Outrageous: Tom Wilson fined $5000 for punching Pavel Buchnevich, gets away with Artemi Panarin body slam
The NHL Department of Player Safety has fined Tom Wilson $5000, the max allowed per the CBA for sucker punching Pavel Buchnevich. As for body slamming Artemi Panarin, apparently the wasn’t severe enough to warrant consideration.
Tom Wilson fined $5000 for sucker punch only
Halfway through the second period, Wilson dropped on top of Pavel Buchnevich during a crease scrum. He then proceeded to sucker punch him while he was down.
This prompted a melee to ensue once Ryan Strome went to go grab Wilson off his prone teammate. A scrum in the corner broke out and Artemi Panarin grabbed Wilson from behind as he was taking shots at Strome. From there the much larger Caps forward seemed to pull Panarin down hard by his hair. Fortunately, the helmet-less Panarin did not seem to hit his head on the ice. Wilson continued to rag doll him and then sit on top of Panarin before referees saw fit to break it up.
Tom Wilson earned 14 minutes in penalties which included a 10 minute misconduct. He was not kicked out of the game. Artemi Panarin did not return to finish the game with a lower-body injury and is now likely to miss the remainder of it. Yet here we are today trying to understand the NHL’s logic to basically send Wilson to his room without dessert.
Mika Zibanejad was asked about the Wilson incident after the game. “I figured you should have some more respect for the game and for the players,” he said. “I don’t honestly know where to start. It’s just there’s zero respect. I don’t know why I’m surprised, just horrible.”
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