Tom Wilson has often drawn the focus of the wider NHL during his 13-season career, but usually when he’s actually involved in the game.
During Saturday night’s heated matchup between the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights, which featured a number of dust-ups, Wilson’s name came up at the end of regulation. As the teams were separated, Oilers defenseman Connor Murphy chirped Golden Knights defenseman Rasmus Andersson, mentioning the Capitals winger.
Murphy’s barb was picked up on a hot mic that Sportsnet analyst Louie DeBrusk wears to deliver between-the-benches coverage during Oilers games.
What exactly Murphy says is unclear, other than Wilson’s full name, but Andersson does have a history with Washington’s alternate captain that Murphy could have been referring to.
Last season, Andersson, then a member of the Calgary Flames, and Wilson got involved in a back-and-forth chirp battle throughout the Capitals’ 3-1 victory. The verbal warfare began when Andersson accused Wilson of faking pain to draw a penalty call against one of his Flames teammates.
Later in the game, Andersson was bumped by Wilson and sarcastically held his side, bending over in faux-pain and screaming, “OW! OW! OW!”
Wilson, who joined Andersson in the penalty box after the two received dueling unsportsmanlike conduct infractions, then spent the rest of the game mocking Andersson, notably making fun of how high Andersson tends to wear his helmet on his head.
“I mean, it’s emotions, right?” Andersson said postgame then. “I know he gets triggered by certain stuff. It’s emotions. When you look back at it, it’s all good on my part, at least.
“It’s not the first time we chirp each other. It was pretty quiet until the end. I got him going; he got me going. It worked out for them. It’s all fun, and it’s part of it in my opinion at least.”
Wilson and Murphy also had a run-in earlier this season when Wilson was injured absorbing a counter hit from Murphy when the latter was still with the Chicago Blackhawks.
In terms of the actual game on Saturday night, Andersson and the Golden Knights got the last laugh over Murphy and the Oilers, dominating in a 5-1 win. Oilers forward Trent Frederic told the Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson that a lot of the bickering between the two teams involved, “Everyone telling everyone they make too much money, which is all true.”
The two teams could be on a collision course in the first round of the playoffs if Edmonton cannot hang on to their slim division lead over the Anaheim Ducks.
