Washington Capitals rugged forward Tom Wilson has made his mark on the Eastern Conference first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, and his head coach wouldn’t have it any other way.
Wilson, superstar Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals will look to dispatch the upstart Montreal Canadiens and advance to the conference semifinals on Wednesday when the teams play Game 5 of their series in Washington.
The Capitals won their first two home contests of the best-of-seven series before salvaging a split of the next two games in Montreal, courtesy of a 5-2 decision on Sunday.
Brandon Duhaime tallied twice in the Capitals’ four-goal third period and Dylan Strome and Anthony Beauvillier each contributed to extend their respective point streaks to four games. Strome collected a goal and an assist to give him seven points (two goals, five assists) in the series, while Beauvillier notched an assist to push his total to five points (one goal, four assists).
While Wilson capped the scoring by converting into the empty net, it was his hit on Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier that set up Duhaime’s goal to forge a 2-2 tie early in the third. That changed the momentum of the game, according to Capitals coach Spencer Carbery.
“They just don’t make them like Tom Wilson anymore,” Carbery said, per the Washington Post. “Such a rarity of his combination of physicality — I’m even bringing in his leadership, his competitiveness. There’s just so many qualities, for them all to be in one player, they just don’t make them. They’re not there. They’re not in the league.
“(In Game 4), it’s not a goal. It’s not an assist. It’s not a play. It’s his physicality. … Willy’s hit in the neutral zone there is a good, clean check, and we counter that. We get that puck, and we’re right on the attack right away. It’s a momentum-changing play from a player that — yeah, he’s just a big part of our team, and those are the things that he can do.”
Wilson also can do some other things as we all know. Yes, he often walks the line — and some say he routinely steps over it — in relation to the rules of the game. His skirmish with Montreal’s Josh Anderson at the end of the second period of Game 3 earned him a game misconduct and a $5,000 fine from the NHL.
The Canadiens can’t get sidetracked by Wilson’s antics or any other issues given they have zero margin for error.
“We keep pushing and we believe in the guys we have in the room,” Montreal forward Cole Caufield said. “Now there’s no more losses or the season’s over. We’ve just got to be ready for the next one, try to keep it as simple as possible. We have to stay focused on the next shift and find a way to get the job done.”
Caufield has scored a goal in consecutive games to boost his total to three in the series.
Lane Hutson set up a pair of goals in Game 4 to become the sixth rookie defenseman in NHL history to record at least five assists in his first playoff series.
Sam Montembeault was injured midway through Game 3 and sat out Game 4 in favor of rookie Jakub Dobes, who finished with 21 saves. Montembeault remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
–Field Level Media
