It may just be a spontaneous expression of delight, but in the postseason, when results matter most, the art of the goal celebration takes on new dimensions.
Take Phoenix captain Shane Doan's wild-eyed, open-mouthed roar after scoring the tying goal in Game 2 against Detroit (it suggested something like fierce joy), or Philadelphia Flyer Daniel Carcillo's gap-toothed astonishment after beating the Devils' Martin Brodeur this week.
There are various traditions and points of differentiation when it comes to whooping it up after the red lamp flashes.
You've got the basic fist pump (and its popular variant, the toe-dragging, round-the-world, touch-the-ice fist pump), your pantomime archers, the leap-into-the-glassers, and myriad freestyle moves (the Ovechkin fireside hand-warmer, the Selanne skeet shooter, the Williams hobby horse, the Foligno hop).
And then there are the minimalists.
Like Montreal's Michael Cammalleri, who usually just twirls his stick and skates toward his teammates for an obligatory pat on the helmet.
"I figure celebrations are for things that don't happen all that often," he smiled, "birthdays, anniversaries, stuff like that. My mindset is that it's my job to score in every game.
"I was brought up to always go to your teammates (after scoring), but that's just me," Cammalleri added. "(Washington's Alex) Ovechkin scores every night and he celebrates like crazy - I think it's great for people to express themselves in our game."
The Vancouver Canucks' Kyle Wellwood is another member of the understated, less-is-more school. The Windsor, Ont., native barely cracks a smile when he finds the net, let alone strut.
"I think it's just habit, and it kind of reflects your personality. I'm a pretty laid back like that," Wellwood said.
Beyond questions of individual style, there is hockey's default gesture of triumph, familiar to anyone who has ever whacked a puck, tennis ball or rolled-up sock past a goaltender: arms raised, stick in the air.
Even at the NHL level, it remains the standard form of celebration (Cammalleri and Wellwood both do it regularly when teammates score, as does the colourful Ovechkin).
For such a common thing, few seem to know where the iconic stick in the air comes from, least of all those who do it on hockey's biggest stage.
"I don't know, it's a good question," Cammalleri said, musing that it's likely some form of "learned behaviour."
That's certainly true, but there are historical explanations as well.
According to the Society for International Hockey Research, which tracks such arcana, the first recorded instance of the stick-raised celebration was Nov. 13, 1947, at the Montreal Forum.
The player in question was Billy Reay, in a 5-2 win over Chicago, and he did it at the urging of Frank Patrick, the former Boston Bruins coach and NHL executive.
It became a league policy of sorts to signify a goal - presumably for the benefit of fans and off-ice officials, the lighting wasn't the best back then - by raising one's stick.
Sports historian Bruce Kidd, a former Canadian Olympian, said hockey and the Olympic disciplines in Canada have traditionally been inflected with a kind of cultural Puritanism or gentility.
"Before the era of professional hockey as we know it, players were all about not showing up the opposition and respect for competition. You scored and just got on with," said Kidd, the University of Toronto's dean of physical education and author of The Struggle for Canadian Sport.
Because sports leagues now depend heavily on personalities, Kidd said, subdued is out.
He also points to factors like television, the growing emphasis on entertainment, the influx of players from foreign cultures. Then there's the influence of soccer and football, where showboating and flamboyance have become the norm (former Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders' non-celebrations notwithstanding).
Ovechkin was lambasted by the traditionalists last season with his stick-on-fire routine after scoring his 50th goal, but his peers typically don't have a problem with his enthusiastic celebrating (in Montreal this week, he bounded across the ice after scoring a go-ahead goal and leapt into the glass).
"I like it. I like seeing guys really celebrate and get excited. I think it's good for the fans. But it's just not my personality," Wellwood said. "I think it's all great. This league is about entertainment, and not disrespect. It's really nice that (Ovechkin) does it."
With a report from Matthew Sekeres