Phil Kessel got challenged to Mario Kart by the Capitals player he called an ‘idiot’

The snarl between the Penguins and Capitals from Game 3 has taken quite the turn.

On Tuesday, in an article for The Washington Post, Jay Beagle answered a question on the intensity of the playoffs.

“It should be nasty,” Capitals forward Jay Beagle said. “It’s the playoffs. That’s the way we like to play. That’s the way they like to play — you know, hard hits, going after each other. These are two teams that don’t like each other.”

Phil Kessel, in the worst game of hockey telephone ever, interpreted his words as a reaction to the crippling Sidney Crosby injury. That caused the normally stoic Kessel to get heated and respond: “If he thinks that’s clean, he’s an idiot.”

Beagle was then asked about Kessel’s response at the Capitals’ morning skate on Wednesday and gave the best gem of the postseason so far: a challenge to duke it out in Mario Kart.

That response from Beagle gave us the greatest moment of levity this series has had. Over three games, the Penguins and Capitals have given us some incredible, intense, aggressive hockey. Unfortunately, missteps by the media and real unfortunate injuries have clouded this series and turned it quite nasty in some cases.

Now, the talk has shifted. An escalating situation was brought down with a challenge many of us have likely issued to friends way back when. After all the nastiness, we finally have a second to just laugh at a real gem of a quote.

Our own Scott Matla suggested that Kessel would probably play as a Shy Guy. Beagle seems like a Yoshi kind of player to me. Come for the hockey, stay for the Mario Kart analysis.