Former Capitals head coach Adam Oates once described Tom Wilson as a “man child.” Back then, the 6-foot 4-inch Wilson was a talented, baby-faced teenager and had a physicality that few in the NHL could match. Now, years later, Wilson is one of the best power forwards in the league and is somehow even more intimidating, fully growing into his frame after adding 26 pounds of muscle since his draft year.
On Wednesday against the Penguins, Wilson’s full array of skills were on display. The Toronto native scored a goal on consecutive shifts in the first period – one on a wrister that overpowered Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith and the second going five-hole while crashing the net. Wilson also had one of the biggest hits of the game after putting Jared McCann in the spin cycle.
OOOOOOF.#ALLCAPS Tom Wilson hit on #LetsGoPens Jared McCann pic.twitter.com/KpQvHfTteJ
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@HeresYourReplay) January 20, 2021
As McCann tried to reel in a pass on the wing, Wilson landed a hit to the Penguins forward’s shoulder, spinning him around in a full circle before plopping to the ice.
🍑 too powerful pic.twitter.com/XMcOn2KocC
— HockeyKot (@hockeykot) January 20, 2021
Wilson hit McCann so hard that he sent him into an unintentional salchow.
Not only was Wilson’s beefy bodycheck impressive, but it also jarred the puck loose and went directly to Dmitry Orlov.
It’s just another highlight-reel play for Wilson who’s had a bunch of them already this season. Through four games, Wilson has five points, which ties him for the team-lead with Alex Ovechkin. He has the most goals on the team (3). He also has the second-most hits in the NHL (22).
RMNB Coverage of Caps at Penguins
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
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