The Maple Leafs practised at Ford Performance Centre on Monday.

Senators winger Ridly Greig was initially assessed a major penalty for a cross-check on Leafs centre John Tavares in the second period of Game 1 on Sunday night, but the referees reduced it to a minor after a video review. Matthew Knies was a little surprised.

"He got him pretty good in the head," the Leafs winger said. "You gotta trust they made the right decision but, yeah, I think I saw it a little bit differently."

Leafs coach Craig Berube told reporters to "call the league" as he left the podium on Sunday night. The league ultimately decided not to levy any supplemental discipline.

"I didn't think they would," Berube acknowledged on Monday.

Greig, who scored in the third period, is always looking to get under the skin of the opposition.

The 22-year-old fell and slid into Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz while driving the net in the third period. Berube made it clear after the game he didn't think it was an accident.

"It’s definitely annoying," said Knies. "I think we’re going to play hard on him and not make it easy for him the rest of the way."

But Berube is warning his players that they can't go too far when responding. The Senators led the league in drawn penalties in the regular season with Greig ranking fourth on their team.

"That's part of playoff hockey," said Berube. "I mean, that stuff's going to happen, and you've got to be disciplined as best you can, and we're going to keep preaching it. The league, the referees, they'll take care of that stuff. That's their job."

Berube is seventh all time in penalty minutes and understands it's not always easy to keep your cool.

"Well, I didn't do a very good job of it a lot of times," he said to laughs. "It can be difficult for sure. I mean, it's human nature. But we did a good job of it last night for the most part."

Greig played a prominent role in the Battle of Ontario last season. He took a slap shot into Toronto's empty net to seal a Senators win in the final regular season game between the teams. Defenceman Morgan Rielly retaliated with a high cross-check, which led to a five-game suspension.

So, what's the key to dealing with Greig moving forward in this series?

"There's nothing to it," Rielly said. "I think our group just has to keep our focus on playing our brand of hockey."

"There’s always guys on both teams that like to play that role," said Leafs captain Auston Matthews. "It’s just making sure that we’re sticking up for each other, making sure we’ve got each other’s backs, and when stuff like that happens, that we’re picking up each other when we have to."

© TSN