It was fan appreciation night - though the giveaways were supposed to go to the fans, not the opposition.
It was, however, also April Fool's day, so perhaps it was just that these Ottawa Senators, who had not shown much humour this strange NHL season, were finally just poking a little fun for once.
It very nearly wasn't funny at all.
The night was intended to be a celebration: The Senators returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs after failing to reach the postseason last year, and being humiliated the year before in the opening round.
All that was required to get in the front door, rather than slipping in the back by way of slippage from teams lower down in the Eastern Conference standings, was a single point.
And they waited until there were all of 7.7 seconds left on the clock before they finally clinched that treasured position by sending the game into overtime - and then winning the shootout to post a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
"In dramatic fashion," Ottawa's best player, Jason Spezza, offered in a postgame understatement.
It should have been a simple task for a team that had just won five games in a row. But then, the Ottawa Senators are the Jekyll and Hyde of the NHL. Either very good or very, very bad, with not much in between - except for this night, when they showed both sides.
It all began well enough, with the Senators moving ahead 1-0 in the dying seconds of the first period, when Spezza slipped a pass out from behind the Carolina net and pinching defenceman Anton Volchenkov slammed a hard shot past Hurricanes backup goaltender Manny Legace.
But then the team seemed to get into the spirit of the special night, as fans were being handed free tickets, suites, jerseys and meal vouchers as thanks for coming out, if not their undying loyalty - the Senators having become a team fans dare believe in only every second week or so.
First, the Sens handed Carolina defenceman Jamie McBain a gift as McBain sent a puck floating, Frisbee-like, in the general direction of the Ottawa net. He seemed as surprised and stunned as Ottawa goaltender Brian Elliott that it found its way in a high corner.
Then, late in the second period, usually dependable Ottawa defenceman Chris Phillips seemed to lose sight of a puck that should have been his along the boards, only to have Carolina's Eric Staal find it, pass it to Chad LaRose, who put the Hurricanes ahead 2-1 on a wrist shot.
Ottawa started to return to life in the third - see, it was all just a prank! - when 19-year-old defenceman Erik Karlsson scored on a long shot that eluded Legace.
But, unfortunately for those might still have been hoping that the fooling around was finally over, the Hurricanes struck again on yet another unexpected gift: This one off an Ottawa skate that allowed Carolina's Brandon Sutter to score from behind the Senators net.
Three gifts, three goals, on what appeared at this point to have turned into Opponent Appreciation Night.
The fear as the game wound down, with Ottawa seemingly about to end its five-game win streak with a loss, was that another streak might be beginning - at the worst time imaginable for a team with redemption ambitions.
But then, with Elliott off for an extra attacker and the clock almost out, young Karlsson struck again, scoring only his fourth goal of the year - and by far his most significant.
The goal was made possible by an unexpected return gift by Carolina's Ray Whitney, a veteran known for his intelligence on the ice. Whitney iced the puck, allowing Ottawa to have one final faceoff in the Carolina end, which led to the goal.
"An egregious error," Carolina head coach Paul Maurice said later.
When overtime could not decide matters further, Ottawa won on a shootout when Alex Kovalev and Spezza scored.
The 4-3 victory made it six wins in a row, maintaining a trend that began on Boxing Day for the Senators. They won four of five, then dropped five games in a row, then ran up a stunning string of 11 consecutive victories, spent a couple of more-normal weeks, then dropped another five in a row before winning the five in a row that took into this home game against Carolina, a team with no playoff hope left.
So diamonds-to-coal is this Ottawa hockey team that, if it is hot, could well sweep a Stanley Cup playoff series four in a row, but if it is cold - and we're talking absolute-zero cold - it may as well concede after three.
"It's been odd," said Mike Fisher, one of the team's more consistent players this year with 22 goals and 28 assists.
Fisher's hope is his team can realize "we're a great team when we're on" - capable of beating any opponent in the East when they play as well as they have when streaking on the upside.
"It's a good sign if we gel," Fisher said. "If we can keep up this pace, we're going to be hard to beat."