Now and then in the NHL there comes a time when the most intense part of the game comes before it even begins, and this seems like what happened in game 3 of the Battle of Ontario, where Brady Tkachuk’s and Auston Matthews’ men faced off.

As reported by Darren Dreger, the NHL is currently looking into the pregame “shenanigans” that took place before game 3 between the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs to determine what sort of disciplinary action needs to be taken. As, at the time of this first news break, there wasn’t much information on what the nature of the shenanigans was, fans were quick to speculate on the seemingly rising tension between the two teams. From Ridly Grieg’s cheeky tactics to Auston Matthews stick break, everything seemed a bit on edge. Till the incident was finally revealed: A wayfaring puck, aimed at Senators goaltender Stolarz.

In a video that has now surfaced, the shenanigan in question seems to involve Nick Cousins of the Senators shooting an (invisible?) puck at Stolarz in the pregame warmup. The NHL is super strict about any pregame tactics and just this past Monday took issue during a game between the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues. But the evidence seems to be lacking here, and given Cousins and Stolarz were teammates on the Florida Panthers, maybe they just had a momentary lapse! Brady Tkachuk’s teammate David Perron at least seems to think the whole thing is baseless, recently stating, “We’re going to have to bring back HD for the warmup too. I’m from the days where there was only 10 games in HD when I started my career. It sounds like we need to update the quality of video in warmup.”

It’s true, HD certainly would have helped the officials case with this one, and maybe even Brady Tkachuk and the Sens, because who’s to really say what’s going on in this video? Fan reactions range from raging sarcasm, “Praying for Stolarz; I don’t think he’s gonna be able to recover from this,” to just straightforward disbelief, “Holy shit, this is seriously what we are crying about?” But the NHL does not mess about when it comes to pregame shenanigans, and for good reason.

Does the NHL have a zero-tolerance policy on pregame shenanigans?

It’s all in the mind. At least some players certainly think this is true and actively try and enter the minds of their opponents in the pregame warmups so as to throw them off before it even counts. For example, in the incident between the Jets and the Blues that resulted in both Mark Scheifele and Joel Hofer being called up by officials, Hofer was trying to actively mess with Scheifele. Scheifele has this thing about wanting to be the last player on the ice before the game begins, a ritual, you could say, but during this most recent playoff game, Hofer sort of challenged him, remaining on the ice and shooting pucks end to end. They waited it out till the warm-up clock had run down, after which Hofer left, not without boos from the fans, who were clearly onto what he was doing.

The incident with Cousins and Stolarz, though, seems far more innocent than that, at least from the video, though Cousins does have a reputation for getting under players’ skin. Now, some reports have stated that it wasn’t just Cousins but other players trying to shoot at Stolarz, with journalist Bruce Garrioch even adding in a retweet of Darren Dreger’s original newsbreak, “I did see Stutzle stop a lobbed puck near centre. Found it odd and didn’t think anything of it at the time. That was the only thing I noticed.”

Still, the incident does not seem to warrant much more than a stern talking-to, but reports have been circulating about a potential fine, which may be why Brady Tkachuk seemed so shaken up in his post-game interview. Sens coach Travis Green, however, was, despite the Senators’ performance, somehow in a much more lighthearted state of mind; when asked about the incident, he said, “Cousins and Stolarz have played together. I dunno. He’s probably trying to either laugh at him or make a joke or get him off his game. Is what it is,” adding, “Game within a game, happens a lot more than you think.” Indicating that the whole thing was nothing more than some friendly messing about.

But if the NHL officials didn’t push down on pregame antics, the potential fights that emerge from the friendly or not-so-friendly messing about might never allow the real games to begin on time, which then causes a slew of scheduling issues if the Zamboni is delayed for ice resurfacing.