Islanders' Boulton: Capitals' Wilson was 'scared to death' to fight me

Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson is still drawing criticism from the New York Islanders.

"He kept turning me down," Islanders forward Eric Boulton told Newsday's Arthur Staple when asked about Wilson's refusal to fight him during the Capitals preseason win in Brooklyn on Monday night.

"He wasn't interested," Boulton added. "He was scared to death."

Boulton appeared to be seeking retribution for Wilson's season-ending hit on former New York defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series.

“I thought maybe the change of scenery, everybody would have forgot about last year, but obviously, there was a little bit of hard feelings carried over,” Wilson told the Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan. “I made a little bit of a big hit on the first shift and kind of woke up the bear. (Boulton has) done that his whole career.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Boulton. He’s 39 years old and he’s still playing tough, still in the league, so I understand what his job is. I understand what he’s trying to do. I just tried to kind of play hockey.”

Several Islanders players lashed out at Wilson following his hit in April. New York captain John Tavares called it a "complete target of a defenseless player," while teammate Kyle Okposo called Wilson an "idiot."

Islanders forward Anders Lee fought Wilson early in Game 5 last spring, but clearly that didn't put an end to the grudge.

The Capitals host the Islanders in their final preseason game Sunday.