Capitals remove Ovechkin from the lineup for Wednesday's rematch against the Rangers

In case you missed it last night, Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson set off an absolute firestorm of controversy when he absolutely dummied Nes York Rangers forwards Pavel Buchnevich and Artemi Panarin. Buchnevich was slammed to the ice by Wilson, who then delivered a dirty rabbit punch to the back of Buchnevich's head. Panarin was then body slammed to the ice for trying to get Wilson off of Buchnevich.

Here's the entire sequence of events:

Fans across the NHL were up in arms yesterday and today, with many saying that Wilson deserves to be suspended for the balance of the season and the entirety of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Unfortunately... I have bad news for those fans. Wilson gets dinged with a $5,000 fine... no more.

Check it out:

That's... that's a head scratcher, quite honestly.

I will say though... that this ruling makes tomorrow evening's rematch between the two clubs a LOT more intriguing. 

Panarin won't be in the lineup as he was injured by Wilson, so you can bet that the Rangers will be looking for retribution. Unfortunately for them (or fortunately depending on your perspective) Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin will NOT be in the lineup tomorrow evening. Ovi left last game with a lower body injury and the team will not be re-inserting him into the lineup for tomorrow's Death Match.

Check it out:

You know what? While this is disappointing, it's a very smart move by the Caps. Why bother risking Ovi's health for a mean-nothing game against a team that will not factor into the playoffs? Do I want to see a bloody rematch tomorrow night? Yes. Do I want to see Ovi in the middle of that? Yes. But, I get why the Caps want no part of that scenario.