Ryan Kesler's antics appeared to have gotten under the skin of Nashville Predators centre Ryan Johansen after Game 2 on Sunday night. 

"I mean, it just blows my mind watching," Johansen said after the Ducks won 5-3. "I don't know what's going through his head over there. Like his family and his friends watching him play, I don't know how you cheer for a guy like that. It just doesn't make sense how he plays the game. I'm just trying to go out there and play hockey, and it sucks when you've got to pull a stick out of your groin every shift. He doesn’t do anything that makes sense.

"He thinks he’s getting under guys’ skin, but I don’t know what he’s doing.”

Ducks defenceman Josh Manson seemed to think Kesler had succeeded in getting under Johnansen's skin through two games.

“He would be in my head a little bit,” Manson said Monday of Kesler, per the Los Angeles Times.

“He’s a tough guy to play against. You watch him and he’s a guy that you love to have in [an opponent’s] head and you hate to play against. So you watch throughout the series and throughout the playoffs; so far he takes pride in throwing guys off their game.”

With Game 3 set to be played Tuesday night in Nashville, the Predators will have last change for the first time in the series and could focus having Johansen avoid a matchup with Kesler.

“Obviously, the matchup game has been taking place, and (Predators head coach Peter Laviolette) did not shy away from that matchup in the two games in Anaheim,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said Monday. “So whatever he decides [Tuesday], we’ll try to work effectively to get the matchups we would like to have in place.”

Johansen picked up two points on Sunday night, including the game's opening goal on a breakaway. He picked up a two-minute minor for high-sticking Kesler after a draw in the second period. 

Through 12 playoff games, the 24-year-old owns three goals and 10 assists while averaging 20:18 of ice time per game, second among Predators forwards.

Kesler, who's been assigned the task of shutting down opponent's No. 1 centres in the postseason, owns one goal and seven assists in 13 games in the postseason. He's also picked 28 penalty minutes, including a tripping minor in the third period of Sunday's game.