B’s pummel Caps after ’cheap shot’
Carlo injured on dirty hit by Wilson
A strong dislike between the Bruins and Washington Capitals developed into a burning hatred at the Garden on Friday night.
After the two teams played a contentious game on Wednesday night, Capitals’ noted loose cannon Tom Wilson upped the ante at 18:30 of the first period, lining up Brandon Carlo for a dangerous head shot heard ‘round the league, though somehow not seen by the officials working the game.
After Carlo was lost for the game and for who knows how long, the B’s played inspired hockey while it looked as if the Caps finished out the night in sheepish embarrassment, taking a 5-1 beating as Wilson had to fight both Jarred Tinordi and Trent Frederic.
“You can see it. He hit him clearly in the head. Brandon goes to the hospital in an ambulance,” said coach Bruce Cassidy, who did not have a further update. “It clearly looked like he got him right in the head, a defenseless player, a predatory hit from a player that’s done that before. I don’t understand why there wasn’t a penalty called on the ice. They huddled up but I did not get an explanation why. It’s out of our hands after that. We’ve just got to play hockey, try to stick together as a team and play the right way. Sometimes that happens and there’s no call and the players kind of settle it on the ice on their own. We felt we pushed back, did what we could do, won the hockey game and let that particular player know that was unnecessary.”
Brad Marchand’s appraisal was succinct.
“It was a bull (expletive) hit,” said Marchand, not bothering to mind his P’s and Q’s during an interview with NESN in between periods. “Brando had his head down in the corner. He took a liberty on a guy that was in a vulnerable spot. It was a cheap shot there.”
The question is, can the league handle another four more games and possible playoff series between these two teams?
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead in the first period on Marchand’s first of two goals. But late in the period, Wilson did some Wilson things. Perhaps he was responding to Frederic’s rough treatment of Alex Ovechkin on Wednesday, but the Caps wing tried to line up Frederic in the neutral zone and did not make good contact with the rookie along the boards. The two collided again shortly after that.
His blood lust unquenched, Wilson kept on hunting. As Carlo battled for a puck behind the Bruins’ net with Jakub Vrana, Wilson delivered a blow to the defenseman, whose head took the brunt of the entire hit against the glass. Carlo, who had suffered a concussion his rookie season on an Ovechkin hit in the very same spot on the ice, was down for a long time as trainer Don Del Negro attended to him before he was able to skate off with a little assistance.
Throughout the stoppage, the B’s bench was hollering at referees Pierre Lambert and Dean Morton. We could not make out all the words all the way up on the ninth floor, but it was a slew of obscenities.
Stunningly, nothing was called on Wilson. One would think that with the way things went on Wednesday between the two teams, the refs would be on high alert for such shenanigans. But nothing. The B’s had to take care of it themselves. The refs could have called it a match penalty, reviewed it and reduced the penalty to a minor if they thought they were too harsh. But Wilson got off scot-free, at least until the Department of Player Safety catches up to him.
Just before the start of the second period, Patrice Bergeron, who had his career nearly ended on a head shot, was seen having words with Wilson. Bergeron did not divulge the content of that discussion, but he obviously wasn’t happy with the hit.
“It’s always tough to see anyone go down, but when it’s a friend and a teammate, it’s harder. From my view, it was shoulder to head. I didn’t see the replay. I talked to the refs and they thought otherwise,” said Bergeron. “When you see a guy in that position, you have to pull up. You have to play puck or stop and not come in blazing . ... As players, we have to be thoughtful of getting rid of that (type of hit).”
Eventually, at the 6:22 mark of the second, Tinordi tapped Wilson’s pads and the two heavyweights went at it, both throwing big shots but landing mostly glancing blows. Still the newest Bruin earned his Black-and-Gold stripes.
“That’s what I noticed about this team as soon as I got here. The boys are playing for each other and how close this group is. I’m not surprised to see that the boys responded after one of our guys goes down like that,” said Tinordi, playing his second game for the B’s after being picked up on waivers from Nashville.
With that behind them, the B’s went to work on the scoreboard. And by the time Wilson and Tinordi left their respective boxes, it was 4-0.
Just 21 seconds after the fight, Frederic gave the B’s a 2-0 lead. From behind the Washington net, Frederic sent a long pass out to Charlie McAvoy and slipped out on the left side of the net to redirect home McAvoy’s return pass.
At 9:01, Bergeron finished off a tic-tac-toe play with Pastrnak setting him up with an open net.
Finally, at 14:58, Matt Grzelcyk, who played very well in his second game back after being out for three weeks with a lower body injury, connected with Marchand for an easy tap-in goal after another dominant shift from the top line.
Nick Ritchie added another one early in the third and then Frederic would not let Wilson take no for answer, taking the extra two-and-10 for the instigator. No matter. The Caps were not about to mount a comeback in this one.