Caps’ Wilson defends hit; Golden Knights move on

Tom Wilson insists he didn’t do anything wrong. The Golden Knights beg to differ.

A day after Wilson took a run at Jonathan Marchessault and delivered a blindside hit in the third period that put the Knights forward out of the game temporarily, the NHL opted not to hold a hearing or discipline the Washington Capitals forward.

“Surprised? No,” said Knights defenseman Luca Sbisa of the failure of the department of player safety to act. “The league looked at it. I guess they’re fine with it. Nothing to say, we’ll just move on.”

Forward James Neal said: “It’s tough. We all felt it was a late hit, but it’s the league’s decision. We responded good. We came out and we got the win. We’ll focus on the next game and not worry about that stuff.”

Marchessault was not made available to the media Tuesday following the optional skate at City National Arena. But coach Gerard Gallant said Marchessault is expected to play Wednesday’s Game 2.

“Jonathan is 100 percent,” Gallant said. “There was no issue. Last night he lost his wind in the game and that’s why I was a little upset that he had to go off for 15 minutes, but we understand that.

“You know what? It was a close hit. It was a borderline hit. It was a late hit for me, for sure. I thought it was going to be a five-minute major, to be honest with you. But, anyway, we live with the hit and the good thing about the hit is it really woke our team up.

“We weren’t playing that great at the time. I think it was a 4-4 hockey game, and for us, it got our guys a little upset and they played hard and they found a way to win the hockey game.”

Wilson, who received an interference penalty for the hit, defended himself.

“Obviously, after the game I don’t really have time to look at it,” Wilson said. “My feeling didn’t change after watching it in slow (motion) or whatever. It’s within the rules and it’s a good hit, so, you know, looking forward to playing the next game.”