There’s no two ways about it; the NHL playoffs are intense, ‘do or die’ situations. It’s easy to get a little heated.

In fact, it’s probably harder NOT to get a little heated when the stakes are so high.

There’s been some unavoidable rough stuff throughout the duration of the first round so far, that comes as a result of such high intensity situations inevitably bubbling over. 

Some players, though? Definitely a little easier to get fired up than others.

Sometimes, all you gotta do is have a face.

This playoff season has been a wild one thus far, with lower seeds eliminating higher seeds at an unprecedented pace. The Dallas Stars look to continue the trend, and currently lead the Central Division Regular Season Champion (banner?) Nashville Predators in their first-round series, three games to two.

The Stars’ came out of Game 5 with a tough fought 5-3 victory, and as you can imagine, tempers on the ice weren’t at all cool.

So much so, that just the look of Jason Dickinson had Mattias Ekholm rattled. 

Some extracurricular activity ensued after the whistle in front of Preds’ goalie Pekka Rinne, that saw Ekholm crosscheck Dickinson a few times in the face, and saw Dickinson...giggle.

No, seriously.

 

 

 

  When asked how he was able to get under Ekholm’s skin so effectively, Dickinson had some pretty straightforward, and surprisingly attainable advice.
  

 

All he had to do was have a face? You know, we think we could do that.

 

Obviously, this series has reached a boiling point, and we’re looking forward to the intensity of the game(s) to come.

 

(H/T: Twitter/SeanShapiro