SEATTLE — Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen claims that, while playing junior hockey in Iowa, he once slapped a puck into an opponent’s empty net from close range with the goalie pulled.

Tolvanen somehow escaped that night unharmed by opposing players but admits he wouldn’t dare try it in the NHL. And for good reason, given how Ottawa Senators rookie Ridly Greig was basically assaulted on the ice in February for doing the exact same thing. Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly didn’t appreciate Greig showing his team up and immediately charged over and cross-checked the Sens’ player in the face as he celebrated along the corner boards.

The attack on Greig and ensuing five-game suspension handed down on Rielly sparked intense debate about unwritten NHL rules pertaining to overly enthusiastic handling and celebrating of an empty-net goal.

“I think it’s just common sense — the game’s over, you’ve got a two-goal lead and you’ve just got to respect each other,” Tolvanen said, adding he’s not really sure what prompted his own slapper into an unguarded net when he was 16 and had first arrived from Finland to play for Sioux City in the United States Hockey League.

“We battle hard on the ice, but when it comes to that kind of stuff, you’ve just got to kind of close the game. It’s mutual respect you show to everybody. It’s like, what would you like them to do to you? So, you don’t do a big celly, or a slap shot.”

Hockey etiquette has no problem with players trying to score on an empty net regardless of how much time remains. A tying goal can be scored in two or three seconds off a faceoff, so missing an empty-net chance and getting called for icing and forcing an own-end draw isn’t the preferred route.

For decades, there’s been an understanding at multiple levels of hockey that empty-net goals should be celebrated at a minimum unless clinching some huge game. When Maple Leafs captain George Armstrong scored perhaps the league’s most famous empty-net goal with 47 seconds to play in a 3-1 win that clinched Toronto’s last Stanley Cup title in Game 6 against Montreal in 1967, his entire team poured off the bench in celebration without any brawls being triggered.

But a player hooting and hollering and sliding back down the ice with his stick between his legs as if riding a horse after sealing a preseason victory might get himself mocked or even beat up at a future date. Generally, in such situations, the gesturing, stick pumping and vocals are all but eliminated.

As for how the goal should be scored, the general rule has always been to not hoist the puck high into the net when skating in for an unguarded, close-range opportunity.

In such situations, with no defenders around, players will often just guide or ease the puck along the ice into the net.

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