of tension.
Those hard feelings boiled over for the second straight game, as a borderline Tom Wilson hit left a Penguins player injured. While Brian Dumoulin returned Tuesday for Pittsburgh after the Game Two collision that took him out of action, Zach Aston-Reese will not be so lucky.
The forward suffered a concussion and broken jaw on the most discussed play of the game, which will require surgery and most likely end his season.
Unsurprisingly, players and coaches from both sides had a lot to say about the hit. A lot.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was not happy about the league’s inaction on Wilson’s Game Two hit. He was less happy after Game Three, openly pointing the NHL Department of Player Safety towards a suspension.
Sullivan: "We lose a guy to a broken jaw that’s going to require surgery and a concussion because of another high hit to the head. At some point we would hope that the league might do something."
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) May 2, 2018
Sullivan on the Wilson hit: "It’s a high hit. What else can I say? It’s a high hit."
— Sam Werner (@SWernerPG) May 2, 2018
Mike Sullivan says Zach Aston Reese has a broken jaw that will require surgery after the hit from Tom Wilson pic.twitter.com/Sx0aMNy68Z
— Chase Williams WPXI (@chasepwilliams) May 2, 2018
Elsewhere in the Penguins locker room, players took exception to Wilson’s behavior after the hit. Justin Schultz, Kris Letang, and Sidney Crosby all expressed their frustration with the Capitals’ agitator.
Schultz on Wilson laughing: "That’s disrespectful. The guy’s hurt, laying on the ice. Not too good to be laughing at someone like that. We’ll move on here."
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) May 2, 2018
Kris Letang on Tom Wilson: "At the end of the day, I respect what kind of game he plays. But you don’t laugh at somebody getting hurt. You just don’t do that."
— Sam Werner (@SWernerPG) May 2, 2018
Crosby said he didn't see Wilson's hit. Also: "I don’t really have anything to say. What’s there to say anymore?"
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) May 2, 2018
On the other side, though, Capitals coach Barry Trotz echoed what he said to the officials during the game: he thought the hit was clean.
Barry Trotz says he thinks it was a shoulder-to-shoulder hit: "To me, it was a hard hockey hit."
— Sam Werner (@SWernerPG) May 2, 2018
“You can’t be neutral,” Trotz said. “That’s why there’s a neutral party that looks at it. We’ve just said all along that whatever the league decides, we’re good with it.”
He then declined to comment on Aston-Reese’s injury.
“To me, it was a hard hockey hit.” — #Caps Coach Barry Trotz on the controversial Tom Wilson hit on Zach Aston-Reese. Things got a little testy at the end of Trotz’s comments. #CapsPens pic.twitter.com/3if9N1kiy6
— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) May 2, 2018
Wilson was not made available for comment after the game.
A Capitals spokesperson declined a request to speak with Tom Wilson.
— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) May 2, 2018
The Department of Player Safety will certainly look at the hit to decide if it warrants supplemental discipline. But for now, we still can argue: was it clean or not?
Headline photo: @Penguins
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