Tom Wilson's hip caught Juraj Slafkovsky in the head tonight, right after a legal Ivan Miroshnichenko hit had already sent the Canadiens forward off balance.
Officials reviewed the sequence. Miroshnichenko's hit was clean, but Slafkovsky lost his balance and Wilson's follow-up contact landed squarely on his head.
The Canadiens winger looked dazed, and tempers flared right away. The good news: he returned to the game and appears to be okay.
The play could still land in front of the Department of Player Safety. Direct head contact usually draws a look, even when it seems accidental.
Was it accidental? Wilson didn't appear to go looking for the hit, but he also didn't make much effort to avoid it.
That's where his reputation comes in. He has always played right on the edge, and plays like this get judged through that lens whether it's fair or not.
Martin St-Louis' Canadiens and Spencer Carbery's Capitals let tempers boil
Slafkovsky, 22, carries a $7,600,000 cap hit and has three points in six games. Montreal can't afford to lose a young power forward to a play like this.
Wilson, 32, carries a $6,540,000 cap hit and has five points this season. Losing him to a suspension would hurt a Capitals team already searching for consistency.
Spencer Carbery had already criticized his team for "crazy decisions at bad times" after Sunday's loss to Seattle.
Expect a review, but not a suspension. The contact was ugly and Wilson should have done more to avoid it, but accidental hip contact after a clean hit rarely draws a ban.
It's like getting rear-ended right after a fender-bender. The first one wasn't anyone's fault, but the second one feels like it could have been avoided.
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The Canadiens host Buffalo on Saturday, while the Capitals host New Jersey that afternoon.
Whether the league lets this one go will show how much benefit of the doubt Wilson still gets.
Should Tom Wilson face supplemental discipline for the contact on Juraj Slafkovsky?
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