How Tom Wilson, wrecking ball, single-handedly decided Capitals-Canadiens Game 4

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MONTREAL — Nothing changes a hockey game quite like a big hit. Nobody can change a hockey game quite like Tom Wilson.

Those are things we’ve heard so much — the first bit for a century and a half, the second for 12 years — that they’ve become cliches.

Big hits, no matter how many times you hear it from players, don’t typically create outcomes. Wilson, no matter how many times you hear it from the rest of the Washington Capitals, isn’t always the most impactful player on the ice.

Cliches, though, exist for a reason, and Sunday night at the Bell Centre, we saw proof.

Wilson, one-of-one league-wide for his ability to mix brute force and high-end skill, single-handedly changed the result of a playoff game. There was everything that came before his open-ice demolition of Canadiens defenseman Alex Carrier, and there was everything that came after. By the end, Washington had won 5-2 and taken a 3-1 series lead.

That all might sound hyperbolic. It is not. Wilson’s hit, directly and immediately, led to Brandon Duhaime’s tying goal. It also, slightly less directly and slightly less immediately, led to Andrew Mangiapane’s game winner.

“He’s the type of guy that literally can change momentum in games,” defenseman and longtime teammate John Carlson said, “in the most ways of probably anyone in the league.”

That was tough to argue Sunday night. We’ll start with the hit. Carrier — who’d kinda-sorta avoided Alex Ovechkin’s attempt at a similar play in the first period — had the puck on his stick in the neutral zone. Wilson locked in on him, avoided loading up for contact too early and crushed Carrier, making impact with his shoulder first. It was borderline but ultimately legal — certainly more legal than stuff we’ve seen from Wilson in the past — and completely took Carrier out of the play. That’s one Canadien down.

Tom Wilson ROCKED Alexandre Carrier, leading to the Caps’ game-tying goal! 💥 pic.twitter.com/1YjY6cvyPZ

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 28, 2025

In the immediate aftermath, Montreal winger Josh Anderson wanted a piece of Wilson. It was understandable, but Wilson wasn’t biting. “Honestly, I was pretty tired,” Wilson said, “so I just wanted to get to the bench.” Not sure you should believe him there. Either way, second Canadien down.

The fact it was Anderson, by the way, was not coincidental. The two had circled each other for the first two games of the series but stopped short of full engagement. Game 3, though, was a different story. They brawled their way onto the Capitals bench at the end of the second period, creating a wild scene and, for Wilson, a viral moment. His mock tears toward a still-unknown Canadien are going to live for as long as we have reaction GIFs.

Sunday morning, Wilson seemed completely at peace with the Anderson scrap — “He’s a competitor, I’m a competitor, and the game of hockey, that’s why everybody loves it,” he said — and lightly regretful of getting caught on camera pretending to sob.

“I’m not gonna say (who the target was), but he knows who it was, and obviously, the camera was right on me,” Wilson said. “So I guess I should probably just shut up sometimes.

“I think last game was really chaotic, and speaking to coaches and a lot of people that I trust over the last couple of days, it’s good for me to be on the ice. I can’t be sitting in a box for 14 minutes. In the first game, you take a coincidental or whatever, and I’m in the box eight minutes, nine minutes. So I just want to be on the ice and control my emotion.”

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery, when relayed some of Wilson’s quote, called it a “great example” of Wilson’s leadership ability.

“There’s a prime example of the fiery competitor he is, but he also can take a step back and go, ‘You know, I need to be better in this area. I need to calm down in this situation.’ So I always appreciate that part of him as a competitor, as a leader. And the other stuff, the competitive stuff inside the game, I’m fine with,” Carbery said. “Like, that’s part of the game.”

About 11 hours later, Wilson was backing up his words. With respect to his “I was just getting to the bench” excuse, he knew what he was doing — and he knew passing on Round 2 with Anderson was the right call.

A few seconds later, with Carrier staggering to the bench and Anderson otherwise occupied, Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun flipped a puck from Washington’s zone to Duhaime near Montreal’s blue line. If you thought Duhaime seemed a bit surprised to get the puck, he was. “Tom just smoked a guy at center ice,” he said. “So I was kind of admiring that.”

Eventually, Duhaime dug the puck out of Mike Matheson’s skates and fired a shot off goalie Jakub Dobeš. And also off Cole Caufield. And also over the goal line. Tie score. It had been 15 seconds since Wilson’s hit on Carrier.

Tom Wilson deserves a primary assist on this goal for murdering a man pic.twitter.com/ZzRaIyXlgG

— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) April 28, 2025

From there, Carrier’s absence threw Montreal’s defensive pairings out of whack. For the next 10 minutes, Martin St. Louis mixed, matched and tried to keep the game manageable without one of his two natural right shots. Eventually, Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj, who’d played all of 55 minutes together at five-on-five this season to sub-mediocre results, were on the ice. Guhle is a great partner for Lane Hutson, and Xhekaj adds physicality to the lineup, but to have them together at crunchtime was not ideal.

With 3:37 left, the Capitals exploited it. Dylan Strome, on an entry pass from Trevor van Riemsdyk, carried the puck to the left circle. Guhle and Xhekaj drifted toward Strome, leaving Mangiapane open in the high slot. Strome got him the puck, Mangiapane beat Dobeš, and the Caps went up 3-2.

Washington added two more with the empty net. The final one, with 55 seconds remaining, came off Wilson’s stick.

It wasn’t necessary, of course. The game had been decided. The cliche had become the truth.

(Photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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