Tom Wilson was one of the main heroes in the Washington Capitals’ first-round playoff series victory over the Montreal Canadiens. The 31-year-old winger asserted himself physically on the Habs, getting into a bench brawl with Josh Anderson and throwing a series-changing hit on defenseman Alexandre Carrier.
Wilson, who also chipped in five points (2g, 3a) in the five-game series, will now look to have the same impact for the Caps in their second-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are a familiar opponent for the Capitals, being division rivals. They also knocked the Caps out of the first round of the 2019 playoffs with an overtime win in Game 7.
“We know them well, obviously,” Wilson said Saturday. “It would be nice to get another crack at them from a few years back, but they compete really hard. You know what you’re going to get from them. You’re going to get their all, and they’re all-out work ethic. So, we’re going to have to dictate the play and worry about our game, and make sure that we’re really focused and dialed in because there’s not going to be a lot of time and space.”
The two teams split their regular-season series 2-2, which at times got very physical and saw emotions boil over. The Capitals took the last game of the regular-season series 5-4 in a shootout on April 10, their lone good five-on-five effort of the four games against Carolina.
Overall, at five-on-five, the Caps saw just 36.5 percent of shot attempts, 43.3 percent of expected goals, and 43 percent of scoring chances against the Hurricanes this season. Carolina also did a good job against Wilson individually, limiting him to just one goal in the four games.
“We’re obviously very familiar with them,” Wilson said. “Everyone’s familiar with everyone these days. It seems like there’s so much video and there’s so much scouting that goes into it all. Obviously, the emotions are there already because of what went down the last couple games. Those were high-compete, high-energy games, and it’s a rival. It’s a divisional opponent.
“They’ve been a measuring stick in this division for a long time. Obviously, the Caps franchise has been the same, so you’re going to have two really fast, big teams in the East going at it. I think it’s going to be high-paced, physical, detailed hockey.”
After the Capitals eliminated the Canadiens in the first round, the Hurricanes are one of only three teams (Red Wings, Panthers) in the East that the Caps have never defeated in a playoff series. The 2019 series between the two teams, which came a year after the Caps won the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, is the lone time the two sides have squared off in a postseason.
Wilson is slated to start the series still on the team’s second line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Connor McMichael. Head coach Spencer Carbery used the trio to combat Montreal’s top offensive players and could look to do the same against Carolina’s first line of Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Jackson Blake.
The Capitals’ alternate captain and Aho already had a heated run-in earlier this year when the Hurricanes forward slashed Wilson’s leg in an early April game. The confrontation devolved further throughout the contest, eventually leading to 120 penalty minutes and eight misconducts. A furious Wilson screamed, among other things, “Who’s going to protect you?” at Aho from the Capitals’ bench.
