Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson was fined $5,000 for punching Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich in the back of the head while on the ice, according to the NHL Department of Player Safety.
Wilson will not have a hearing for throwing Rangers star Artemi Panarin to the ice in the ensuing scrum, which the Rangers say injured Panarin.
In the second period, the Rangers’ Buchnevich had a scoring chance on the doorstep of Capitals goalie Vitek Vanecek. In a scrum, he fell stomach-first to the ice, where Wilson then delivered a punch to the back of his head while Buchnevich was laying on the ice.
Wilson was pulled off Buchnevich by Rangers center Ryan Strome, sparking a larger scrum. Panarin jumped on Wilson’s back in an effort to stop him from punching Strome. Wilson and Panarin peeled away, and Wilson eventually pulled off Panarin’s helmet as he pulled him down the ice with force. Pararin attempted to get up, and Wilson pushed him back down again.
Quinn said after the game that Panarin was “OK,” but that losing him for the rest of the game “was a big blow for us.”
“We all saw it. There are lines that can’t be crossed in this game. There’s just zero respect for the game in general. You got one of the star players in this league now that could have gotten seriously, seriously hurt in that incident,” said Quinn, following the Rangers’ 6-3 loss to the Capitals. “You all saw what happened, and it happens time and time again with him. Totally unnecessary.”
Wilson is a lightning rod for controversy whenever his physically crosses into illegality because of his lengthy history of run-ins with the NHL Department of Player Safety, including earlier this season.
Wilson was suspended for seven games in March for a hit that injured Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo. It was the fifth suspension of Wilson’s NHL career, the previous four coming in a 105-game span from 2017-18. That included a 20-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Oskar Sundqvist of the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 3, 2018, which was reduced to 14 games on an NHLPA appeal.