Home / News / Tom Wilson on his overtime goal: ‘I just didn’t want to have to go in the shootout so I figured we’d end it there’

Tom Wilson on his overtime goal: ‘I just didn’t want to have to go in the shootout so I figured we’d end it there’

By Ian Oland

 4 Comments

September 17, 2019 10:05 am

Tom Wilson wore the A and was effectively the Capitals captain during the team’s first preseason game of the year. And he made a very important executive decision during overtime. Tied 3-3, Wilson went on a skate and determined it was time for everyone to go home.

After flying through neutral and gaining the O, Wilson peeled around Blackhawks forward Dylan Sikura and deposited the puck past Colin Delia for an emphatic game-winning goal 2:35 into the extra session.

“Just basic wide drive through to the net,” Wilson said nonchalantly of his tally. Then he smiled. “I just didn’t want to have to go in the shootout so I figured we’d end it there.”

Video

The power move to the net was another breathless example of the first-line right wing’s burgeoning skillset and just how big, strong, and fast he has become.

It also showed off Wilson’s situational awareness. Sikura, one of the Blackhawks’ skill forwards, was guarding him during three-on-three overtime where there’s a lot of extra ice to be had. Wilson put his shoulder down, deked the puck back onto his forehand, and beat Delia to the post.

It was a veteran move for the 25-year-old forward who’s entering his seventh season in the NHL. Before the game, Capitals head coach Todd Reirden named Wilson the alternate captain, the only one for the team on the night. In the past, former coach Barry Trotz hinted Wilson could be future captain material someday. “I just see the young man growing as a leader,” Trotz once said. “He’s got leadership skills.”

“I’m still pretty young,” Wilson said, smiling when asked if he was one of the elder statesmen on the team. “But around here (I have) to keep some guys accountable, like you just saw there, with the bag.”

The chirpy forward messed with one of his teammate’s bags in the locker room before the interview began.

“It’s good. It was a fun night,” Wilson said. “We were loose in the room, but I think we were good with our details and that’s what this is about.”

He then praised his young teammates, many of which, like Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, and Joe Snively, were playing in their first NHL games, Monday night.

“They played unbelievable,” Wilson said. “I’d go down the list but I’d be scared to leave somebody out because there was so many that played well. They carried us for the most part. Obviously, Prots and McMichael, they all had pretty strong games. Every year, you come out and play the preseason games. The last couple years, it’s been a team that has been pretty much established and tough for young guys [to make] but it says a lot for them to make the jobs difficult on the coaches because they were our best players tonight.”

Wilson turning honest added, “My first shift, I had to smack myself. I was like, ‘we’re in a real game, it’s not a scrimmage anymore.'”

By his last shift of the night, Tom was in midseason form. The A emblazoned on his jersey perhaps a sign of what’s to come.

Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington

,