It took less than a minute for Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson to drop the gloves with Pittsburgh Penguins defender Jamie Oleksiak on Wednesday night.
It did not go well for Oleksiak, who was clearly shaken up in the one-sided fight and missed the remainder of the first period.
It was not a totally random encounter, either.
This was all likely a carryover from the 2018 second-round playoff matchup between the two teams when Wilson was suspended three games for a hit to the head of Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese. In the aftermath Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was highly critical of Wilson for not fighting Oleksiak on the ice the night of the hit.
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette back in May...“When Jamie challenged Wilson, he couldn’t run quick enough to get away from him,” Rutherford told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette during an interview on a variety of topics Monday morning, adding that having Reaves would’ve “offset” Wilson’s physical play.
“Until, of course, the referees get in close, then [Wilson] comes back and says something to him.”
Wednesday’s game was the first time the two teams have played with Wilson back in the lineup after missed the remainder of the playoff series and was suspended for the first two regular season meetings this season. He not only dropped the gloves with Oleksiak, he went right after him.
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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.