When luck isn’t in your favor, anything can go wrong. At a time when the Capitals are high-flying and putting on dominant displays, their star, Tom Wilson, has been on the receiving end of some less than good news. After winning the opening two games against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Capitals went down 6-3 in front of a highly energized crowd at the Bell Centre. But despite retaining a 2-1 series advantage, Wilson has found himself in some disciplinary trouble yet again.

During the second period, the Canadiens’ Josh Anderson and Wilson got into a fight, trading blows with each other. Subsequently, both were fined, with the NHL Player Safety’s official X handle announcing, “Washington’s Tom Wilson has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for unsportsmanlike conduct during last night’s game against Montreal.” In a separate post, NHL Player Safety confirmed that Anderson had also been fined the same amount. But in Wilson’s case, this isn’t anything new or surprising; it’s hardly the first time in the NHL that Wilson had received a penalty for his actions. Over the course of his career, he has been penalized on 10 occasions, with his total fine in the league amounting to more than $12,000.

Back in 2015, Wilson received the first of his fines in the NHL for diving/embellishment against Zach Parise of the Wild. On that occasion, the Capitals star was handed a penalty of $2,000. Additionally, he has also received the maximum fine before in the game against the Rangers in 2021. Wilson was fined $5,000 for roughing Pavel Buchnevich. Apart from the monetary penalties, Wilson has also received numerous game suspensions during the course of his career.

As the game began on a competitive note, the scores were leveled at 1-1 after the first period. However, in the second period, things began to tilt in the Canadiens’ favor, and the tension was felt in the Capitals’ dugout. As a result, tempers blew up and Wilson ended up in a scuffle with Anderson. Later, the Capitals’ coach, Spencer Carbery, opened up about the unfortunate incident.

Carbery comes to the defense of Tom Wilson

With an evenly-contested game to begin with, there was hardly anything to separate the players. However, Wilson didn’t have the best of games and vented his frustration while being on the bench. Later, Carbery revealed that the emotions got the better of Wilson in a strongly contested game like this.

He said, “I was on my way to walk across the ice . . . so then I had to reverse my course and head back, because there was two large individuals coming through the door that I was trying to exit. It was just two competitive teams, two competitive guys going at it.”

Similarly, Anderson, who was involved in the incident, defended his actions, saying, “Things escalated, got out of control there a little bit. At the end of the day, you’re just trying to stick up for your teammates.”

With the Canadiens making a strong comeback, the tie keeps on getting more interesting. The next game takes place tomorrow, and the Canadiens would look to win that and level the score against the Capitals.