If the players were politely ignoring the Stanley Cup, they were happy to pay it reverence with their thoughts, considering aloud what they find most beautiful about it.
"Just the history of it, seeing all the names on it, what it represents," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, a Cup winner in 2009 and 2016. "When you look at it, (you think of) what it's gone through. If it could speak, the stories it could tell ...
"Even people who don't necessarily know what it is, when they see it, it commands that attention. That's pretty special."
Crosby says it's likely Gordie Howe's name that means the most to him, the late Detroit Red Wings legend having won the Stanley Cup four times between 1950-55.
Crosby is well aware this season's winner will fill the bottom band on the Cup. That means the top band will be retired to be displayed in the vault of the Hall of Fame in Toronto in September 2018, when the 2017-18 champion begins a fresh band. Howe's name, and those of Maurice Richard, Ted Lindsay and other icons who won between 1954-66, will be removed from the Cup forever.
"What guys have gone through and played through to get it, the experiences with it after, everything that comes along with it, the joy that comes along with winning, all those things combined," Crosby said of the Cup's magic. "And the fact it's the same Cup, not something that's new every year."
Fisher, the Predators captain, was seated Sunday just a few stick-lengths from the Cup he's played for once but not won.
"It's great looking. It's the best trophy in sports to me," said Fisher, who especially enjoys that the name of Wayne Gretzky, an idol, is tapped into the silver. "The playoffs are so long -- two, 2 1/2 months. It's a grind, seven-game series, and it takes a toll on your body."
Penguins forward Phil Kessel, who won the Cup for the first time last season, spoke to the trophy's history.
"If you ever get a chance to win it," he said, "you know you're always going to be on it, or in the Hall of Fame (vault)."