After a thrilling win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in an intense Game 3 of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Washington Capitals got back to work. On Wednesday afternoon, select members of the team hit the ice for an optional practice at PPG Paints Arena. Nothing really to report on the ice but off the ice, here are some myths from Game 3 that got debunked.
About 12-14 Capitals players participated in the optional skate. Tom Wilson was not one of them, as he had a hearing today from his hit on Zach Aston-Reese that came in the second period of last night’s game.
Via Adam Zielonka of The Washington Times
About 12 skaters at #Capitals optional skate today at PPG Paints. Thanks for ducking, Chandler Stephenson. pic.twitter.com/LYWFlUSNmI
— Adam Zielonka (@Adam_Zielonka) May 2, 2018
After the skate, the players who participated were available to the media and of course the subject of the day was the Wilson hit as well as Sidney Crosby spitting at a Capitals player.
Did Sidney Crosby just spit on a Capitals player?? @BarstoolNate pic.twitter.com/qTkd4Pfu3J
— Eroc RDT (@BarstoolRDT) May 2, 2018
“I think the video speaks for itself,” said coach Barry Trotz.
“It kind of looked like someone grabbed the back of his jersey too so maybe it was a jerk reaction,” said Brett Connolly. “Like I said, it’s an emotional time of the year especially with these two teams. There’s a lot of history. There’s a lot of bad blood and those things are gonna happen… I don’t think he actually spit. That’s not his character. I don’t think he would go that far.”
There’s another thing that we must address, why was Wilson smiling and laughing after his hit on Aston-Reese? Pittsburgh fans will be quick to point out that it’s because he hit that Aston-Reese and knocked him out of the game. It’s actually not so devious.
Is this the moment Coach Barry Trotz was talking about when he explained why Tom Wilson was smiling? #Caps#CapsPenspic.twitter.com/eauiR6lMSI
— Tarik El-Bashir⌨🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) May 2, 2018
“I saw the same thing that you would’ve saw and I can tell you this, Tom is very respectful for anybody who is in a situation that is possibly injured. He wouldn’t do that. I think 19,000 people were booing him and something funny was said on the bench and that’s why he was smiling. A guy made a funny comment ‘he’s got all his friends in the building’ something like that and that’s where the smile was,” Trotz explained. “I understand what’s coming out of the Penguins locker room. That was not the case. I’m 100% sure of that because I was right there.”
Jay Beagle seemed to admit that he was the one who cracked the joke.
“I might’ve said a joke or two to keep it light but I don’t even know if he heard me because the crowd was booing so loud so I don’t know if he laughed at me or not,” said Beagle.
All jokes aside, these two teams will be back at it tomorrow night for Game 4.
By Michael Marzzacco
Follow @marswaggo
Pingback: Tom Wilson is Suspended Three-Games for Hit on Zach Aston-Reese | NoVa Caps
Pingback: Capitals Seek to Take Commanding 3-1 Series Lead in Game 4 | NoVa Caps
Pingback: Young Guns 2.0 and New Faces have Helped Create History for the Capitals | NoVa Caps