Friday night’s game between the Washington Capitals and the Columbus Blue Jackets took a sharp turn in the third period. Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier was assessed a five-minute major penalty for elbowing Capitals defenseman Declan Chisholm.
Chisholm left the ice holding his face, while Olivier sat in the box and saw the referees confirm their call after reviewing the hit. Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason shouted from the bench his belief that the head contact was not a penalty at all.
After the officials announced the confirmed penalty to an ornery crowd at Nationwide Arena, Olivier could be seen in the box protesting that he didn’t use his elbow at all on the check.
On the ensuing extended power play, the Capitals put the game to bed with two goals from Tom Wilson and Connor McMichael. Chisholm also returned to the ice uninjured, helping quarterback the second unit on the man advantage.
After Wilson’s goal, the imposing winger made his way back to Washington’s bench and reportedly had an animated conversation with Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson about the hit on Chisholm. Jody Shelley, former NHL enforcer and Blue Jackets color commentator for FanDuel Sports Network Ohio, relayed the spirited words on the game’s broadcast.
“Tom Wilson is telling Erik Gudbranson, ‘I’d be banned for life if I threw that hit,’” Shelley said. “Pretty much saying that was dirty, and it is a five-minute major. Gudbranson, on the other side of the argument, is saying, ‘He barely touched him and now he’s back in the game.’ That’s just the chatter down here on the bench.”
After a TV timeout, Wilson continued the conversation, but this time with Olivier after he returned to the Columbus bench from the penalty box.
“Tom Wilson came on the ice to chat with him, and Olivier simply said, ‘If you want me to stand up for that, I will. If you want to address it, I will. I’ll fight you, but I kept my elbow down and had no intent of hitting Chisholm high.’ Wilson, there was saying, ‘I know, you’re an honest player, but I would have got 20 games for that.’ That was going back and forth – just a very civil conversation there. I think Tom Wilson understands what he was trying to do.”
Wilson, suspended six times for a combined 32 games during his career, has a recent history with Gudbranson, fighting the big defender during the preseason after Gudbranson laid a heavy hit on Ivan Miroshnichenko. He was also challenged by Olivier to a fight during the 2022-23 season, but declined as it was only his first game back from offseason knee surgery.
The Capitals and Blue Jackets played out the remaining 2:25 of regulation without incident. With the 5-1 victory, the Caps improved to 6-2 on the season and have won six of their last seven games.
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