Canadiens vs. Senators: Xhekaj Might Have Gotten Himself Out of the Running

Montreal Canadiens fans had been anxiously waiting for news on Patrik Laine and David Reinbacher's injuries since Saturday night, and today, they got some answers. Miraculously, the former only suffered a knee sprain and will not require surgery. The estimated timetable for his return is two to three months. However, the news was much worse for the young blueliner as Reinbacher went under the knife this morning to fix his left knee. In the best-case scenario, he'll return in five to six months.

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Still, Laine's absence, even if shorter than expected, means Martin St-Louis has got to go back to the drawing board, at least for one of his lines, perhaps even more. Tonight, Joshua Roy wasn't riding shotgun with Christian Dvorak anymore; he got a turn on Kirby Dach's wing. Meanwhile, Oliver Kapanen wasn't playing at the center but at right wing, which was another test brought on by Laine's injury, just like Joel Armia skating alongside Dach.

Related: Canadiens: Patrik Laine Avoids Surgery

The first frame was far from a masterpiece. The Canadiens had the edge in shots, four to the Sens' three, and managed to get the game's first goal when Jake Evans intercepted a clearance attempt and wristed it past Linus Ullmark.

Once again, however, it's not the offensive play that got the most attention but Ridly Greig's hit to Kirby Dach's head. The Ottawa forward was initially assessed a 5-minute interference penalty, but it was then converted into a minor. Michael Pezzetta tried to seek retribution as the Senators' forward came out of the box, but the invitation to dance was refused.

The power play could not convert, even though Emil Heineman had a few golden chances but lacked the timing to unleash one-timers. Heineman also drew a penalty when he cut to the net with speed, forcing Jake Sanderson to take a holding penalty.

Interestingly, Adam Engstrom and Justin Barron were the two defensemen who got on the ice with the two power play units. Meanwhile, like Logan Mailloux, Arber Xhekaj and his booming shot were given penalty-killing duties. While it's true the team wants to see them improve their defensive play, it would have been interesting to see them on the attack.

When the buzzer called time on the first period, there was a conference at center ice, which yielded very little result, aside from a 10-minute misconduct for Pezzetta.

A few random observations: Alex Barre-Boulet had two good opportunities but elected to pass instead of shooting, including on an odd-man rush with Brendan Gallagher, who was well covered. As for Mailloux, he managed to land a single hit in the first 20 minutes but took himself out of the play twice, attempting a couple more. No harm was done, but he needs to pick his spots better; those mistakes can be quite costly in the regular season.

The Canadiens doubled their lead early on in the second frame when Dach saw his pass deflected by Shane Pinto behind Ullmark. It looked like the Canadiens would cruise to victory, but then Xhekaj happened.

Clearly, the hit on Dach in the first didn't sit well with the Sheriff, who went after Tim Stutzle with an open-ice hit right in his blind side and an elbow going very high. The Canadiens fans still boo Stutzle when he touches the puck ever since Gallagher called him out for diving, but even with his Josee Chouinard tendency, he didn't dive there; it was a dirty and dangerous hit.

Brady Tkachuk immediately jumped on Xhekaj, and the two tussled, but the referees jumped right in to stop extracurricular activities. After a video review, Xhekaj got a five for interference, two for roughing, and a game misconduct. Tkachuk was also assessed two minutes for roughing, and the Sens ended up on a five-minute power play, now completely awake and motivated. Ottawa flipped the game on its head and took a 3-2 lead with a trio of man-advantage markers.

Related: Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs: Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Don't get me wrong. I get the use of a player like Xhekaj in the lineup to keep the other team honest, but being a team's protector doesn't mean going 100% goon. There's an art to protecting your teammates legally. Getting tossed achieves absolutely nothing, and in the end, it puts your team in quite a predicament.

I gave Xhekaj a pass on Saturday. His frustration was understandable, even though his misconduct got the team down two blueliners. The coaches should have told him to back off if they couldn't afford to lose him. But tonight? The ill-advised move is on him, and I dare say it may cost him not dollars but a roster spot.

Things didn’t get any better in the final frame. Armia was penalized early on, and the Senators scored a fourth power-play goal. Greig kept on going after Dach, who didn’t take kindly to it and ended up with a two-minute penalty for interference. As soon as he came out of the box, though, he dropped the gloves with his tormentor.

While the Bell Centre crowd loved it, I couldn’t help but wonder why he did it. Yes, I know, he had a score to settle, but how pointless can a fight be? This is a pre-season game worth nothing. Your team has already lost one of its top-six forwards, and you risk injuring yourself? That was not a smart move at all.

The smartest thing about the whole sequence was the Bell Centre speakers playing the Glass Joe theme from Punch-Out!!! While Dach, who has a lengthy injury history, was throwing punches at his opponent.

In his post-game press conference, Martin St-Louis started by refusing to comment on the hits and fights, but faced with the media's insistence, he did give some thoughts. He refused to say that Xhekaj's hit on Stutzle was a retaliatory play. For him, it was a hockey play. He didn't set out to injure the Senators' forward. The game happens fast, unlike replays, and he doesn't think he meant to hurt him.

Perhaps that was the coach protecting his player more than anything else. He feels he will address what needs addressing with Xhekaj himself rather than with the whole fan base in the media, which no one could blame him for.

Speaking about the players he was auditioning for tonight as potential Laine replacement, he had good words for both Armia and Kapanen. On the former, he explained:

Army plays the game that's in front of him. He's responsible, and he's got offensive abilities. I know it's a chair he can fill, but is it the chair we want to give him? I don't know yet.

As for the latter, he mentioned:

I think he can do a lot. He's got an offensive game, obviously he can take faceoffs, eventually he could be a player that could be a strong penalty killer too. He just brings a lot, he's not unidimensional.

Media members requested to speak to Xhekaj post-game, but he wasn't made available, just like he wasn't the day after he went after Cedric Pare after the Laine hit. To me, it seems like the organization is trying to shield and protect him from himself. His last media scrum was with his brother when he took over the microphone to say nobody would try his younger brother on his watch. The next day, the brothers weren't in the same group anymore and didn't get to play together.

Perhaps the team didn't like the idea of an exhibition game having a chance to turn into a brawl. Who knows, but the bottom line is the brothers didn't get a game together wearing the Tricolore jersey, and right now, it looks more likely that they do it wearing a Laval Rocket jersey.

After the game, the Canadiens sent Luke Tuch and Lucas Condotta back to Laval. The team will now practice one last time in Brossard tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM before heading to Tremblant for their team retreat. They will be playing their final pre-season game in Ottawa on Saturday, and considering Stutzle, Tkachuk, and Thomas Chabot didn't finish the game, I wouldn't be surprised if the game was rugged, to say the least.

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