It was a relatively minor moment in a relatively meaningless game involving a player from a team that can only dream about what it takes to play in the postseason.

TOUGH ENOUGH?

EASTERN CONFERENCE Ottawa: Forget pre-deadline pickups. Playoff experience of key players should make Sens tougher, although Marian Hossa has a lot to prove. New Jersey: Lost a lot of size in recent years. Addition of big Richard Smehlik won't address that issue. Tampa Bay: Not clear whether smallish Bolt attackers like Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards will fare in postseason traffic. Philadelphia: Not a physically dominant team. Picking up Sami Kapanen and Tony Amonte for offense won't make them nastier to play against. Toronto: Leafs are often more dirty than physical. But Owen Nolan, added before the deadline, is as tough a customer as there is. Washington: Don't have a host of playoff warrior types. Jaromir Jagr has shown before he can get discouraged. Boston: Lost Bill Guerin and Joe Thornton still learning what it takes. Most physical on the back end. N.Y. Islanders: Picking up Janne Niinimaa and Randy Robitaille was for skill. Dealt away Claude Lapointe, a real tiger, plus size in Brad Isbister. WESTERN CONFERENCE Detroit: Mathieu Schneider is more mature than earlier in his career. Wings just know what it takes. Dallas: Have a lot of experience in tough battles. Injury to Guerin hurts. Vancouver: Markus Naslund must demonstrate a willingness to get his nose dirty. Colorado: Added big bodies in Bryan Marchment and Bates Battaglia before deadline. St. Louis: Lose a physical force if Keith Tkachuk can't play. Minnesota: We'll see how Marian Gaborik responds to the challenge. Anaheim: Both Steve Thomas and Sandis Ozolinsh are underrated playoff battlers. Edmonton: Anson Carter was a willing combatant who didn't feel the need to retaliate.

But it was so very illustrative about the different mindset needed to seriously pursue the Stanley Cup as opposed to simply participating in playoff competition.

The moment occurred last week in a game in Calgary between the Flames, a team headed nowhere, and the Toronto Maple Leafs, a playoff-hardened club with a history of referee-baiting and losing its cool at intense moments.

Ask Scott Niedermayer, pointlessly coldcocked by Tie Domi two springs ago in a playoff series between the Devils and Leafs. Ask Eric Cairns of the Islanders, kicked by Leaf forward Shayne Corson in a playoff fight last spring. Or ask the Ottawa Senators, stunned recipients of a bizarre Darcy Tucker solo charge into their bench two weeks ago.

In this game, Flames forward Chris Clark was trapped along the side boards in the Toronto zone by Corson, who cleverly used his body to block the official's view and then drilled a vicious short uppercut to Clark's jaw during the scrum.

Clark, a 100 penalty minute-plus man himself, seemed momentarily stunned, but kept fighting for possession of the puck rather than retaliating. A moment later, Corson drilled him again, and this time the officials saw it and gave the Flames a power play.

Calgary, trailing 2-1 at the time, didn't score on the ensuing man-advantage situation. But the restraint shown by the Connecticut-born Clark seemed to alter the momentum of the game. And when a third-period, come-from-behind Flames uprising created overtime, the Clarkson grad was the sniper who won the game for his club.

It wasn't Game 7 of a playoff series. But the ability of players to absorb punishment and hold their tempers is clearly what defines true playoff toughness, just another feature that differentiates regular-season play from that what occurs after 14 of 30 NHL clubs have been sent home for the summer.

It will be an area that will move into sharp focus when the Cup tournament begins in three weeks for various clubs. Playoff toughness is an area often misunderstood, or at least confused with the type of player referred to as a "tough guy" for the 82-game regular schedule.

When the playoffs begin, the value of the vast majority of those tough guys drops considerably. Interestingly, of the 25 most penalized NHLers this season, only 12 are likely to be in the playoffs. By comparison, only six of the top 25 scorers will likely miss postseason play.

The NHL's most penalized goon, Columbus forward Jody Shelley, wasn't exactly a hot commodity at the trade deadline. St. Louis winger Reed Low has 17 majors this season, but despite playing 114 regular-season games the past two years, he wasn't used for any of the Blues' 25 playoff matches.

Darren Langdon was picked up by the Vancouver Canucks this season and has been an active policeman. The Newfoundland native, however, can tell his colleagues from bitter experience how an enforcer's value drops in the postseason after being on Carolina's playoff roster last spring and watching every single game of the Hurricanes' run to the Cup final from the press box.

So what is playoff toughness?

Well, it probably begins with an ability to play through pain and injury. Steve Yzerman certainly exhibited that quality in spades last spring, as did Blues defender Chris Pronger, and both players are preparing to do it again in the coming months.

By the time Brett Hull pushed the controversial winning goal across the line for Dallas against the Buffalo Sabres in the 1999 Cup final, he was a one-man physical disaster with a variety of hurts he'd hidden throughout the postseason.

Last spring, Maple Leaf forward Gary Roberts was a titan throughout the playoffs, leading his club in the absence of injured captain Mats Sundin and others. As soon as the playoffs ended, however, Roberts was off to have surgery on both shoulders that sidelined him until February.

Ever since Bobby Baun played in the Stanley Cup final on a broken ankle more than four decades ago, NHLers have been distinguishing themselves with their ability to play through unspeakable pain to joust for the Cup.

Playoff toughness also exhibits itself in a willingness to avoid retaliation and confrontation and thus avoid the penalty box. The Chicago Blackhawks were a tough hockey club in the early 1990s, but they once ran themselves out of a 1991 playoff series against the upstart Minnesota North Stars by refusing to understand that giving the Stars one power play after another would lead to their demise.

Being overly aggressive only works when the other team can be easily intimidated or wants to play the same game. The Leafs, for example, were able to survive against the Islanders and Senators last spring when those two clubs became overly focused on proving they wouldn't be run out of the rink.

But when the Leafs ran into the composed, disciplined 'Canes in the Eastern Conference final, they ran out of answers in a hurry.

Of all NHLers, the player who stands out for his willingness to take a beating and keep ticking is Colorado's Peter Forsberg, which probably is one of the reasons Forsberg has had such a difficult time staying healthy for long stretches in recent seasons.

Back a little further, the Islanders picked up John Tonelli at the trade deadline during their run of four Cups in the early '80s. On a team that had enough guys who could dish it out, Tonelli stood out for his willingness to bang and crash and get the dirty work done that helped others do their jobs.

At the same time, playoff toughness can be an expression of an individual's willingness to do whatever it takes in punishing an opponent as a means to victory. Colorado defenseman Adam Foote has taken on the biggest and baddest NHL power forwards, men from Keith Tkachuk to Owen Nolan, and his team has profited consistently from Foote's warrior mentality.

Forty-something Detroit blueliner Chris Chelios didn't back off Vancouver power forward Todd Bertuzzi one inch when the Canucks jumped ahead of the Red Wings in the opening round of the playoffs last spring, and ultimately the Wings triumphed.

Few will forget the intimidating persona of New Jersey defenseman Scott Stevens in the 2000 playoffs when he leveled one enemy forward after another, from Ron Francis to Eric Lindros, as the Devils rumbled to the Cup.

At the end of the day, playoff toughness isn't about fists, but about unselfishness and a willingness to scratch and claw while bending the rules but not breaking them.

The team with the most NHL playoff toughess? Why, the Red Wings, of course, winners of three of the past six Stanley Cups.

And not one goon on the roster.

Damien Cox, a columnist for the Toronto Star, is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.