Tussles between Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher (11) and Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson (43) and forward Pierre-Luc Dubois (80) and Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield (13) during the second period in game three of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre. Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

Watch: Tom Wilson, Josh Anderson fight on Capitals bench

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Apr 26, 2025 9:02 AM ET

The Stanley Cup playoffs can get heated when two teams have to keep playing each other game after game. Tensions get high, anger starts to build and sometimes emotions just erupt.

That happened between the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens at the end of the second period of Game 3 on Friday night. After the horn sounded and both teams were preparing to head to their respective locker rooms, chaos popped off near the benches and resulted in Washington's Tom Wilson fighting Montreal's Josh Anderson on the Capitals bench.

With a linesman caught in between.

WE HAVE FIGHTS ON THE BENCH ???? pic.twitter.com/bq9FEKbpqU
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 26, 2025

Wilson and Anderson have extensive histories with each other, fighting several times going back to their time in junior hockey. So it is not really a surprise that they went at one another in a playoff series in the NHL.

Wilson also added to the chaos by making a crying gesture toward the Canadiens.

Vote Tom Wilson crying while the Montreal crowd sings Ole for Music Video of The Year pic.twitter.com/ZEtGMkTnPU
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) April 26, 2025

Both Wilson and Anderson were given two-minute minors for roughing, as well as 10-minute misconducts.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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