OTTAWA, Ontario -- It was the kind of hit players who have competed with and against Ottawa Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf have seen countless times before. In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust was driving to the middle of the ice with the puck, and then -- BOOM! -- he was on his back, courtesy of a heavy Phaneuf shoulder.
One of Phaneuf's former teammates with the Calgary Flames, David Moss, was watching on television and shot a text to another former Flame, Eric Nystrom, admiring the hit.
"I said, 'Are you watching this? Classic Dion,'" Moss said. "He played that way in practice. You knew in practice you had to keep your head up. It's just how he plays. He's an ultracompetitive guy. We were just laughing about that."
It was vintage Phaneuf.
Later in the series, it got even more entertaining for Moss. Not only is he Phaneuf's former teammate, he and Penguins forward Phil Kessel are cousins. Their moms are sisters.
So when Phaneuf rode Kessel into the boards and the two exchanged a few whacks in Game 3, Moss got a kick out of it because he saw two guys as competitive as any he knows going at it. Plus, he knows how close they are off the ice, having once been teammates when with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"I laughed," Moss said. "Watching those two and watching them battle and knowing off-ice they have a good relationship -- I think it's great for fans and people to see that. That's a real thing. They're both trying to win the Stanley Cup."
To Moss, that moment captured just how desperately both players wanted to advance. Now, Kessel and the Penguins are tantalizingly close to doing so.
The Penguins' 7-0 blowout win in Game 5 over the Senators gave them their first lead of the Eastern Conference finals, up 3-2. The physical edge that Phaneuf provided earlier in the series has given way to the Penguins' skill and speed, as Pittsburgh appears to have found another gear.
The Senators aren't going to out-skill their way to evening up this series in Tuesday's Game 6 (8 p.m. ET). It's going to take a return to the defensive hockey that strangled the offense out of the Penguins early in the series. It's going to take more classic Phaneuf to make the Penguins' puck carriers think twice when driving in on goalie Craig Anderson.
And to know Phaneuf is to know he's not going to let Kessel and the Penguins go quietly into the Stanley Cup finals. Not only is he a competitor, he also has never come this close to the Cup in his 11-year career. He's played 17 playoff games this spring; his previous high was seven. The closer you get to actually achieving it, the more desperation starts to enter your game.
"You can see more and more of what guys are willing to do to get it," Moss said. "You'll probably see that [Tuesday] night. They're going to play as hard as they can on the top guys. Pittsburgh's top-end talent -- there's no team in the league that has that top-end talent. You have to play a certain way, play physical. Make it hard on those guys. You can see Dion tries to do that."
Along the way, he's enjoying himself. Phaneuf started with the Flames, moved to the Maple Leafs and now is with the Senators, so he's learned to be a bit guarded with the media. He has no desire to become the story at any point.
So he'll never say that this playoff run provides any personal satisfaction after two teams that once considered him a cornerstone on defense -- Calgary and Toronto -- ended up trading him. Or that he feels like this is redemption for anyone who thought the Senators were crazy to take on his $7 million annual salary in the 2016 trade with the Maple Leafs.
Nope, that won't come out of his mouth, even if you have to suspect he feels that way. But he will say he's enjoyed this run immensely.
"I'm really happy to be where we're at," Phaneuf said. "I'm enjoying every day, enjoying every minute of it. It's been a lot of fun to be a part of this group, to go through what we've gone through this year, to play what we've had. It's been a good group to be a part of."
The Penguins understand what they're up against when Phaneuf is on the ice. They know they'd better keep their feet moving or else he'll line them up.
"He likes to use his stick a lot, too," Penguins forward Carl Hagelin added. "That's a big part of his game."
They also know they'll get an extra dose of desperation from Phaneuf and the Senators with their season on the line. It's always the biggest challenge in a playoff series: matching the effort of a team backed into a corner.