Shane Pinto of the Ottawa Senators trash talked the Toronto Maple Leafs in the most polite way possible following the Sens' 2-1 win on Hockey Night in Canada.
His game-winning goal was controversial enough that Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube addressed it with reporters after the game, but it appears that wasn't enough for Shane Pinto.
Even before the game got underway, Pinto told Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas that he and his teammates weren't happy about the number of Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys in the building at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.
Then, after lifting the Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 win over the Maple Leafs, Pinto decided to chirp the Leafs, although he made sure to be polite about it.
Pinto, attempting to keep his good guy image intact, made sure to state that it wasn't his intention to chirp anyone, but then proceeded to dig at the Leafs, as you'd expect a heated divisional rival to do.
Besides the winning goal, Leafs coach Craig Berube also criticized referees for the decision to not penalize the Sens when it came to the hit by Nick Cousins on Leafs rookie Jacob Quillan.
Ottawa ended up with the two points, which they needed, as the Sens battle for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, the Leafs watched their Atlantic Division lead diminish. They are now just one point up on the Florida Panthers, with an equal number of games played.
Both teams have some time to stew on Saturday night's game before they meet again. The next time the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators face off is March 15th -- this time, at Scotiabank Arena.
At that point in the season, we could see things get really heated, if Ottawa can stay in the wild card race and if the Leafs are still pushing for top spot in the division.
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