It's been a couple of seasons now since Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson crossed a line, but on Wednesday, he chose his latest victim when he delivered a vicious stick swing to the face of Leafs winger Noah Gregor late in the third period of Wednesday's game.
Gregor, who was skating towards the puck ahead of Wilson, took what appeared to be a one-handed golf swing to the face. The stick to the face of Gregor drew blood and Toronto eventually scored late on the double minor.
Thankfully, Gregor was able to finish the rest of the game and looked to be fine after the play, but it was definitely a bone-headed play by Wilson.
The 29-year-old Capitals winger has been suspended five times throughout his NHL career, including a 20-game suspension in 2018 for his blindside hit to the head on St. Louis Blues center Oskar Sundqvist.
What came as a surprise was Wilson ended up grabbing Gregor from behind after the contact to have the officials stop the play and presumably check to make sure his opponent was ok. The question is, did he do this to check on Gregor, or did he do this to make it seem like it was unintentional?
Regardless of the result, this is a play that should not be made in hockey. No word yet on whether the league will take a look at the play, but with Wilson's past, I'm not too sure he gets the benefit of the doubt here.
