Tom Wilson is frustrated after being a part of two controversial calls in consecutive games.
In Thursday’s matchup against the Montreal Canadiens, Wilson was issued 17 penalty minutes after fighting Michael Pezzetta and receiving a rarely-called instigator penalty. Two days later, Givani Smith threw a punch at Wilson from the Panthers’ bench after his shift had already ended. When Wilson responded from the ice, the two earned matching minors to keep the game at even strength.
“You know what? Honestly, I don’t really know what’s going on like rules-wise,” Wilson said. “The other night, I ask a guy to fight, I square up and get 17 minutes. I get punched from the bench on a line change and we kill three consecutive penalties. It’s tough.”
Wilson’s instigator penalty came after he skated out of the way to approach Michael Pezzetta after a big hit on Nic Dowd. Pezzetta was a willing combatant and the two stood at the ready before throwing punches near-simultaneously.
Though Pezzetta was all too happy to join the fight, Wilson was forced out of nearly a third of the game while the Capitals were already down one forward.
Even Pezzetta himself was confused with the call.
“I was surprised that [Wilson] got an instigator penalty, maybe,” he said of the call. “Obviously, I wasn’t mad, they had 11 forwards and he was on the first line, so I took him out for 17 minutes. I’ll take that exchange all day. Yeah, I guess it’s just a new rule; they’re trying to take away fighting after clean hits.”
NHL GMs discussed changing the rules for fights after clean hits at their annual meeting in March, but ultimately declined to do so. Still, it appears that enforcement may have changed on the ice regardless.
Saturday night, Wilson also got the short end of the stick when Givani Smith hit him from the Panthers’ bench. Wilson retaliated, and the officials decided to give both two-minute roughing penalties.
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Wilson was visibly incensed as he was led to the penalty box, arguing with Smith through the linesman. Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette, meanwhile, appeared furious as he yelled at the officiating staff from behind the bench.
Though Wilson could deserve some blame for retaliating, he did not begin the altercation, nor did he commit an infraction from the bench. After the game, he expressed his surprise at both Smith’s behavior and the officials’ response.
“Honestly, that was the first time [I’ve ever been punched from the bench],” he said. “I don’t know what the rule is. I thought if you get punched from the bench off the ice it’s probably a game misconduct. We go four-on-four, and then we kill two or three penalties, I don’t know what it was, for the rest of the period.
“It was obviously a big game for them but we’re still trying to win games. That was a little frustrating. It’s never happened. I maybe should not have reacted but if you get punched from the bench, you kind of react with the territory.”
Laviolette harshly criticized the officials’ decision to award matching minors postgame.
“That’s just the wrong call,” he said. “Wrong call. If we’re allowed to start doing that then all hell will break loose out there and then having matching penalties, so wrong call.”
Rather than criticize Wilson for taking too many penalties, Laviolette made a point to praise Wilson’s recent play.
“Tom in his DNA and his nature, he plays the game hard, he plays the game physical,” Laviolette said. “We count on him for a lot of different things including penalty kill, physicality, toughness, offense. We count on him for a lot of different things.
“He seems to have gotten better the more he’s played. The more natural and comfortable he seems getting away from the injury he had at the beginning of the year.”
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
