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Tom Wilson nearly knocks out Brendan Smith in fight with two big uppercuts

By Ian Oland

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March 28, 2022 11:39 pm

Tom Wilson pummeled Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brendan Smith in a brutal fight late in the Caps’ blowout loss to the Canes.

In the two teams’ last game, Smith injured Nic Dowd, decked Tom Wilson with a counter hit, and sent Evgeny Kuznetsov hard into the boards.

Smith could be seen on replays yapping at Wilson from the Hurricanes bench, looking to fight the Capitals winger, after the two were separated by officials on a previous shift.

The two dropped the gloves minutes later in the third period. It did not look like a fun time for Big Boy Brendan.

Wilson won the fight handily. Tom ultimately got the victory at the end via two huge uppercuts at the end of the fight.

Smith bled from the nose after the bout while Wilson had cuts opened up on the knuckles of his left hand. While Smith was in the penalty box, NBC Sports Washington showed two Capitals fans taunting the Canes defender. One fan clasped his hands together and put them on the side of his head, suggesting Smith was put to sleep by Wilson.

Smith’s fight with Wilson comes two weeks after returning from a fractured skull. The 33-year-old veteran blocked a shot and said hearing in his left ear had not fully returned as of mid-March.

Wilson and Smith have a history that predates Smith’s time in Carolina. The defenseman played for the New York Rangers last season and fought Wilson two nights after The Horrifying Act of Violence game, where Wilson started a line brawl. Rangers fans were critical of Wilson for punching Pavel Buchnevich from behind while defenseless on the ice and throwing superstar Artemi Panarin off his back.

“To be honest, once my career is over, there’ll be more info that will come to fruition about the whole incident,” Smith said after the season. “All I can say at the moment is that I personally wish the league handled it a little bit differently. I think that we had to take care of our superstars 100 percent and then it wouldn’t have hit the fan like it did.”

Wilson and Smith were both given matching majors for fighting.

Wilson scored the Capitals only goal in the 6-1 thrashing, depositing a Dmitry Orlov blocked shot into the yawning net.

For Wilson, the tally was his 21st goal of the season. He narrowly missed out on his first career Gordie Howe hat trick after not registering an assist on another goal.

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