Tom Wilson destroys William Carrier in Game 4.

There is a reason that Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson is considered to be among the most impactful players in the National Hockey League, especially at this time of year, and it is because of plays like this.

Wilson can create magic with the puck on his stick as he showed this season with 33 goals and 32 assists for 65 points over 81 regular season games, but it is his physical play that truly defines his game. On Sunday night, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier found that out the hard way.

During the game's third period Wilson would use that physical brand of play to turn the tide of the game when he absolutely crushed Carrier along the boards near center ice. The hit hammered Carrier into the boards and sent him crashing to the ice on his back, but the damage still wasn't completely done.

Much to his credit Carrier would get back to his feet relatively quickly, but struggled to make his way back to the Canadiens bench leaving the Canadiens down a man on the ice. The Capitals would pounce on their sudden advantage and only seconds later the puck was in the back of the Canadiens net.

It will be capitals forward Brandon Duhaime that gets credited with this goal, but there's no question that the physical play of Tom Wilson is what made it happen.

You can see both the hit and the goal that it helped create for the Capitals in the video below: