Wilson still setting tone for Capitals down the stretch
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‘That’s just Tom’s DNA’: Wilson still setting tone for Capitals originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
WASHINGTON — For much of the season, the Capitals missed the physicality and well-rounded scoring threat that Tom Wilson brought to the ice. The right winger sat out the first 42 games recovering from offseason ACL surgery. He returned in late December only for the team to fall out of the playoff race in the second half.
Even with the season winding down now that the Capitals have been eliminated from postseason contention, Wilson has made his presence felt over their last few games, particularly on the physical front. In addition to registering a point on both of their goals in the Capitals’ 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday, he also led the team in hits (four), shots (four) and penalty minutes (four).
“He’s a great player to play with,” Dylan Strome said after the game. “He’s a great guy to have on your team and not a very fun guy to play against. He had some big hits. He turns momentum for us in tons of ways on the ice. He kills penalties and plays on the first power play unit. That’s a good hockey player.”
Some players may struggle to find motivation to play hard at the end of a lost season. Wilson isn’t one of them.
“There’s a pride putting on the jersey every night, playing in the NHL, playing for an organization like this,” Wilson said. “The motivation should be there to go out there and try and win on home ice on Saturday night. They have a bunch of pests over there that make it easy to get up for the game but other than that we just want to win games.”
The Capitals and Panthers have some history; the latter knocked Washington out of the first round of the playoffs last season in a chippy six-game series. Florida was also the team that secured the fateful points Tuesday that mathematically eliminated the Capitals from Wild Card contention. Each of the three games between them this season have been slugfests.
