Heading into the NHL’s 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, there were certain players you knew what to expect from. Specifically, you knew particular players were going to be annoying influences on the opposition. Pests, if you will. And thus far, there are more than a few pests who’ve been living up to their reputation, or down to it, depending on your perspective.
For instance, Washington Capitals right winger Tom Wilson engaged in a massive brawl with Montreal Canadiens counterpart Josh Anderson in Game 3 of their series. Wilson’s theatrics were nearly at professional wrestling levels, mocking the Canadiens’ crying with facial expressions that were bordering on comical. Even Wilson himself said after the game, “I just gotta be a little bit better, maybe turning away and playing hockey.”
Wilson hasn’t had a bad series by any means, with two assists through three games, but maybe a bigger focus on actual hockey would help him contribute even more.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Panthers super-pest Matthew Tkachuk was mixing things up with the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of their series, laying a late hit on Bolts star left winger Jake Guentzel with the game well out of hand in Tampa Bay’s favor.
Tkachuk received a five-minute major interference penalty on the play, but he evaded supplemental discipline. And Tampa Bay players knew the type of competitor they were dealing with – an expert player when it comes to getting under the skin of their opponents.
Matthew Tkachuk will not receive any supplemental discipline for this his on Jake Guentzel, according to @FriedgeHNICpic.twitter.com/WqUuGnhIH8
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 27, 2025
“Obviously, the timing of the hit, (the score is) 4-1 and we’re about to make it 5-1 and Tkachuk goes out of his way to hit Guentzel,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. “We can’t control what the league thinks is interference and what’s suspendable and not suspendable. So, we’re just gonna fight through that.”
When it comes to Tkachuk, he’s a true star in the NHL, so while he, like his brother Brady, likes to get under the other team’s skin, he definitely backs it up with his play. In three games this post-season, Tkachuk has put up three goals and four points in three games.
Over in the ‘Battle of Ontario’, the Ottawa Senators/Toronto Maple Leafs have seen a couple of Sens pests – winger Ridly Greig and Nick Cousins – trying to make an impact by frustrating the Maple Leafs. Cousins and the Sens were fined by the NHL after he shot a puck at Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz during warmup before Game 3, while Greig annoyed many Leafs, including causing Stolarz to lash out at him.
Cousins and Greig have been pure pests this post-season, as between the two of them, they have just one goal and no assists. Clearly, the two are effecting the game more with their antics than with their scoring.
Without a doubt, all these pests aren’t new to their profession. None of Greig, Cousins, Tkachuk and Wilson were Lady Byng candidates coming into the playoffs, and they certainly aren’t going to make any fans outside of their team’s fan bases. But the key to playing against those types of players is to ignore them and not fall for the emotional traps they lay out with their sandpaper brand of play.
Indeed, the more disciplined teams are against the super-pest competitors, the more they take the power away from the pests, and coaches and veteran players understand this. That’s indeed easier said than done when emotions and stakes are sky-high, but one wrong reaction or overreaction can turn out to be the difference between a team winning or losing a playoff game. And if that happens, the pests have done their job.
We’re sure players like Wilson, Cousins, Tkachuk and Greig will continue to push the envelope. As Hedman said, players can’t control what the league deems acceptable behavior. And while that’s a column for another day, the truth is that teams have little choice but to turn the other cheek and not indulge pests when they try to affect the outcome of games.
Ultimately, the better players are at staying calm and focused, the more their team is likely to win the big and small battles in the rest of the playoffs – and the tougher it is for super-pests to have an impact on the game. And that’s the game-within-the-game challenge that super-pests’ targets have to deal with.
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