Capitals upset over no suspension after ‘targeted’ hit by Reaves on Wilson
LAS VEGAS — Vegas Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves slammed into an unsuspecting Tom Wilson in the second period of Tuesday ’s game, and the force of the check caused the Washington Capitals forward’s helmet to pop off, with Wilson then hitting his head on the ice as he fell to the ground. Wilson had to be helped to the Caps bench by two teammates, and he was unsteady on his feet as he tried to make his way down the tunnel to the locker-room. He was ruled out for the rest of the game with what’s believed to be a concussion.
Washington coach Todd Reirden said Wilson will travel with the team for its remaining two games on this road trip, but he didn’t have an update on Wilson’s condition beyond that.
“Reaves targeted him the entire game,” Reirden said. “You could hear it on every faceoff.
You could hear the things that were being said. It’s a blindside hit where an unsuspecting player hits his head on the ice. That’s disappointing. You could put two and two together, but he targeted him the entire game, so you can figure that out from there.”
Reaves was assessed a fiveminute major for interference as well as a game misconduct and was ejected, and the late, blindside hit renewed the Capitals’ occasional frustration with the National Hockey League’s department of player safety. That body decided Wednesday that Reaves would get no supplemental discipline for the hit.
Players didn’t call for Reaves to be suspended, but they also expressed some confusion over what’s a legal check and what’s an illegal one, indicating the department has been inconsistent. Wilson has been suspended four times, the last of which caused him to miss the first 16 games of the season, and as Washington has had three players go down with concussions in the past month, there hasn’t been a suspension doled out in any of those episodes.
While the hit from Reaves on Wilson was certainly late and worthy of the infractions assessed on the ice, Reaves made contact with Wilson’s shoulder, not his head, and interference is rarely deemed suspension-worthy without head contact. Wilson’s head injury was caused by contact with the ice, not Reaves himself. It was not unlike an incident involving Wilson two games ago, when his hit on New Jersey Devils forward Brett Seney caused him to be ejected from the game. The check was ultimately not deemed suspensionworthy because, while it was late, the primary contact was with Seney’s shoulder.
“Who knows any more? I don’t think anyone knows what’s going on anymore, so we’ll see,” Caps forward Brett Connolly said after Tuesday’s game, a 5-3 Vegas win.