Off-Camera: Arber Xhekaj Silences Max Domi after Tempers Flared on Opening Night
Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj apparently stepped in last night to end tensions between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs before things got out of hand.
TVA reporter Rafael Lavoie was between the benches in Montreal last night so he got a good idea of what was being said between the two teams. Apparently, Max Domi wanted to drop the gloves with Mark Savard, but Arber Xhekaj intervened, offering to go in Savard's place.
According to Lavoie, this resulted in Domi keeping his mouth shut for the rest of the game and we really didn't see much nastiness from either team from that point onward. It would appear then, that Xhekaj has become an effective enforcer in the league as just the threat of him dropping the gloves is enough for his opponents to be quiet.
This was not the only incident involving Xhekaj that took place during the game. At one point, he appeared to square up with Ryan Reaves, but the Leafs enforcer refused to drop the gloves. Ultimately, it appears as though Reaves was demoted after this, as Craig Berube has made him a healthy scratch tonight for the second half of the back-to-back.
It makes sense that Berube would make at least one lineup change as the Leafs take on the New Jersey Devils tonight. After all, the team was embarrassed by the much younger and less experience Canadiens, largely thanks to their netminder Sam Montembeault. Montembeault had arguably the best game of his career, posting a 48-save shutout as the Habs held on to the 1-0 victory thanks to Cole Caufield's goal.
Making matters worse for the Leafs is the fact that Joseph Woll has started the season on injured reserve forcing them to turn to rookie netminder Dennis Hildeby, who will be making his NHL debut tonight. There are many people in the Leafs organization that are high on Hildeby, but the plan was not to play him much this season. After all, the Leafs still have Matt Murray waiting in the wings as well. That being said, Murray has not played an NHL game in a very long time. We will just have to see how this season goes for Toronto in goal and hopefully they will be healthier than they were last season.
