The Washington Capitals are moving on to the next round. The Metropolitan Division winners took down the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 to advance to the second-round. After the game, their forward Tom Wilson took a ‘cheap’ dig at their opponents.
Wilson became the No.1 enemy in the eyes of the Canadiens fans through his actions in this series. In Game 3, he got involved in a massive fight with Josh Anderson at the end of the second period near the Capitals bench.
After the fight, he would make a crying gesture towards Anderson as the Habs man skated towards the locker room. The Canadiens ended up winning that game 6-3 and avoided going 3-0 down.
In the fourth Game of the series, Wilson was once again in the spotlight. With the Caps trailing 2-1 down in the third period, he landed a hit on Alexandre Carrier, which led to the Caps’ leveler. The hit on Carrier from him completely turned the game in their favor and saw them emerge as 5-2 winners and take a 3-1 series lead.
The fifth game saw the Capitals run away as 4-1 winners with both Wilson and captain Alex Ovechkin scoring. While sitting beside “The Great Eight” in the press conference, Wilson took a dig at the Canadiens for their playing style after eliminating them.
We knew that they were going to play kind of cheap and try and get us off our game, so that got crazy at times, but that’s why hockey is so fun, that why we all love the sport, we love playing them, we love competing.
Tom Wilson told the reporters
Tom Wilson shakes hands with Josh Anderson after Capitals series win
The Washington Capitals and the Montreal Canadiens went to a war with each other in the first-round series. The two teams would deliver some big hits in this series. One of the highlights apart from the goals from this series was the huge fight between Tom Wilson and Josh Anderson in Game 3.
The Canadiens had taken a 3-2 lead in the dying moments of the 2nd period. Following the goal, there was some chirping from Arber Xhekaj towards Wilson. As Anderson stepped in on this, he and Wilson would drop the gloves.
The two players would somehow find the way to the Capitals’ bench and continue to brawl there. After exchanging some haymakers in a wild fight, the two would tumble down on the field.
However, things seemed to have cooled down between them after the end of the series. During a line handshake, the two stars were seen happily chatting with each other while appreciating their play. Check out a video regarding this from X below:
Capitals clinch first playoff series win since 2018
The Washington Capitals booked their place in the second-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a comprehensive win in Game 5. The 4-1 series win against the Montreal Canadiens turned out to be their first playoff series win since lifting the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Since the triumph in the 2017-18 season, the Caps have not enjoyed a good time in the playoffs. They have been eliminated in the first round 5 out of the 6 times they qualified for the playoffs.
Last year, they were the last team to qualify for the playoffs. They ended up getting swept 4-0 by the New York Rangers on that occasion.
This season, the Caps were the first team to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Their captain, Alex Ovechkin, turned back the clock and finally broke the goal-scoring record of Wayne Gretzky while leading this team out on the field.
The Capitals will now turn their attention towards the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round. The Canes eliminated the New Jersey Devils 4-1 and booked their place in the next round.
