OTTAWA 鈥� Senators head coach Travis Green suggested to reporters the Maple Leafs were manipulating the officials to get penalty calls.
Toronto counterpart Craig Berube mused a few minutes later that Ottawa had intentionally bumped, slid into and fallen on his goaltender.
Winnipeg Jets centre Mark Schiefele and St. Louis Blues netminder Joel Hofer, meanwhile, twice played a game of chicken at the end of warm-ups to see which player would be last off the ice.
Intensity and emotion ramp up dramatically in the NHL playoffs. The same goes for the gamesmanship 鈥� that evergreen game within the game 鈥� at this time of year.
The 2025 post-season is no different.
Whether it's on the ice, in the media or behind closed doors, teams are looking for any edge they can find in best-of-seven series where the smallest details and fractions of percentage points can make the difference between victory and an early tee time.
"It's always there, it's always a part of it," Toronto defenceman Morgan Rielly said. "But I think it's equally as important for guys to just remain focused on the game and not get caught up in that stuff."
That can certainly be a challenge in the heat of the moment.
Green wasn't happy with some of the decisions that went against his team over the course of a Game 1 blowout in Toronto. Ottawa forward Ridly Greig, meanwhile, was one of the players to make contact with Toronto netminder Anthony Stolarz. Two nights later, the pair met again in the Leafs' crease, with Stolarz eventually decking the Senators' antagonist to end a sequence that earned both players minor penalties.
There were more potential shenanigans ahead of Game 3 when Senators centre Nick Cousins, who won the Stanley Cup last June alongside Stolarz with the Florida Panthers, appeared to shoot a couple of pucks in the direction of Toronto's goaltender during warm-ups.
The NHL handed out fines Friday, dinging the Senators US$25,000 and Cousins $2,083.33, the maximum allowed, for unsportsmanlike conduct.
"There's a fine line with how far you can go," Jets forward Nino Niederreiter said of playoff gamesmanship.
The series between Winnipeg and St. Louis started with mind games in the first two warm-ups. Hofer not only refused to leave the ice 鈥� Schiefele's superstition is to be last off 鈥� after the horn sounded, he fired pucks down the playing surface with his opponent's back turned.
"You've got to make sure you don't lose yourself and are focused," Niederreiter added. "That's the most important thing 鈥� that you don't get carried away."
The Montreal Canadiens, meanwhile, have a roster with a number of youngsters finding their way 鈥� and learning about post-season dark arts.
"You just feel how much is on the line," Montreal centre Alex Newhook said. "Guys are trying to do whatever they can to get an edge."
Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said finding a balance under the bright lights of playoff hockey is key.
"You don't want to take any penalties and put your team down for unnecessary plays," he said. "At the same time, you want to play these guys hard, whoever you're playing against. It could be seven games, so the little things, they start to add up. You want find ways to make it tough on the other team."
"How aggressive you need to be in order to stay on that line," Montreal defenceman Mike Matheson explained of the on-ice calculus required. "You've got to stay disciplined. Figuring out how to do that in high-pressure situations is important."
Coaches, meanwhile, are often found lobbying for calls 鈥� either with officials in-person or when standing in front of the cameras.
"Special teams are always a big part of the post-season," Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. "It's always a very tight game 鈥� usually comes down to a special-teams difference-maker."
Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk is in the playoffs for the first time in his career, but has learned plenty of lessons watching older brother Matthew go on spring runs with the Panthers, including last year's title win.
"There's stuff that happens in a series," he said. "It can test discipline, test your will to win. There's going to be some battles, going to be some intense moments. You get those battles and there's a respect factor there, but at the end of the day, it's two teams that will do whatever it takes to win."
Niederreiter said players will sometimes target opponents with specific characteristics in hopes of gaining an edge.
"There are certain guys you want to get under their skin because you know they're a little more emotional," he said. "You might go after younger guys because they're extra nervous, extra juiced up for playoff games."
"The tenaciousness of always being in someone's face over and over 鈥� you keep being a little prick and it wears (them) down."
-With files from Daniel Rainbird in Washington, D.C., Gemma Karstens-Smith in Los Angeles and Judy Owen in Winnipeg.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2025.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
