Tom Wilson and Garnet Hathaway were teammates for the better part of four seasons (2019-2023) on the Washington Capitals, forming a one-two punch, sometimes literally, with their physicality on the ice.
Friday, however, Wilson and Hathaway used their sandpapery-ness against each other, exchanging punches in a wild fracas that left Wilson seated on his rear.
“Friends turned enemies,” Monumental Sports Network’s Joe Beninati observed during the telecast.
The melee began at the 7:39 mark of the third period as the two spoke to an official before a faceoff. (And yes, you’re getting a very nuanced recap of what happened because you deserve it.)
Wilson appeared to draw Hathaway’s ire as he held the blade of his stick up near the Flyers forward’s face. Hathaway showed his displeasure by giving a hard one-handed slash to Wilson’s right leg. The 2018 Stanley Cup champion then returned fire with a slash to the back. Hathaway, now steaming, skated over to confront Wilson. And that’s when the two began exchanging huge gloved punches.
Hathaway seemingly not wanting to exchange bombs with one of the most feared heavyweights in hockey utilized a judo throw to send Wilson to the ice. This is when Alex Ovechkin entered the chat, climbing up Hathaway’s back and applying a partial headlock to hold him back. Wilson eventually got up and tackled Hathaway to the ice. That’s where things ended.
My favorite part of the fight actually had nothing to do with any of that. It was Hendrix Lapierre and Ryan Poehling putting their arms around each other to get a front-row seat to the violence.
Despite several brutal punches being thrown, Wilson and Hathaway were only issued double-minors for roughing (4:00) possibly due to them keeping their gloves on. If officials ruled the fight was worthy of a major penalty, both players would have been ejected and issued a game misconduct due to NHL rule 46.9.
46.9 – Fighting Other Than During the Periods of the Game
Any teams whose players become involved in an altercation, other than during the periods of the game, shall be fined pursuant to 46.19, in addition to any other appropriate penalties that may be imposed upon the participating players by supplementary discipline or otherwise. Players involved in fighting other than during the periods of the game shall be assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct. Should one player be deemed the instigator of the fight, the game misconduct shall not be assessed to his opponent. Any player who would be deemed to be an instigator pursuant to this rule at a time other than during the periods of the game shall be
suspended pursuant to 46.19.
The tough love from Wilson was not the only gift Hathaway got from the Capitals. The team honored Hathaway with a tribute video during the first TV timeout of the game.
The team set the highlight package to Haddaway’s “What is Love”, inspiring Hathaway to do the SNL head bob.
The game marked Hathaway’s first game back at Capital One Arena since being traded to the Boston Bruins at last year’s trade deadline.
“The year has gone by pretty quick,” Hathaway said. “It’s nice to be back, though.”
