Monday night, the Washington Capitals defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 at Staples Center. There were some fireworks.
Caps enforcer Tom Wilson had several angry run-ins with opposing players in the third period.
His most assertive confrontation… came with a mascot.
After taking matching unsportsmanlike conduct penalties with Kyle Clifford, Wilson noticed Bailey, the Kings’ lion mascot, sitting beside the penalty box.
Wilson pointed at Bailey, pointed back at his own eyes, and then pointed towards Kyle Clifford in the Kings’ sin bin as if to say your beardy brother from another mother is sitting over there. Wilson appears to say “twins,” perhaps a sarcastic joke at Clifford’s toughness.
So how did Wilson end up in the penalty box? The first-line winger cleared Ilya Kovalchuk out of the crease after he hung out near John Carlson too much for his liking.
Kovalchuk, finding Wilson’s shove unnecessary, yapped at the Caps winger and eventually, Kyle Clifford came to the rescue to try and calm things down.
He failed. Wilson and Clifford exchanged shoves and eventually were ushered to the penalty box where they began a passionate discussion about how much they hated each other.
This continued for several minutes.
Once Ovechkin entered the box after being whistled for tripping 1:43 later, a calmed down Wilson challenged the popular mascot to go hang out with another pride.
Shockingly, Bailey is not the only lion Wilson has had issues with this season. #TopSixTom also has unresolved issues with Ryan Reaves. The Golden Knights enforcer injured Wilson with a late blindside hit in a December 5 game. After VGK’s victory, Reaves said that Wilson “ran into a lion in the jungle.” Reaves would later sign photos of Wilson laying on the ice injured with that quote.
For the record, lions do not live in arenas or jungles. They live in savannas.
Update: Bailey has responded. 🔥
He can’t handle lions https://t.co/gbt6MsbOEy
— Bailey LA Kings (@BaileyLAKings) February 19, 2019
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