FlaHockeyNow just reported that Tom Wilson will not be suspended for his boarding hit on Sandis Vilmanis, and the Panthers beat has a clear opinion on it.
The news lands this morning, hours before the Florida Panthers head to Columbus on a two-game skid.
The account's reaction was short and blunt, and it speaks for plenty of Florida fans.
Wilson was ejected Saturday in Washington after a five-minute boarding major on Vilmanis, and Tom Wilson's ejection for boarding Vilmanis was the start of this. The Capitals won that game 4-3.
The league's explanation for skipping any additional discipline is not in our sources. We have no word on a fine, a hearing or the reasoning behind the decision, and we won't guess at any of it.
Wilson has talked about the play. RMNB shared his comments, and he said he was trying to make a north-south hit.
He also told reporters he reached out to Florida's locker room afterward, saying he hopes Vilmanis is good and wishes him well. We went through his explanation in Wilson's account of the Vilmanis hit on Monday.
Where does this leave Sandis Vilmanis and the Panthers?
Vilmanis has 3 goals and 4 assists in 16 games this season, a steady start for a 22-year-old fifth-round pick who has 35 NHL games in total. He had been finding a role, and the hit interrupted it.
Wilson sat for 45 penalty minutes in 15 games already this season. A player with 1,694 career penalty minutes getting no suspension for a boarding major is a hard thing to explain to a locker room, and the league has not tried publicly in anything we have seen.
For the Panthers, the focus has to shift to the ice. They sit 9-7-2 and 5th in the Atlantic, and they lost 4-1 in Boston on Sunday.
Columbus is 7-8-0 and has won only once on the road, so tonight is a real chance to stop the slide. We will keep tabs on any lineup news before puck drop.
Quick hits
PHILADELPHIA FLYERSThe Matvei Michkov and Nick Seeler bench confrontation in Vancouver is still the talk of the Flyers world this morning. Beat writers are split on it.
NEW YORK ISLANDERSBo Horvat had a blunt message after last night's shootout loss in San Jose: get back to the team you were early on. Fair demand from a captain.
WASHINGTON CAPITALSAlexander Ovechkin walks into Ottawa tonight with the Capitals on a 10-game goalless drought, according to Coming In Hot. That is a long dry spell for a team that just beat Florida.
CAROLINA HURRICANESTom Gulitti posted the Hurricanes' practice lines from Helsinki this morning. They give a first look at how Rod Brind'Amour could line up against the Kraken.
NEW JERSEY DEVILSDaniel Amoia reports that Connor Hellebuyck will meet the media in Winnipeg after this morning's skate, hours before the Devils face the Jets.
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