Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson has had several vicious fights during his career, including, most recently, bouts with Blake Coleman and Jamie Oleksiak.
The Caps enforcer’s latest fight, a 20-second, one-sided pummeling of Ian Cole, came after the Avalanche defenseman delivered a headshot to star center Evgeny Kuznetsov. The Avalanche say that Cole, who was bleeding from multiple gashes from his head, is out indefinitely with a broken orbital bone according to The Denver Post’s Mike Chambers.
Monday morning, ahead of the Caps’ back-to-backs with the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets, Wilson spoke to DC101’s Elliot Segal of Elliot In The Morning and commented on the Cole fight.
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“I just saw the (Cole) hit out of the corner of my eye,” Wilson said. “You want to stand up for your teammates and Kuzy’s one of our guys. [I] don’t like seeing a guy go down. If you can go up there and stand up for a guy and settle [the game down] a little bit — I guess a good offense there is a good defense in that kind of fight.”
Wilson noted that he found Cole’s injury unfortunate.
“You’re throwing and you never want to see a guy (injured) afterward,” Wilson said. “Hockey’s a tough sport. I think if you’ve played a long time you’ve been on both ends of it. You’ve been hurt and it’s no fun.
“I think there’s a good understanding in the game of hockey that what happens on the ice happens on the ice,” Wilson continued. “I think most guys can shake each other’s hands after the game and put that behind them. But you never wanna see a guy get hurt. That’s no fun.”
Last May, Wilson was criticized on social media after Zach Aston-Reese told Penguins media that the Caps winger never reached out to him after breaking his jaw with an illegal check to the head.
“You know I said to a couple of the Pittsburgh guys ‘I hope Zach’s feeling better’ and stuff like that,” Wilson said, “but it happens and you never like to see that.”
Segal asked Wilson if he had talked to Cole since the fight.
“I don’t know him at all, which is kinda rare in the hockey world it’s pretty small,” Wilson said. “I haven’t ever crossed paths or talked to him. I don’t really have any means of doing that.”
Cole had not missed a game all season until the Wilson fight.
Here are some other interesting topics discussed during the interview.
On Andre Burakovsky’s recent improved play:
Tom Wilson: “I think it’s a tough league and sometimes goals don’t come easy and points don’t come easy. That can wear on you as a player. You just have to stay even keel and keep trying do the right things and play good hockey. Hopefully, they start to go in and I was happy for Burky to pick up a couple points. He definitely played a good solid game all around which was good to see.”
On the Capitals’ recent seven-game losing streak:
Tom Wilson: “I think that was accurate what O (Ovechkin) was saying. You just felt a little tired, a little slow, and that can kind of trickle through a team as well. If as a group collectively you’re just a little bit (fatigued) or whatever, it can snowball. We started chasing the game and we were trying really hard, but it wasn’t working. Sometimes a [bye week] like that can help refocus and recharge the batteries a little bit, come back and get together after the break and make a push here is what you need.”
On the Caps’ 12-day road trip:
Tom Wilson: “It’s probably one of the longest ones I’ve been on in my career and fun to get on the road with the guys but maybe a bit kind of bigger (deal) than normal.”
On fact that they’re going from LA to Buffalo:
Tom Wilson: “You gotta pack a big winter coat and then maybe a bathing suit and some shorts. You’re going to hit the pool or whatever in Anaheim. It’s a tricky one for sure. It’s also tough when you can’t even see the forecast for when you’re going to be in Toronto and Buffalo at the other end of the spectrum, it’s so long to forecast at this point. I guess I just pack cold and warm and just have fun with it. Hopefully, have a good trip.”
Transcription by Julia Karron
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong
