Tom Wilson’s antics during the Washington Capitals’ 6-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 quickly became one of the lasting images of the night.
After a chaotic bench fracas late in the second period, Wilson taunted the Montreal bench by mimicking a crying baby, a gesture that instantly went viral.
While the assumption was that Wilson was mocking Josh Anderson as they were the two players involved in the main fight, a reverse angle later showed his true target was Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky.
Speaking Sunday ahead of Game 4, Wilson explained he wasn’t mocking Montreal’s whole team, confirming the gesture was aimed at one player.
This view of the Caps/Habs fight is WILD 🫢
Turns out Tom Wilson was mocking Juraj Slafkovsky?? 👀
(via @MTLpuck)pic.twitter.com/t60DNpvWjx
— BarDown (@BarDown) April 26, 2025
“Yeah, it was for one guy,” Wilson said. “I wasn’t doing it to their whole team. It was for one guy. I’m not going to say who, but he knows who it was, and obviously the camera was right on me, so I guess I should probably just shut up sometimes, but like I said, emotions get high.
“They’re playing hard, we’re playing hard. It’s been fun hockey so far, and we’ll keep it going.”
Wilson was also asked about whether he expected the tensions to carry over into Game 4.
“Yeah, it’s obviously been a lot of attention on that, pretty crazy, emotions get high,” Wilson said. “It’s playoff hockey, and he’s a competitor; I’m a competitor. I think that’s the game of hockey–that’s why everybody loves it, right? It can be a little bit crazy at times, and it’s physical and it’s playoffs.”
Tom Wilson calling the Canadiens cry babies while the Bell Centre chants ‘Ole Ole Ole Ole’ is perfect. Playoff hockey, man. pic.twitter.com/4rr34F5nsZ
— Faizal Khamisa (@FaizalKhamisa) April 26, 2025
Wilson was asked if the fireworks from Game 3 could spill into Game 4.
“Yeah, it’s obviously been a lot of attention on that, pretty crazy, emotions get high,” Wilson said. “It’s playoff hockey, and he’s a competitor; I’m a competitor. I think that’s the game of hockey–that’s why everybody loves it, right?
“It can be a little bit crazy at times, and it’s physical and it’s playoffs. I think there’s always a little bit of carryover in the playoffs. There’s always those emotions. When you play a team over and over, it can get that way. It can become a rivalry.
“We gotta be better tonight. That game got a little out of hand on multiple fronts from our end, and we’ve just gotta be better between the whistles, play better, make better plays. That stuff isn’t what we’re focused on going forward.”
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery acknowledged after the game that he spoke with Wilson about managing emotions more carefully going forward.
“You’ve gotta be careful with that because that’s the stuff the league doesn’t want to see,” Carbery said.
The Capitals fell to the Canadiens in Game 3 but bounced back quickly, beating Montreal 5-2 on Sunday to take a commanding 3-1 lead with the series shifting back to Washington for Game 6.
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