The forward served the final game of his seven-game suspension Friday when the Capitals defeated the New York Rangers 2-1. The teams play again at Washington on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+. NBCSWA, MSG, NHL.TV).
Wilson has been out since he was banned by the NHL Department of Player Safety for boarding Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo on March 5.
"At the end of the day, it can't happen," Wilson said Friday of his suspension. "I can't be missing seven games. I can't be missing one game. I've got to be in the lineup. … I just have to worry about helping the team win playing good hockey."
The Bruins said Carlo is week to week and he is not practicing. Wilson said he contacted Carlo the day after the hit to check on him.
"You never want to see a fellow peer get injured," Wilson said. "They're hockey players just like I am, and this is their living and their livelihood, and when a guy goes down it's not a good feeling. So I texted him the next day and was happy to hear that he was feeling better, and like I said, it was a couple weeks ago now, but I'm just trying to move forward and build my game."
Wilson has been suspended five times in his eight NHL seasons, all since September 2017. This was his first incident that warranted supplemental discipline since the start of the 2018-19 season, when he was suspended 20 regular-season games for an illegal check to head of St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist in a preseason game Sept. 20, 2018. That suspension was reduced to 14 games by a neutral arbitrator after Wilson already had been out 16 games.
Wilson noted that he played 166 consecutive games, including the Stanley Playoffs, and delivered almost 600 hits without being suspended after the Sundqvist suspension. He said he hopes to learn from this punishment moving forward.
"As of late, just trying to get focused on myself, making sure I'm ready when the team has me back and when I can get back in there," Wilson said. "So it's one of those situations where, obviously, you kind of hoped it didn't happen for a number of different reasons, but it is what is and I've just got to control the future."
Wilson, who has scored 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 21 games this season, said it helped that Washington won six (now seven) straight without him.
"Part of the reason I hate missing time is I feel like I'm not out there to help the team," Wilson said. "And when they go out there and they take care of business and they play the way they are, you are a proud teammate and you are extremely happy when the team gets the win, and they've been playing great hockey. I've been traveling with them, I've been practicing with them every day, so I've stayed fairly involved, and that's been nice to keep my mind on hockey. Moving forward it is crunch time now."
