"It's one of those plays where it happens really quick, obviously I'm not trying to get him in the face there at all... Tough part for me is he doesn't miss a shift and I'm gone for six games," the Capitals alternate captain said.

ARLINGTON, V.A. — When Tom Wilson headed home after the Washington Capitals' 7-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 20, he thought nothing of the double minor he took after high-sticking Noah Gregor. Then, the storm hit.

Wilson again found himself trending on social media — an instance he's experienced time and time again over his still-young NHL career — and, to his surprise, had a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety.

"It's tough. After the game, no one's really talking about it. It was kinda, honestly, it was a completely accidental play," Wilson recalled. "Coaches aren't talking about it, media's not talking about it, ref gave me a double minor and then overnight with slo-mo and all that next morning you wake up to a crazy amount of media."

After a Zoom hearing, Wilson received a six-game suspension for swinging his stick and catching Gregor up high, which the NHL Department of Player Safety called "extremely reckless."

With six games served, Wilson spoke on the play, emphasizing once again that it was "completely accidental."

"It's one of those plays where it happens really quick, obviously I'm not trying to get him in the face there at all. He's a tough player," Wilson said. "Tough part for me is he doesn't miss a shift and I'm gone for six games. It's a tough pill to swallow and when that's the case, it felt like a long time."

Gregor himself told Toronto reporters that he believed it was an accident, with Wilson apologizing immediately after the play. It resulted in some broken teeth for the Maple Leafs forward.

"Obviously, I got to control my stick better, but I think he knew right away it was an accident; there was no intent behind the play," Wilson said. "Six games with a play that there's not intent behind, it's tough, but at the end of the day, it is what it is... you know when a guy's out there trying to do something versus an accident and i was genuine as I could be.

"I've never been a stick player; I've never swung my stick. Unfortunately, it was bad timing, and one I'd obviously like to have back and just moving forward," he added.

While he acknowledged that he had a strong case, he elected not to appeal and instead served all six games.

For the 28-year-old, there were several factors that led to his decision to wait things out, especially after having been through the appeal process years ago — and losing — when he got 20 games for a head hit on Oskar Sundqvist.

"There's a lot that goes into it. Last time I appealed, it was what felt like two months, probably a month and a half to even get to the neutral arbitrator, so that's very frustrating from the player's perspective. It's not like you get a fair decision tomorrow you gotta g through the whole process and I'm missing those six games anyways," Wilson pointed out, adding, "I had some conversations with people that i trust and it's one of those where there could have been some games knocked off, my last time around it was like, 'Holy smokes this is completely outrageous, and we have to appeal this one.'"

At the end of the day, Wilson stands by the fact that the play was accidental, and though the suspension was long, he didn't want to be a distraction as his team competes for a playoff spot.

"In fairness to myself, I felt like I needed to appeal, after looking at some comparables around the league that maybe got one game, maybe two games, I was like, 'I have a great case.' But when you appeal to a neutral, it's not always a hockey guy. it's not always a guy that understands that that may have been an accident," Wilson added. "So there's a lot that goes into it; I just chose to focus on this run. I'm not going to New York two weeks from now, doing a hearing, then going three to four weeks from now, doing another hearing and it's a huge distraction. I wanted to make sure my head was in this playoff race with this team and put it behind us."

Wilson returns to the lineup on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.