Capitals: Game 1 hero Wilson will soon enter not-so-hostile territory in T.O.
Tom Wilson has not reached out to extended family or friends, choosing to instead place a singular focus on the Capitals’ buildup to the Stanley Cup playoffs. He has not searched ticket prices for Games 3 and 4 on the road, choosing to not know how much damage his wallet could suffer next week.
All the 23-year-old Toronto native had done — before he scored the winner in overtime of Game 1 against his hometown Maple Leafs in Washington on Thursday night — was send his dad a four-word text.
“See you next week,” Wilson wrote, and he added a tongue-out emoji for good measure.
Wilson can still remember those perfect Saturdays playing ball hockey on his family’s rink in the backyard. When the daylight seemed to last an hour or two longer than it should have. When the sunset meant the Maple Leafs were starting on the television inside.
He owned a Darcy Tucker jersey and looked up to players such as Mats Sundin and Shayne Corson. But he will not treat this series as any sort of homecoming. Once in Toronto, he plans to eat most of his meals at the team hotel and turn in early every night. He has a bulletproof comeback for anyone who tries to pull him left, right or to the box office to purchase another ticket. He is, after all, chasing a Stanley Cup.
“There’s always going to be roots to Toronto,” Wilson said. “But obviously they are public enemy No. 1 right now for this club and for me, my type of play it will be even more of a treat to go in there and kind of come out with a big win.”
That style of play sees Wilson bound to the net for loose pucks, bash opponents into the boards and, every now and then, bruise them with his fists.
It led to stitches for a wounded finger after a fight with Matt Martin in the Capitals’ first meeting with the Maple Leafs this season. It led Toronto fans to boo him off the Air Canada Centre ice two seasons ago. It puts the six-foot-four, 217-pound forward at the centre of most confrontations, and that won’t change as the stakes do.
“Nothing against (Wilson), because he works hard and all that, but he’s not as big of concern as a lot of people on their team,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Tuesday. “He’s a forechecker and he works hard (but) they’ve got a lot of players that we’ll concern ourselves with more.”
Babcock makes a point in that Wilson, a fourth-line forward, shouldn’t headline the Capitals scouting report. Wilson had just seven goals and 12 assists in the regular season, and only twice registered a point in consecutive games. The Maple Leafs are likely planning to crowd Nicklas Backstrom, limit Evgeny Kuznetsov’s opportunities and, just maybe, keep Alex Ovechkin from shooting from the left faceoff circle on the power play. And that’s only the start.
But — Thursday night’s winner aside — Wilson affects the game in less tangible ways, by killing penalties, creating space for teammates and electrifying the crowd if his gloves go to the ice. He doesn’t need Babcock to lose sleep over him or the Toronto crowd to track him.
He may actually prefer to go unnoticed at times once the series swings into his hometown. The Capitals have a lot to play for these days.
“My immediate family and close friends obviously, I’m not going to completely shut them out, they’ll be there,” Wilson said. “But hockey is the No. 1 priority and there is going to be sacrifices you have to make in order to get those big wins on the road.”