Caught on the 400-square-foot PPG Paints Arena video boards and on cameras for a national television audience to see, Tom Wilson's chuckles and smiles in the moments after his brutal hit on Zach Aston-Reese have made Wilson a villain in Pittsburgh.
Wilson's coach, Barry Trotz, came to his defense on Wednesday. And Trotz even provided a plausible and reasonable explanation the Capitals forward appeared so jovial even as Aston-Reese was getting attended to for what was ultimately a concussion and broken jaw.
This photo of Wilson says it all--'Oh, it's funny cuz your jaw is broken and you are bleeding on the ice!' https://t.co/vGCi90Spq4 pic.twitter.com/tuViQ9tdoD
— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) May 2, 2018
"What was happening was 19,000 people were booing him, and something funny was said on the bench, and that's why he was smiling," Trotz said after Capitals practice in Pittsburgh. "A guy made a funny comment that he's got all his friends in the building, something like that, and that's where the smile was. So I do take a little bit of offense and I understand what's coming out of the Penguins' locker room. But (laughing at Aston-Reese's injury) was not the case, and I am 100 percent sure of that because I was right there.
Barry Trotz answers about Tom Wilson laughing on the bench after his hit on Aston-Reese. pic.twitter.com/kYilMFftT5
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 2, 2018
"One of the guys mad a statement about all the booing and all that, and that's where the smile came (from)."
Both after Tuesday's game – a 4-3 loss that gave Washington a 2-1 series lead – and after Wednesday's practice in Cranberry Township, several Penguins players expressed how offended they were that Wilson was laughing during the stoppage in play that had resulted from a bloodied Aston-Reese leaving the ice he'd been lying on for several moments following a brutal check by Wilson .
Another hit to the head by Tom Wilson pic.twitter.com/PAiErjxNPF
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 2, 2018
"I don't see the point of laughing when somebody is hurt," defenseman Kris Letang said Wednesday. "Whether it is clean or not, that's not something you do."
Although the hit went unpenalized, the NHL department of player safety announced it has scheduled a hearing with Wilson for Wednsday .
Wilson has not been made available for comment since the end of Tuesday's Game 3, but Trotz has defended Tuesday's hit by Wilson and the overall character his rugged forward repeatedly over that time span.
"I can tell you this: Tom is very respectful for anybody who is in a situation of possibly being injured," Trotz said. "He wouldn't do that.
"He's very respectful, he's a hockey player, he understands, he's reached out to people who have been injured and all that. So to me that's misplaced if you know anything about Tom Wilson. So I am a little but upset about that but I understand, I understand how it looks, but that was not the case for sure."
Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.
