Phaneuf the Faker?

Dion Phaneuf is a heated playoff rivalry away from being the legend his detractors suggest he thinks he is anyway.

Hey, fake it until you make it.

There are plenty of reasons why the rest of the NHL doesn't like the Leafs captain, the two-time defending most over-rated player in the league.

Just a few: His glower; his glower and his glower when posing for publicity shots as the captain of the richest, most self-satisfied and most under-achieving team - if recent playoff appearances are the measure - in the NHL.

And now, courtesy of Ottawa Senators agitator Nick Foligno another reason: the big defenceman's penchant for faking injuries to draw a penalty as Phaneuf was accused of doing in the second period of the Leafs 3-2 loss to Ottawa at the Air Canada Centre Tuesday night.

"I didn't think he had to embellish it," was Foligno's interpretation of the Leafs captain lying on the ice after the Sens forward low bridged him, sending him skyward. "I knew I didn't get his knee so I was disappointed in him embellishing."

And Leafs and Senators fans alike can now pause to metaphorically fist bump Foligno for not faking his answer and throwing a log on a fire that has been reduced to embers in recent years.

Foligno did indeed get a minor penalty for clipping on the play and Phaneuf, who left the ice and didn't take his rightful place on the Leafs power-play, later exacted some justice when he started a pretty spirited fight that could fairly be judged a draw.

Whether it was wise for Phaneuf to take himself out of the mix for seven minutes in the middle of a one-goal game is a topic for another day.

As for what Phaneuf thought about being accused of being a faker?

We'll have to wait and see. He wasn't available to comment after the game. The Leafs PR department said it was because he was getting treatment for an unspecified injury.

Leafs coach Ron Wilson?

"He was probably pissed off," he said. "He finished the game. We wouldn't play him if he was hurt."

As rivalry fodder goes, talk of Phaneuf the Faker isn't quite Claude Lemieux of the Colorado Avalanche crushing the face of the Detroit Red Wings Kris Draper; or even the obvious contempt the Boston Bruins have for the Vancouver Canucks and vice-versa, or at least for Brad Marchand.

That is hate born in the post-season fire.

But given the two protagonists in the Battle of Ontario haven't won a playoff series between them since the Senators were flailing in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007, having Nick Foligno call out the Leafs captain for faking an injury is a pretty good start.

Hockey fans in Toronto and certainly throughout Ontario if not elsewhere should hope that the Leafs and their old rival do manage to meet in the post-season for the fifth time.

It would be the first time since 2004 which was the Leafs last playoff appearance.

But you knew that.

Should it happen, Phaneuf showed last night that - regardless of his reputation among whatever sample of players participated in the Sports Illustrated survey that found him the game's most over-rated player - he's at the very least willing to raise the stakes.

He showed no compunction in face-washing the Sens' Jason Spezza after the whistle and otherwise making life uncomfortable for the Ottawa centre and leading scorer.

Spezza didn't seem to mind, and allowed that he could even stand more of it if it signaled a return to the kind of post-season environment he watched as a teenager in Toronto and got to participate in the early years of his professional career.

"I just think he competes hard," said Spezza of Phaneuf. "I don't think he's trying to spark anything up with us. His job is slow me down. Every night I face a guy similar to him. It's just because it's Dion and Toronto that we're talking about it.

"Every night there is someone punching me and slashing me trying to make my night hard. So just because it's Dion more gets made of it."

Okay, now we're getting somewhere.

The trick, it would seem, would be for the Leafs to make the playoffs.

The Sens seem to be a team with their eye firmly on the prize. They came back from trailing 2-0 in the first, were tied 2-2 heading into the third before Kyle Turris wired a shot over James Reimer's shoulder with a just over a minute gone in the third; a shot the Leafs goalie concedes he should have had.

The win left Ottawa - picked for last in the East by many in the pre-season - tied with Philadelphia with 58 points and firmly in the top-five in the conference and with a realistic chance to have home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

The loss was Toronto's third straight and saw them remain in 9th place in the East with 49 points.

The two clubs play twice more this season. Doubtless Phaneuf will be seeking to explain to Foligno that he wasn't embellishing by punching the Senators forward in the face again. Even if -- as Foligno argued after the game -- the matter is over and done with.

For the sake of hockey in Ontario, let's hope not.

Michael Grange will provide insight and analysis on all the top stories in sports.