Capitals forward Tom Wilson, who was once again at the center of a controversial scuffle against the Rangers this week, said he reached out to Artemi Panarin after ending the Blueshirts’ star winger’s season prematurely in the incident.
In his first interview since the now-infamous scrum — in which he punched Pavel Buchnevich in the back of the head and rag-dolled Panarin — Wilson said he is ready to move on from the most talked-about tussle in hockey in a while.
Wilson was only fined $5,000 for roughing Buchnevich, but did not receive any supplemental discipline from the NHL for violently throwing Panarin to the ice moments later.
The Rangers released a scathing statement about what happened, calling disciplinary czar Georgie Parros “unfit to continue in his current role” — which earned them a $250,000 fine. The team took matters into their own hands during Wednesday’s rematch, in which Wilson left the game with an upper-body injury.
“I’m feeling good,” said Wilson, who appeared to have cuts on his right hand from a fight with Rangers veteran Brendan Smith. “I’m glad Panarin is doing well. He’s better. I reached out to him, and that’s really what matters right now.”
Wilson, a repeat offender who has five suspensions on his record, added that he felt that Monday’s events weren’t out of the ordinary.
“It seemed [like a] fairly routine hockey scrum to me, and I think that was kind of the feeling from both players in the box, and then obviously it took on a new life after the game,” said Wilson, who was suspended seven games in March for boarding the Bruins’ Brandon Carlo. “Those scrums are chaotic and there’s lots of stuff going on, but I didn’t think too much of it at the time.”
Peter Laviolette said given Wilson’s 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame and the fact that he has “the attention on him,” the Capitals coach told his forward that he needs to be more careful because he “gets looked at in a certain way.”
Wilson was given two roughing penalties and a 10-minutes misconduct for what transpired Monday. Prior to hospitalizing Carlo in March, he hadn’t committed any offenses worth a hearing with the league since September 2018, when an illegal check to the head of Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist earned him a 20-game suspension. The punishment was reduced to 14 by an arbitrator after he had already served 16.
“After the play, I would have never thought that all this would have blown up,” Wilson said. “Nothing I say right now is going to change anybody’s opinion. They’ve already made that up, and I’ve just got to keep moving forward.”