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Eric Engles Confirms Arber Xhekaj's Suspension Fate After Ejection

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Daniel Lucente
October 2, 2024  (9:10)
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Arber Xhekaj of the Montreal Canadiens during an NHL game
Photo credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday's game between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators was extremely heated with many dirty hits. The fate of players has been confirmed.

For the second straight preseason game, the Montreal Canadiens piled up the penalty box minutes in a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre.

Having already lost David Reinbacher and Patrik Laine on Saturday, the new-look Canadiens nearly lost Kirby Dach thanks to some rough play from Ridley Greig; fortunately, he returned and scored the team's second goal.

The down side is that Arber Xhekaj didn't do the Canadiens much good, getting tossed again on a major penalty just a few days after the last time. He was trying to do the right thing, standing up for a teammate, but his penalty put the Canadiens shorthanded, and the Senators capitalized with three power-play goals.

His fate, along with a few other players, has now been confirmed by NHL insider Eric Engels. It does not appear that anyone will be suspended.

Opinions about Xhekaj's hit ran across the board. Some thought it wasn't, in fact his shoulder making contact with Stutzle but rather Stutzle's own stick riding up and catching him in the face. Xhekaj dodged a suspension following his tussle with Pare. The Department of Player Safety is normally less understanding of that, having already let him off in the Pare incident, but they somehow managed to let him off once again with the Stutzle situation.

These two teams play each other for one final preseason game on Saturday, so it will be very interesting to see if any bad blood boils over.

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Eric Engles Confirms Arber Xhekaj's Suspension Fate After Ejection

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