"It's a bit of a game," Jankowski laughed. "See who can catch the most in a row, or who can get theirs the highest. We like to keep it light. Nothin' fancy on the line, but bragging rights? For sure."
While most of us Regular Joes would have issue pulling it off with even a lightweight, head-high toss, the two pals are limited only by the height of the ceiling, tickling the rafters and catching the puck, ever-so-softly, like a young Gordon Bombay teaching his rag-tag Ducks how to pass an egg.
"You don't STOP the pass. You accept it; cradle it."
"We both have different strategies," Jankowski said. "He likes to flip it up near his heel, and I like it more in the middle, or even closer to the toe. If I don't catch it one way, I might switch it up and put it in a bit of a different spot.
"It takes a fair amount of skill, but so much of it is luck, too. It's all about the rotation of the puck and when you're flipping it that high, it's pretty hard to control. But that's where the difficulty comes in, right? It's a great way to loosen up the hands and dial a few things in. When it comes to puck control, little adjustments can make a big difference and I think that's why we both like doing it."
While Jankowski is a relative newcomer, Gaudreau has been doing it for some time at the pro level, with the origins tracing as far back to his years at Boston College.
"I used to do it alone," Gaudreau said. "Didn't think much of it. Just tried to get my hands warmed up.
"One day I saw Janko standing beside me, watching.
"Now it's become this thing we do every night, same time, and try one-up each other.
"Nice to have a little fun, too."
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For a player like Jankowski, who spends a great deal of time working the areas down low and in front of the net, soft hands and a sharpened hand-eye are key.
Just ask one of the greats:
"Concentration, not strength," Bombay reminded.
The duo does have an off night every now and then, of course. Usually, though, the spell-binding contest goes right down to the wire with one or other holding a 2-1 or 3-2 edge after about three minutes of air time.
"We have a lot of 0-0 games," Jankowski laughed. "We try not to let it end there, though. If we're struggling, we'll push it overtime to make sure we get something on the board. You can't go into the game on a low note, right?
"So much of it is out of our control. The lighting, for one. The colours of the ceiling, or even the seats, too. Those are the real wild-cards. We're used to it here, considering we play most of games here. But there are some buildings that we're not used to and it just gets lost. You can look pretty foolish trying to pull off something like that and just miss it completely when it comes back down.
"That's the challenge of it.
"But that's also what makes it fun."
Especially when you're constantly on the hunt for a new personal best.
"I think there was one game earlier in the year where we both got it on our first three flips," Jankowski said.
"Three-for-three, right off the hop.
"That's rare…
"But man, it feels good."
