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Tom Wilson scores goal, gets called for penalty on same play

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Last night, Tom Wilson took to the ice for the first time this season after an arbitrator reduced his suspension, but what did the weeks-long process show about how the NHL handles appeals?

Tom Wilson was back on the ice on Tuesday night, returning from his latest suspension earlier than expected after an independent arbitrator reduced his 20-game suspension to 14 games earlier in the day.

It took less than 20 minutes for the type of insanity that can only happen around Tom Wilson to take place.

With 27.4 seconds left in the first period of the Washington Capitals’ game against the Minnesota Wild, Wilson scored his first goal of the season when he drove to the net and directed a puck behind Devan Dubnyk to give his team a 2-0 lead.
[Related: Tom Wilson suspension reduced to 14 games]

Totally normal play.

Except for the fact Wilson was also called for a penalty on the play for goaltender interference for running into Dubnyk (with some help from Wild defenseman Ryan Suter).

The thinking here is that the puck went in the net before the contact was made, so both calls -- the goal and the penalty -- get made.

Still, this is not something you see very often in an NHL box score.

Screen Shot 2018-11-13 at 9.06.14 PM

This can only happen to Tom Wilson.

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.