Travis Green Addresses Active Investigation Involving Nick Cousins and Anthony Stolarz

It's been a wild Friday morning for the Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, as we learned the NHL is investigating Nick Cousins and Anthony Stolarz as the former ended up shooting a puck at the latter during warmups in a fairly disrespectful and unsportsmanlike bit of business.

It's unknown if the NHL is going to punish anyone in this situation, and while it's clear the animosity has boiled over to a point where players are now taking potshots at each other in warmups, cooler heads have to prevail one way or another.

So for Ottawa head coach Travis Green, he tried to add a bit of levity to the situation by keeping coy about things while also seemingly defending his player's actions:

Then when asked about what was going on with Cousins, Green said he spoke to him and relented that it's not really out of the norm:

While it's great for Green to give us the inside scoop when it comes to how business is done around the league, it goes to show everyone what type of coach he is for even allowing it to happen in the first place.

Just because something happens regularly, or other teams and organizations take part, doesn't mean you need to stoop that low either. Green should bench Cousins and give him an earful, but instead felt the need to give him the 'OK' and try to laugh it off.

In a worst-case scenario, Cousins could have lobbed a puck towards Stolarz, who isn't looking or paying attention and struck him in the in the neck if his attempt went wrong, and though he tried to put the fear of God into Stolarz; he seemed undeterred.

This type of behavior is just another underhanded and sneaky method for Ottawa to try and play mind games, and gives this air of desperation as the team is down 3-0, and Stolarz is clearly in Ottawa's heads instead; they continue to go after him.

It's no surprise why either. Stolarz has a 3-0-0 record with a blistering 1.95 GAA and .926 SV% while giving the Maple Leafs every opportunity to stay in the game.

First it was Ridly Greig being a nuisance to the Toronto goalie and eventually got a bit of comeuppance from Stolarz; so perhaps it'll be Cousins' turn next.

Though he should probably avoid the front of the net if he values either his knees or back and try his best to sidestep the wrath of a furious and focused goaltender.