They don't make players like Washington Capitals alternate captain Tom Wilson anymore. He's a rare breed, a fierce competitor who can not only score and play physical but also get under your skin. That said, he and Josh Anderson, who plays a similar role for the Montreal Canadiens, haven't taken a liking to one another to open the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

So, it wasn't a surprise when sparks flew between both Wilson and Anderson when the horn sounded to close out the second period of Game 3. As Wilson crossed the ice to make his way to the locker room, he and Anderson got into it, and their scrum made its way through the open bench door and onto the Capitals bench.

"Pretty crazy, obviously emotions get high,  it's playoff hockey," Wilson told reporters in Montreal, adding, "You know, I think that's what the game of hockey is, that's why everybody loves it, right? It can be a little bit crazy at times and it's physical and it's playoffs, and I think there's always a little bit of carryover in the playoffs. There's always those emotions when you play a team over and over, it can get that way, it can become a rivalry."

When it comes to Anderson, a longtime adversary for Wilson since their days in junior, the 31-year-old said that a lot of the tensions between them stem from their wills to win.

"He's a competitor, I'm a competitor," Wilson said, adding, "I bump into him from time to time and a lot of mutual friends and stuff. You know what you're gonna get with him, he's doing his job and stuff."

After the official broke things up, Wilson directed his attention toward an unnamed Canadiens player and started mock-crying in a moment that quickly went viral. Other angles suggest he could have been taunting Juraj Slafkovsky, though he wouldn't confirm this.

"It was for one guy. I wasn't doing it to their whole team, it was for one guy. I'm not gonna say who, but he know who it was, and the camera was right on me," Wilson said with a smile. "I guess I should probably just shut up sometimes, but like I said, emotions get high and they're playing hard, we're playing hard. It's been fun hockey so far and we'll keep it going."

That said, Wilson noted that he and the Capitals need to be more disciplined in Game 4, especially after a disappointing loss in the last game.

"We gotta be better tonight, that game got a little bit out of hand on multiple fronts from our end and we just got to be better between the whistles, play better, make better plays," Wilson said. "That stuff isn't what we're focused on going forward."

He applies that to himself as well.

"I just gotta be a little bit better, maybe turning away and playing hockey," Wilson noted.