Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson had a busy night in his return from a lower-body injury on Saturday against St. Louis. He was credited with six hits and got into a fight with Ryan Reaves in defense of teammate Nicklas Backstrom.
“Tom Wilson was our best player,” head coach Barry Trotz said, per the Washington Post. “He was sticking up for teammates, he was getting in on people, he was getting people off their game.”
Trotz wishes more of his players had done the same because he felt that the Blues eventually started to come after Wilson.
“I need more people to help Tom Wilson instead of him sticking up for everybody else,” Trotz said.
The bench boss has been urging the Capitals to stick up for each other and employ a “gang mentality” since the season began.
Washington still lost Saturday’s contest 4-1 to fall to 7-7-3 this season. The Capitals are in the midst of a three-game road trip that will take them to Arizona on Tuesday and Colorado on Thursday.