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Arber Xhekaj is almost certainly going to hear boos at every opportunity when the Montreal Canadiens return to Buffalo to take on the Sabres in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
It seems in every game, Xhekaj has gotten himself into the mix not with his play on the ice but with his brutal physicality.
He crushed Sam Carrick with a punch to the head at the end of Game 3.
His harshest moment in Game 4 may have been overlooked at the time, though.
It came on the play when Konsta Helenius went to the front of the net, Jack Quinn scored on a rebound after review, but then the refs affirmed a Montreal challenge for goalie interference that wiped out the goal.
Well while everyone was focused on the action in front of the net, Helenius was skating past the play when Xhekaj crushed him with a cross check to the back of his head.
Here's a look:
Completely unacknowledged in the mayhem of the play, here’s Konsta Helenius EATING a cross check to the back of the head from Xhekaj.@NHLPlayerSafety pic.twitter.com/KKmkX4cvsE
— Buffalo Sports Talk (@BUFSportsTalk) May 13, 2026MORE: A Buffalo bounce and a Benson birthday give the Sabres new life
In some ways, that's just the cost of doing business in the crease.
In other ways, it's a bit much, and if the referees had seen it, it may not have gone unpunished.
Xhekaj is out there to be that player for Montreal. He's their sixth of six active defensemen, and he doesn't get as many shifts as the rest. When he takes the ice, he's supposed to hit people. That's certainly what he does.
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