The NHL’s Department of Player Safety tendered Washington Capitals’ right wing Tom Wilson an opportunity to explain his actions.
The DPS on Saturday morning issued a statement on Twitter that read “Washington’s Tom Wilson has been offered an in-person hearing via Zoom for boarding Boston’s Brandon Carlo.” Representatives scheduled Wilson for an interview on Saturday night but are expected to render an edict at a later date.
This would not be Wilson’s first appearance before the tribunal entrusted by the NHL to police the game. Wilson drew a 20-game suspension for a blow to the head of Blues’ forward Oskar Sundqvist during an exhibition game on Oct. 3, 2018. The ruling was later reduced to 14 games by an arbitrator.
At least the DPS referred to it as “boarding,” which is a lot more than referees Dean Morton and Pierre Lambert saw because no penalty was called. In a play Bruins’ coach Bruce Cassidy described as a “predatory” hit, Wilson delivered a blow to Carlo’s head during a scrum along the Boston end boards at 1:18 of the first.
Carlo was battling Capitals right wing Jakub Vrana for a loose puck when Wilson came in high and blindsided a defenseless preoccupied player. Carlo dropped to the ice on all fours, where he took a cross-check from Vrana to the back of the neck.
Carlo was transferred to a local hospital where, according to Cassidy, he was examined overnight and released. Cassidy offered no medical specifics on the case.
“He got released from the hospital this morning,” said Cassidy following the Bruins practice Saturday at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton. “He’s back home and hasn’t been to the rink obviously and that’s all I got from the trainers this morning.”
The Bruins’ response was twofold. They came out in the second period and scored three goals en route to a 5-1 victory. Defenseman Jarred Tinordi, who was claimed off waivers from Nashville on Feb. 27, threw down and engaged Wilson in a heavyweight slugfest at 6:12 of the second period.
Bruins’ rookie left wing Trent Frederic took a shot at Wilson at 1:12 of the third, but got an instigator minor and 10-minute misconduct tacked on to his fighting major.
“It was not a surprise to me, we are built that way and we have talked about that with the leadership group and the expectations because there is a standard here,” said Cassidy. “I was happy to see it and the new guy who had only been here a week stepped right up and joined in on that.
“Obviously that was in his DNA before he got here. But being around the guys, he realized that this is how we do business the best that we can.”
Terrier connection
The loss of Carlo had ramifications both during the game and in the Bruins’ preparation for Sunday’s encounter with the New Jersey Devils at the TD Garden.
Cassidy had to reconfigure his back line with the Bruins’ dominant stay-at-home defenseman seeing stars on the way to the emergency room.
Cassidy bucked the conventional wisdom and aligned puck-movers Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk on the first unit. The pair, who played a single season together at Boston University under New York Rangers coach David Quinn, were credited with two of the finest setups of the season.
McAvoy gave Boston a 2-0 lead at 6:43 of the second when he got the puck at the right point. McAvoy faked a slapper through a screen and fed Frederic, who effortlessly redirected it behind Caps’ goalie Vitek Vanecek.
Grzelcyk made a similar move from the left point. He waded into the circle and made a cross-slot feed to Brad Marchand, who flicked home his second of the contest at 14:58 of the second. At the home end, McAvoy and Grzelcyk did a good job keeping the Capitals’ first line of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Conor Sheary off the scoring summary.
“There is a school of thought where you separate puck-movers and put them with defenders to balance things out,” said Cassidy.
“I feel having two puck-movers together that read off each other well probably means you are going to have transition plays and breakouts you ordinarily don’t get because it is hard for one guy to do it himself.”
With both Carlo and Kevan Miller on the shelf, the Bruins’ rearguard is minus two physical right-handed shooters. Jeremy Lauzon, who shoots from the left side, is out with a fractured wrist.
Sorry, Charlie
Center Charlie Coyle’s recent exile to the COVID-19 protocol was caused by an inconclusive test that resulted in a misdiagnosis.
Coyle missed Wednesday night’s series-opener against the Caps in quarantine despite showing no symptoms of the coronavirus. After three consecutive negative tests, Coyle resumed his duties on the third line with Frederic and Craig Smith. He skated 20 shifts and logged 18:45 of ice time with two shots and a credited hit.
“I had a false positive when I got my test back before the pregame skate,” said Coyle. “For some reason I tested positive but I don’t really know how it works.
“I got a negative back later that night and I had to get two more negatives to come back. That’s the way the league does it and it was unfortunate I missed a game. But it could have been worse, I could have been doing 10 days.”
