When Alex Ovechkin made his Delta Center debut on Nov. 18, 2024, the night became one of the more memorable he has spent in the NHL — though not entirely for happy reasons.
A day after a three-goal outburst against Vegas — the Golden Knights — Ovechkin lit the lamp twice as Washington toppled Utah's Hockey Club 6-2, only to exit before the finish with a lower-body issue. At the 14:30 mark of the third period, Utah's Jack McBain angled through Washington's end and clipped legs with the captain.
How McBain's check fractured the captain's leg
Seventy-two hours afterward, the club disclosed that the impact had cracked the captain's fibula, the injury sitting in his left leg, halting his pursuit of the goals mark and sidelining him with a serious ailment he rarely suffers.
Roughly a year plus four additional months and eight days down the road, Ovechkin returned for visit No. 2 in Salt Lake City — leg mended, his name now atop the league's career goal-scoring list. He answered by notching career three-goal game No. 34 as Washington downed the Mammoth 7-4 on the 26th of March.
The contest also turned chippy in a hurry, sparked after a board by Brandon Tanev caught Washington blueliner Matt Roy. Wilson wound up posting a personal-best 21 penalty minutes, dropping the gloves with Lawson Crouse en route to a 10-minute misconduct.
Wilson told RMNB he was aware he'd racked up plenty of box time, though he couldn't recall his old high-water mark in the moment and said it isn't really something worth fixating on.
Just before the middle frame ended, Wilson flattened the Mammoth pivot with a thunderous check, catching McBain admiring a pass in his own end.
Wilson's thunderous check on the Mammoth pivot
The two reunited during the final frame once Wilson had returned to serve more time. McBain glided over to trade words, and Washington's winger responded by puckering up and blowing a kiss in his direction. That gesture so infuriated the Utah player that officials slapped him with a misconduct.
Given how heated the night was and how pointedly Washington targeted McBain, plenty of supporters concluded that Wilson's check was retribution for the leg McBain had broken a year earlier.
Wilson rejected that idea, explaining that he knows McBain somewhat away from the rink and considers him a terrific person and clearly a strong player who has earned his respect. He described McBain as the type who jumps right into the fray once a game gets physical, the kind of player you trade barbs with as part of the sport's gamesmanship — what he described as the contest that exists inside the contest. Wilson credited him with delivering some massive checks and being a rugged youngster willing to drop the gloves. In that contest, he said, it simply came down to his own team, a night where a heavy hit could tilt things their way, with momentum proving enormous.
Wilson went on to say there was nothing personal about it whatsoever. He insisted no grudge or memory carried over from the prior year, calling what happened back then unfortunate, adding that the pair had resolved it back then and moved past the whole thing. To him, McBain is simply someone forever in the thick of things — physical, hard-nosed, and a quality individual through and through.
Wilson's mention of settling things points to the fight the two had during that November 18, 2024, meeting, when the 26-year-old took on Washington's enforcer.
Wilson wasn't alone in viewing the leg-on-leg play as accidental; the captain felt the same way. Speaking in Russian to reporters later during the 2024-25 campaign, Ovechkin called the play a "pity," describing it as a "shame."
This season's most recent clash between the clubs delivered yet another first — separate from the captain's first defensive-zone faceoff. Once Brandon Duhaime dropped the gloves with Tanev, the entire Washington bench spilled onto the sheet so each player could fist-bump "Dewey" while he served his penalty, with Wilson cracking up alongside him.
Capitals show "Dewey" some love during his penalty
Wilson acknowledged he'd been laughing, describing the moment as terrific and a window into what sort of teammate Duhaime is. Everyone in the room adores him, Wilson said, pointing out that Duhaime is always the first to defend a teammate and that the group was simply paying him back.
In sum, the seesaw affair produced 11 combined goals, a total of 65 shots, plus 82 minutes in penalties, ultimately keeping Washington alive in its pursuit of a postseason spot.
Wilson called it a major night for the team and a fun one at that. He suggested any newcomer to hockey watching that game would be hooked for good, since it offered everything — physicality, goals, and a strong collective effort. He said the opponent essentially got things going and jolted Washington awake, and from there the team responded with a tremendous group effort, everyone rallying, defending one another, and putting pucks in the net. It was, he said, a blast to be part of.
Asked how the captain has sustained his level despite last season's broken leg, Wilson marveled that it's incredible and that the captain simply keeps rolling.