Greig took a slapshot into an empty net on Saturday night so Rielly chased him down and cross-checked him in the face.

Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly has been offered an in-person hearing for his attack on Ottawa’s Ridly Greig near the end of the Senators' 5-3 victory on Saturday night.

This not only means a suspension is coming, but probably a long one, since in-person hearings sometimes mean six games or more. That wouldn't be ideal for a Toronto team that's 5-5 in their last ten games with just a four point edge on the Islanders for the final wild card spot.

Greig took a slap shot into an empty net to score the insurance goal for Ottawa on Saturday night and put a loud exclamation point on an emotional 5-3 win. 

While Sens fans loved seeing Greig's emphatic game-ending slam dunk into the empty net, the Leafs naturally felt like Greig was showing them up and rubbing salt in the wound. These are the kinds of things that do often lead to shoving matches, harsh words, and even fights. But no one expected such a vicious reply, and certainly not from a player like Rielly, who's averaged just 23 penalty minutes a season over his 11-year career.

As for Greig, his fuse had been lit three minutes earlier when he was dumped in front of Toronto's net. It was hard to see what happened, but it looked like Greig had taken some kind of contact to the face and was down for a few seconds as play carried on. With the Sens up 4-3, Greig couldn't risk taking a penalty by retaliating. So when the empty net chance came, he was probably still fuming and decided to put a little extra something on it.

Remarkably, Leafs' head coach Sheldon Keefe gave a full endorsement of Rielly cross-checking Greig in the head, describing it as an "appropriate response."

The two clubs do not play again until next season, but there's no question that raw emotion has returned to the Battle of Ontario.