Anthony Cirelli comes across as low-key and reserved in front of the cameras, but don’t let that fool you.

“He’s kind of a goofball,” former Tampa Bay Lightning teammate Tyler Johnson told The Athletic. “He says some things that you’re just like, ‘What the heck is that? Why are you talking like that?’ But that’s just how he is. He’s so much fun to be around.”

For example?

“I remember there were probably two solid days one year during the season where him and (Brayden Point) were arguing if cucumbers and pickles are the same thing,” Johnson recalled. “And you just laugh at it, he’s just so funny.”

Cirellli and Mathieu Joseph moved into Johnson’s house in Tampa when the COVID pandemic first hit in March 2020 and shut the NHL season down. They got very close, forging a friendship that still exists to this day. Johnson, who retired last year after 13 NHL seasons, said having them in his house was a lot of fun.

“They’re both goofballs. There were times when I had to send them both to their rooms every once in a while to get my peace and quiet.”

In all seriousness, though, Johnson can’t say enough about what he thinks of Cirelli as the perfect teammate, a comment that comes up a lot when asking about the 28-year-old center.

“A lot of people say, ‘The ultimate team guy,’ but I would put him up there as top three that I’ve ever played with,” said Johnson, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with Tampa Bay.

Steven Stamkos had heard of this Cirelli kid who had had some big games for Oshawa in the OHL but didn’t know much else before the third-round pick made his NHL debut in March 2018.

“He got called up and I think he scored his first game in Dallas, and he never really looked back from there. He takes a lot of pride in trying to shut down opposing top players. He is fiercely competitive and also one of the best PKers in the game because he can use his high hockey IQ and skill set,” said Stamkos, the former Lightning captain. “Some guys fall into the category of purely a shutdown center, but he has continuously worked to become a true two-way center.”

That Cirelli has become one of the NHL’s premier two-way centers is no surprise to those who have closely followed his journey. Toronto-based trainer and performance coach Dan Noble has worked with Cirelli for 15 years, and talks about a kid who has never taken anything for granted.

“Coming from the situation of the unexpected, over and over again, since he first came to me when he was playing AA,” Noble said. “He just works with purpose.”

Noble, who also counts the likes of Mitch Marner and Cirelli’s Tampa teammate Darren Raddysh as clients, tells the story of last summer when Cirelli was working out as part of Noble’s group that also included some OHL players. Some of those junior kids didn’t show up for the last few days of the program for various reasons.

“Anthony was in there, I said to him, ‘How many days have you missed here in the last 12 years?’” Noble said. “And he goes, ‘Honestly I’m not really sure.’ I said, ‘I will tell you. Zero.’ Holidays, long weekends, whatever it is, Anthony just doesn’t miss a day.”

That work ethic explains in part why Cirelli has already exceeded expectations from being selected at No. 72 in the third round of the 2015 NHL Draft. Al Murray was Tampa’s director of amateur scouting in those days (he’s now senior advisor to GM Julien BriseBois) and recalls the growth in Cirelli’s game in his draft year from start to end.

“It doesn’t always happen that way,” Murray said. “But he came in without a lot of fanfare. He started on the fourth line, and after a month and a half he was on the third line, and then he kept moving up to the second line. He went from no special teams to being part of both units. And come playoffs, he seemed to have that clutch gene where he was regularly part of big goals and big plays for his team.”

As Murray remembers, Cirelli was still physically immature at the time; he needed to work on his skating and strength.

“But he had the two items that were the most important to our organization, which always have been for Steve (Yzerman) and Julien, which is hockey sense and compete,’’ Murray said. “We always want guys who have above-average to elite hockey sense and compete.”

And Murray credits Tampa’s development people over the years for helping that type of player blossom.

“Over the years, guys like Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson and Anthony Cirelli have all paid their dues and spent a lot of time getting their game up to speed and getting stronger and improving their skating with all our skills and development people,” Murray said. “Then when they tend to make it, they don’t leave.”

Cirelli has put on a masterclass so far in this series with Montreal, shutting down the dangerous Nick Suzuki and Montreal’s top line. What makes him so effective in his defensive coverage?

“He’s relentless,’’ Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Wednesday. “He plays every shift like it’s his last. Like he’s not going to be in the league anymore. That’s the kind of attitude he has … He prides himself on keeping the puck out of the net just as much as he does scoring, if not more. And when you have that selfless kind of attitude, it’s pretty contagious. He’s somebody young kids should follow, like in the way he plays the game.”

The Canadiens might get Suzuki away from Cirelli at home with last change in Game 3 Friday night.

“(Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis) has used Suzuki’s line against him in the past. I don’t know if he’ll do it again,” Cooper said. “But that’s kind of the fun part about the game, the tactical part, there is a bit to it. It’s unlike other sports; home ice isn’t just about the fans, there’s last change involved. So we’ll see what happens. Marty’s got a plan, we’ve got a plan. Ultimately it’s the players that determine it when they’re out there.”

Cirelli lives for the big assignments, and matching up with the talented Suzuki and his linemates Cole Caufield and Juraj Slavskovký is certainly that.

“Coop’s trusting us to go out there and do a job, you take pride in that,’’ Cirelli said. “It’s obviously a really good line, they can make plays, they’re so good offensively. It’s just being aware when they’re out there and just trying to play them hard.”

Cirelli’s own offensive game, which meshes so well with linemate Brandon Hagel, is sometimes the best brand of shutdown with a talented line like Suzuki’s. Which is to say, the more time they spend in Montreal’s zone the better.

Cirelli will get some Selke Trophy votes again this season, something Cooper wished had come earlier. Although even on his own team, Yanni Gourde will also deservedly get some votes this year. But just being in the conversation is flattering, Cirelli said.

“It’s not about that award, it’s about the big thing. The big one is the Stanley Cup and that’s what we’re all fighting for.”

He had hoped to fight for an Olympic gold medal, too, after being named to Team Canada on Dec. 31. But an injury forced him out. He tried so hard to get back in time to still go to Milan. But he had to be honest with himself and pull out, which was excruciating.

“I just felt if I couldn’t go over there and play my game, I was limited in not being able to do that, it’s kind of useless. It was tough to have those talks and not go.”

Noble remembers talking to Cirelli after the Olympic decision was made.

“Bowing out of that, I was in tears when he told me,” Noble said. “He said, ‘How do I put that jersey on and look at Sidney Crosby in the face and my family and everyone else knowing that I’m not 100 percent and I’m taking an opportunity from someone else?’

“That is who that guy is,” Noble said. “He’s the most beloved teammate everywhere he’s been.”