“I think it’s just being smart,” Kraken veteran Jaden Schwartz said. “I think it’s something that guys usually don’t take over the line.”

Schwartz can recall maybe “one or two” celebrations of empty-net goals that got cringeworthy, but said most players understand the context. “It’s kind of like an unwritten rule,” he said.

Same with shooting a puck at an empty net. The idea, he said, is to make sure the shot is headed at the net — not to add needless extra gusto to it.

“There’s a time and a place for everything,” he said.

One of the stranger and most confusing empty-net goal celebrations in recent memory came last January when Pavel Buchnevich of the St. Louis Blues slammed his stick in anger and broke it against the glass after scoring. Apparently, he was angry at himself for missing several earlier scoring opportunities — including a prior empty-net try — and wanted everyone to know he didn’t take the blown opportunities lightly.

Fortunately, the New York Rangers team he scored on seemed just as confused as everybody else and didn’t interpret his antics as a slight against them.

There’s no easier way to rub salt in an opponent’s wound than getting too carried away with the shot or celebration — called a “celly” by today’s players — in order to “send a message” to the defeated team. In Greig’s case, the message was interpreted as a huge middle finger to the Maple Leafs and their legions of visiting fans that had poured into Ottawa’s home arena.

Even Greig’s teammate, Josh Norris, seemed to understand the rookie had crossed some invisible line.

“You never know what Greiger’s going to do. I mean, I loved it,” Norris told reporters postgame. “But obviously, I’m sure if we’re on the other side of that, I don’t know if we would have liked that, either. I didn’t really like the retaliation. I understand their frustration, but it’s over with. And I guess it was entertaining.”

Toronto’s coach Sheldon Keefe said of Rielly’s subsequent response attack on Grieg: “I thought it was appropriate.”

...continued

©2024 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.