Tom Wilson ejected for boarding Sandis Vilmanis, Caps win

Vilmanis had just moved the puck along the wall when Wilson arrived. He took the hit from behind, went head-first into the spot where the boards meet the glass, and stayed down.

Spittin' Chiclets

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Tom Wilson’s day is over already after getting handed 5 and a game for boarding Sandis Vilmanis.

Vilmanis, a 22-year-old rookie, was down for several minutes before he was helped off. The officials huddled, reviewed it and kept the major, so Wilson's afternoon was over before the first period was half done. Florida also announced during the 2nd period that Vilmanis would not come back.

The hit should have won the game for the Panthers. Florida scored on the 5-minute major to go up 2-1, and Washington had lost its most physical forward with 50 minutes left to play. Sourdif took Wilson's spot on the top power-play unit, and Ryan Leonard moved up with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Aliaksei Protas. It was a reshuffle forced on Spencer Carbery, but it held up.

The Caps answered. Jack St. Ivany had already scored his first career goal in the 1st. Alex Tuch tied it 2-2 on his own and ended up playing a season-high 24:01, and Protas put Washington in front in the 2nd. Dubois scored the winner in the 3rd. Logan Thompson made 27 saves, a few of them while it was still 2-2, and the Caps came away with 2 points they really needed. The win moved them within 1 point of the Rangers for 3rd in the Metro. Protas said he didn't really see the hit, but he spoke up for his teammate after the game anyway.

Florida had a different afternoon. The Panthers lost a game and another player to injury, and Paul Maurice wasn't going to argue about the hit at the podium. He gave a cautious medical update and left the rest to the league.

"I'll leave that to the Department of Player Safety" was Maurice's whole review of the hit, and it was plenty. A boarding major on a rookie who left the game hurt, by a player with Wilson's history, is the kind of case Player Safety will look at closely. Jameson Olive was already saying at the time of the ejection that he expected supplemental discipline.

Carbery went the other way and argued the play itself. His case is that Wilson committed to a normal check, Vilmanis turned at the last moment, and Wilson's size did the rest.

That's the argument Washington will make to Player Safety: Vilmanis turned, and it all happened in about 1 second. Florida's case is that a 22-year-old went face-first into the glass and they don't know when he'll be back. The Caps play at Ottawa on Tuesday. Before then, watch for 2 things: whether Wilson gets a hearing, and what the Panthers' doctors in Florida say about Vilmanis.