(The view from the other side of the rink...jtf)
December 19, 2018
Tom Wilson fights with Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak (6) in the first period. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)
Tom Wilson’s gloves came off almost immediately, but Jamie Oleksiak — all 6-foot-7, 255 pounds of Jamie Oleksiak — may have hit the ice before those mitts did. If this was the NHL of the 1980s, Wilson could have been a great goon. The right cross he threw to Oleksiak’s chin was the best punch thrown in Washington sports this week – and if you’ve seen the video of Redskins safety Montae Nicholson, that’s saying something.
Keep in mind what happened Wednesday night, because what happens between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins always seems to be kept in mind – even if months pass, even if the Stanley Cup changes hands. Wilson, engaged in a mutually agreed-upon fight with Oleksiak not a minute into the game, clobbered Oleksiak into 2019. The Penguins punched back with an absolutely absorbing 2-1 victory.
“A lot of things were said, probably, over the course of time in between the last game he played against them and this one,” Caps Coach Todd Reirden said.
“Right when we looked at each other,” Wilson said, “it was on.”
Oh, for it to be April again. It seems impossible these two won’t meet for a — get this — fourth straight year in the playoffs. The winner of the previous three series has won the Stanley Cup. A re-re-rematch seems only appropriate, because this had what everything you wanted – two pucks, dancing on the goal-line, shots from the Caps that would have tied it in the third, pucks swiped away by Pittsburgh as the arena threatened explosion, then sucked it back in.
And if – no, sorry, when – these two rivals face each other in the spring, expect Wilson to be dead-front-and-center. In the play. In the discussion. In the controversy. In the brawls. And – don’t forget this – in the scoring.
“I think Willy, as a player, probably doesn’t get enough credit for what he brings,” Washington forward Lars Eller said.
Depends on the home Zip code of the person you’re asking. People in Washington know this, but it gets lost around hockey. The problem with distilling Wilson into an old-school goon: He’s too good. Too strong. Too smart. Too deft with his hands. To the rest of the league, he’s – pick your insult, but make sure it’s printable – a thug, a Neanderthal, a hoodlum. To the people who fill Capital One Arena to see the Stanley Cup champions, he’s a gorgeous leader, the present and the future of the Capitals all rolled into one.
The Caps’ goal Wednesday: It was scored by Eller, who needed it. But it was set up by Wilson, with a feathery soft pass on a two-on-one breakaway. Because of injury and suspension, Wilson has played in just 14 games this year. He has 16 points.
That’s a goon? It’s just not.
“Willy can do a lot of things,” Eller said. “His game has definitely grown a lot this season. It already grew a lot, I think, last season and in the playoffs. But he’s taken another step this year, and it’s good for our team.”
That’s all true. But here’s the other thing: Where Pittsburgh is concerned, there’s always lingering issues concerning Wilson. Because Wilson was suspended for the first two matchups between these two rivals, this was his first chance to face Pittsburgh since last May. That was, of course, when Wilson issued a hit to Zach Aston-Reese that left the Penguins’ rookie with a broken jaw and saddled Wilson with a three-game suspension – during the playoffs.
Seriously, we’re carrying grudges about events from more than seven months ago. That’s so great. It’s what rivalries that last years are built on, actual animosity. Remember what Pittsburgh General Manager Jim Rutherford said in the wake of Wilson’s hit on Aston-Reese?
“When Jamie challenged Wilson,” Rutherford told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette during last year’s playoffs, “he couldn’t run quick enough to get away from him.”
Um, Jim, how to put this? No. No, that’s not right.
“He’s a smart guy,” Reirden said. “He understands the situation.”
So he understood, even with the intensity of a well-played game, that he might be asked to fight.
“If there’s extracurriculars, we’ll handle it,” Wilson said at Wednesday morning’s skate. “At the end of the day, that’s hockey.”
Well, it’s not really hockey anymore, not like it once was. But where’s Wilson to go? He can’t run players into the boards, because the line is so, so fine. As a repeat offender, he’ll be scrutinized – and, eventually, penalized and suspended and fined – more heavily than almost any player in the league.
So maybe what’s left is for Wilson to go back to embracing fighting, because if he does that, he’s only penalized in the game – not in the pocketbook and, more importantly, not by missing time. It’s not a good way to live for anyone’s long-term health – not Wilson’s and, clearly by looking a the exchange with Oleksiak, not for his opponents.
I’m not endorsing a return to the NHL’s old brawling ways. But the point is: Wilson can’t just finish his checks as retaliation. Sometimes, he has to drop the gloves.
“I read the stuff that’s said after last season leading up to it,” Wilson said, “so I think it probably had to be done sooner or later.”
Turns out it was sooner. What followed in the next 59 minutes was a fabulous hockey game, as we have come to expect from these two teams, whether it’s Christmas or Easter. The Caps got five power-play chances and converted on none of them. The Pens got four and snuck one past Braden Holtby – by Sidney Crosby, of course. And that’s about the whole of it. Fun times in Chinatown. See you again March 12 in Pittsburgh – and again in the playoffs.
When those matchups happen again, we’ll focus on Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, because they’re the two best players of their generation and they have defined this rivalry for more than a decade.
But when they meet again, Tom Wilson will be out there, in the center of it. He will floor an opponent or feather a pass. He will take derision from the opposition and the media and spit it back. Wednesday night, he won his fight and the Caps lost their game. But these Penguins, they’ll be back for Tom Wilson again. And Wilson will be right there, ready to go, whether the gloves stay on or need to be dropped.
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