The Montreal Canadiens and two of their fiercest opponents have a history of high tension, but going into the 2024–25 season, things had reached a new height. Huge hits, injuries, and fights are fuelling the animosity between the Canadiens and their fierce rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, with the NHL Department of Player Safety having to intervene already.
A few days later, the Canadiens play the Senators in their second regular-season matchup after opening against the Maple Leafs. It’s already anticipated that tensions that developed during the preseason will explode.Some things have transpired in these games, according to Frank Corrado’s TSN statement. “The incident involving Patrik Laine, Kirby Dach being struck by Ridly Greig, and Arber Xhekaj responding”
Specifically with the Ottawa games, that’s a lot of regulars… I think a lot of that will translate into regular-season games.
The preseason has seen the Canadiens lose Laine to a severe knee injury suffered against the Maple Leafs, witness Xhekaj return the favour by hitting Stutzle with the Senators, and witness Xhekaj deliver a dubious hit of his own.
Xhekaj faced a fine for taking revenge on Maple Leafs AHL winger Cedric Pare, but he was not disciplined for hitting Stutzle.The newest Canadiens star will be out of the lineup for at least a few months due to Pare’s knee-on-knee against Laine, and Montreal supporters have not been kind about the situation.
