I'll take no issue with the NHL suspending Tom Wilson for three games. And no, not just because it was three games longer than any reasonable person should have expected.
Really, three games is about right.
The Department of Player Safety's video was detailed, logical and clear in explaining the decision, particularly the part — one I hadn't weighed in my own analysis after Game 3 — where Wilson altered his lead shoulder from right to left because it would allow him a more direct path to Zach Aston-Reese's head.
Watch for yourself:
I also appreciated that there were several references to Aston-Reese's head being the "principal point of contact," even though that runs completely counter to the judgment of all four on-ice officials — though I still think none of them had a clue in that moment what they'd just witnessed — as well as the silliness of on-site officiating supervisor Paul Devorski dubbing it "a good, clean check" when answering questions from a pool reporter assigned by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
I didn't have a problem with the length, either. Three playoff games isn't the same as three regular-season games. Never has been. Never should be. These are the biggest of all games, the ones that hurt most to miss, both for the player and his team.
Look, the easy out for all concerned would have been to stand by the stripes, point to their Brian Dumoulin mistake as recent precedent, and whisper to Wilson behind the scenes to be a good boy for a little while. George Parros and his staff didn't take that route. They did work, and they delivered. And if I'm going to rip them when they do the wrong thing, I'll praise when they do it right. My stance has always been that the subject matter dictates the coverage, not vice versa.
So, good, we done with this now?
• OK, wait. One more ...
The only shaky aspect of the suspension is that it leaves open Wilson's return for a Game 7. That stinks in and of itself. If he were ever going to be at his reckless worst, it would be in an elimination game with little to lose, especially if the score were to get lopsided. But I can easily flip that to say the NHL sets a slippery slope if assigning suspension lengths based on a certain point in the series.
Besides, the Penguins now have the chance to punish Wilson in the worst way possible: Take out the Capitals in six. Win 'em all, let him watch.
• The Washington media, a match for the teams they cover in every conceivable way, tried to concoct some spin to the video below suggesting Sidney Crosby was spitting at Evgeny Kuznetsov in Game 3:
What was Sidney Crosby doing here? https://t.co/rpIZdUKcz9 pic.twitter.com/ft1KECH5if
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) May 2, 2018
It's so stupid — never mind glaringly obvious that Crosby had his sweater yanked back by Alexander Ovechkin — that it shouldn't merit a response. But Barry Trotz, very much part of the old-old-school in playoff hijinx, chose the low road when this came up after the Capitals' practice Tuesday.
"I think the video speaks for itself," Trotz replied. "I have seen the video. We are just going to focus on the game.”
And that, my friends, is how someone who's been a head coach in the NHL for 20 consecutive years has never escaped the second round of playoffs. Because talking about focusing on the game and pulling garbage like that don't exactly dovetail.
• For what it's worth, Brett Connolly, Washington's grinding third-line winger, laughed off a question on the same topic: "I don't know if he actually spit. You'd have to ask him. I think it kind of look like someone grabbed the back of his jersey, so maybe it was kind of a head-jerking reaction. Who knows?"
Everyone knows. Because everyone can see the sweater yanked back by Ovechkin.
• The Capitals and Bengals are basically the same franchise, right?
• For all that these two-time defending champions have overcome, there's never been, in any of these past nine playoff series victories, a two-game deficit. And there could be one tonight.
That's the Daily Shot subject du jour:
• Mike Sullivan's lines for Game 4 should be fascinating, though I'm suspecting he won't show them at the morning skate even after an optional practice yesterday. There are ways to do those drills without any combinations.
My bet for now: Evgeni Malkin will be reunited with Phil Kessel, and Carl Hagelin — who wore a full-contact sweater yesterday — will be back. From there, Derick Brassard can be back between Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary, and that should be plenty for three lines.
Yeah, I know, Brassard's been a big disappointment. But pulling the plug doesn't make sense, especially now that he got his wheels going again in Game 3 and even got a little involved in traffic areas.
The downside of this scenario is that it reduces the fourth line to a penalty-killing repository of Riley Sheahan, Tom Kuhnhackl and probably Carter Rowney, but the Penguins currently have only one line going. They need to worry about two going or three going before all four going.
• In my weekly studio hit on 105.9 the X yesterday, Mark Madden and I got into it over lines, with or without Hagelin's return:
• There isn't anything even remotely systemic going awry for the Penguins to be giving up all these two-on-ones. Not in terms of the Xs and Os, anyway. All that's happening — and the coaching staff will support this — is that the Capitals have been extraordinary at fronting the puck at all points on the rink. Especially in the defensive zone, which is where Trotz has them pack it in for precisely that purpose.
I wrote before the series that the Penguins could exploit this because they've got the speed to keep possession through the cycle and the skill to penetrate any box. And they've done both, which is how they've scored most of their goals.
They need to do more of that. Plain and simple, get moving.
As for odd-man breaks, that comes down to better decisions, also plain and simple.
Olli Maatta never should have been beating himself up as he was following Ovechkin's late winner in Game 3 ...
... if only because Wilson tripped him on the pinch and prevented him from getting back to help.
At the same time, Maatta can't make the initial super-soft pass down the middle after the pinch. He's so much smarter than that. That's a turnover in a terrible spot. That can't happen, particularly not with Maatta and the Penguins' forwards having been out for an extended shift:
All of that's eminently solvable.