In the preseason game between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, Arber Xhekaj delivered a controversial high hit on Senators’ star forward Tim Stutzle. The hit occurred after Stutzle had already released the puck, and Xhekaj was assessed a game misconduct for interference. The Senators capitalized on the ensuing power play, scoring three goals, and the incident added to rising tensions between the teams. Stutzle left the game with an upper-body injury, and the hit is likely to draw further scrutiny from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety
@Ottawa Senators
34 Comments
Habs fans will say parės hit was dirtier LOL
This dude needs to be sent down until he can learn to calm down. He was sent down last year for taking penalties and cant have him.costing games that mstter. Struble literally looked way better than him
"Don't recommend channel" option clicked
It was a great hit! This is why you dont suspend a player the first time. He almost caused a Steve Moore incident and wasnt punished. I think it's great. It's easier to score when the other team is paralyzed.
I don’t care if your a btch. Need I remind you Patrick laine and also a habs player got hit high
Damn Eck you really pissed some people off that they had to get political lol
Whether or not he actually hit the head, you can tell Xhekaj was headhunting here. Not only does he extend his elbow all the way up to make this hit, he jumps off the fucking ice too. The guy's already got a 4" height advantage over Stutzle, there's no reason to do either of those moves unless you're intentionally going for the head.
Why tf is there so much violence in these pre season games? I get we’re getting ready for the regular season but like why in these meaningless games?
But you'll defend Trouble clubbing people in the head? Come on dude.
Not trying to defend Xhekaj on that play, as I didn't like the move at all. But as you pointed yourself, this was another case of retaliation, this time after Greig aimed high / blindsided Dach, who had to leave the game until the beginning of the 2nd period. I'd also add that Pezzetta (who's tough, but much closer to Greig's weightclass than Xhekaj would be) tried to engage with Greig following his hit on Dach, but just like Pare did on saturday, Greig opted not to face the music. So what are the Habs supposed to do here exactly ? I'm asking the question honestly, really not knowing the answer…cause I hate seeing stuff like that; it's not good for the game, not good for the players, not good for the fans (who can't see the players they are excited for) and in both cases, it resulted in the Habs losing the game.
But at the same time, if other teams keep taking liberties, hitting and injuring our best players constantly (the Habs are Top-3 in the league for men games lost, three years running), they can't just offer to drop the gloves and if the players declines, move on to something else like nothing happened.
By default, Habs are not a 'dirty' team. Sure, Gallagher can be a little pest sometimes, but other than that, we're not talking about the old Bruins here. If the opponents stick to play hockey, they're more than happy to stick to it as well. But if we start losing players left and right to injuries because X players reacted poorly because he was gonna get beat and Y player thought it was perfectly fine to aim high and blindside one our Top-6 forward, who already missed the entire season last year…I mean, for sure they're gonna defend themselves and retaliate.
Boo hoo it's a run of mill interference penalty. He made 0 head contact.
Stop making the Canadiens police their own games and this shit won't happen. Terrible refereeing in a god damn pre season game. Also wasn't even a head shot he hit himself with his stick.
Xhekaj is going to keep doing his job if this league can't.
Screw you buddy ….typical Anglo reaction to Montreal trying to defend against cheap shot…
What are you a Maple Laughs fan?
I wish you showed more of the video. We could have seen Xhekaj do his best Pare impression of curling up in the fetal position and crying for the refs to save him from Tkachuk.
It's hokey, it's not russian ballet…
He shouldn't have even been there after punching Paré with his gloves on.
Paré who wasn't trying to intentionally injure someone, just an unfortunate incident. Then Xhekaj goes and does a hit like this in the next game.
All these people in the comments saying Xhekaj didn't make head contact, it's irrelevant. He just missed the head while trying to make head contact. You're acting like Xhekaj is on some great crusade to make the sport cleaner, when he's literally only in the NHL to be a dirty player for the Canadiens. Honorable players drop the gloves before punching a guy, honorable players drop the gloves to fight the guy who cheap shotted their teammate earlier in the game. They don't try to headshot a guy and get to claim innocence just because they missed.
I'm a Hurricanes fan, rarely agree with Eck's takes. But this I'm with him on. There's no case for Xhekaj making the game cleaner, it's a good thing they sell clown noses in Canadiens colors, because we'll be seeing a lot of those at Habs games.
Eck hates Kirby confirmed
i would agree (albeit with less pissbaby energy) if i saw any head contact
instead of uploading emotional reactions you should stick to the cookie cutter generic stuff you're known for
Eck love the channel but this take is atrocious might need a follow up vid to clear the air cuz no head contact on the play man…
where’s the head contact bud
no head contact what so ever not even close so you got that WAY wrong as did officials for a start.
Stutzle made a meal of it as he has done in the past. isnt Stutzles first flop on the floor n wont be his last and i like the guy he is a solid player but he dived on this
Habs fans here crying 😂😂😂
I'm an oilers fan and think this is a bad take
Watch the Montreal clown fans show up again. Only fanbase that thinks retribution through blood is justified.
Yep, at first, I thought it was dirty and to the head…but he never hit the head…it’s ottawa stick that hit him and throws the helmet off…watch a slow motion of the play….but those pre season games this year are so bad…
Absolutely delusional take, didn’t even hit his head
Sens stink all top 3 players out for half the year hahaha
This is legit. Dirty hit on Dach, who is a leading forward for MTL, but no punishment on Greig. So a dirty hit on one of Ott leading forward. Eye for eye, that's it. Next time think about consequences Greig. And the ref.
iron dome only stops missiles targeted at high value assets otherwise its a waste. thats why many "got through"
Yea, it was cheapshot. He didn't end up connecting to Stutzle's head, thank goodness. Definitely not the best way to go about it. But again, we have some pre-season player looking for a spot on the sens roster, who takes liberties at our star fowards and then doesn't answer to an invitation to own up to it. If it was a clean big hit, I'd be ok with a player not answering the bell. But too many years have the Habs been on the receiving end of dirty hits or fights and not had an answer. Here the Habs are saying, you come after our players, if you don't own up to it, we'll go after yours. Retaliation and vengeance, those aren't the best way to go about it. But until the league actually protects its players and refs call these out correctly, dirty plays will remain and so will retaliations. Call Xhekaj dirty all you want, the team seems happy to have somebody that has their back, the coaches may not want him to go about this way but they're also happy to have players defend their teammates, and screw it I think a lot of fans are fed up of taking the shit end of the stick and are relieved we can dish it back.
I'm thinking we're in for a long brutal season this year Eck. Just feels like winter is come early and I hope the league starts cracking down early on the needless bs.
Buckle on man, I'm here with yah. 😬
100%
i don't know about this one chief, sure it looks ugly in action but was not nearly as bad as it's being painted here. did you watch the whole game or just this clip?
Why are these teams bringing such aggressiveness to montreal in the preseason that should be the first question? This was not done in a vacuum nor did aber hit the head. Greig was hunting and he got hunted. Montreal cant just sit down and watch teams injure their stars when they came to play hockey. This is the preseason and they have started this.