Tom Wilson got into just his second fight of the season against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
While Wilson wasn’t the one who started the bout, he definitely was the one to finish it. Lightning forward Curtis Douglas, who stands 6-foot-9 and weighs in at 242 pounds, instigated the fisticuffs and quickly learned why one should not do that with Wilson.
“Yeah, I don’t know much about him,” Wilson said postgame. “Sometimes you gotta do it.”
Wilson can’t be blamed for not knowing who Douglas is, as the giant forward was playing in just his 15th career NHL game on Saturday.
After earning the takedown on Douglas, Wilson quickly tossed his helmet to the ice and glared at the Lightning bench. What seemed somewhat innocuous at first may have more reasoning behind it than once thought.
“He came over the boards, bit of a weird line change, and all of a sudden, we’re in a fight,” Wilson said. “It is what it is.”
What Wilson seems to be insinuating is that the Lightning bench purposefully sent out a different line to start the shift and then quickly swapped out one of their forwards for Douglas so that he could jump Wilson. And the shift-chart evidence backs that up.
Jake Guentzel, who was on the ice for the faceoff right before the fight, cut his shift incredibly short. After being on the ice for just six seconds, Guentzel took off for the bench, being replaced by Douglas. Douglas beelined for Wilson, unconcerned about the ongoing play behind him.
The Lightning may have been seeking retribution for a hit that Wilson threw on Nikita Kucherov earlier in the period. Kucherov departed the game injured and did not return.
Wilson later hit Guentzel into the boards well after a whistle with just 29.8 seconds remaining in regulation.
Douglas took just eight total shifts in the game, and his last was the 14 seconds before Wilson fed him a few rights and lefts.