Nice guy, tries hard, defends his teammates.

Penguins sniper Phil Kessel didn't mince words when responding to a quote from Capitals forward Jay Beagle.

"It should be nasty," Beagle had told Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. "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."

Khurshudyan noted that Beagle's quote wasn't in reference to Matt Niskanen's crosscheck in Game 3 that gave Sidney Crosby a concussion - it was just about the physical tone of a series between two rival teams.

Yet, when the quote was passed on to Kessel, he didn't take it lightly.

"If he thinks that's a clean hit, he's an idiot," Kessel said, according to Chase Williams of WPXI.

Beagle sarcastically responded by saying, "It hurts, deeply," according to Nora Princiotti of the Washington Times.

Beagle also added that he and Kessel could settle their differences over a game of Mario Kart. Who wouldn't pay to see that?

Beagle is clearly unafraid to display humor during serious times, but when asked about Niskanen's hit on Crosby, he agreed with Kessel that "it wasn't a clean hit," per TSN's Mark Masters.

Game 4 is set to take place Wednesday night in Pittsburgh, where there should be no shortage of fireworks.

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