Caps’ Wilson fined for hit on Pens’ Sheary
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Va.
NHL fined Capitals forward Tom Wilson $2,404 on Friday for his knee-on-knee hit on Pittsburgh’s Conor Sheary, sparing him a suspension that could have altered the second-round playoff series against the Penguins.
Wilson sent Sheary to the ice with his left knee 4 minutes into the third period of the Capitals’ 4-3 overtime victory in Game 1 on Thursday night. Sheary hobbled to the nearby bench in pain and missed a few shifts, and Wilson was not penalized.
Capitals coach Barry Trotz watched the replay Friday and said Sheary did a “shimmy,” describing the collision as “shin-on-shin.”
When asked if it was clean, Trotz said: “I thought it was OK, but it wasn’t really, I would say, necessary, probably on both.”
The fine is the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement.
Neither Sheary nor Wilson took part in his team’s optional practice Friday. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan didn’t have much of a reaction to Wilson being fined and not suspended.
“The league is going to do what they do, we’re going to do what we do,” Sullivan said. “We’re going to play and the refs are going to call the game the way they see it and we’re just going to focus on hockey.”
Focusing on hockey is what the Capitals want from Wilson, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound battering ram who’s known more for physicality than finesse.