Canadiens, Senators combine for 152 penalty minutes in preseason game
Who says the preseason doesn’t matter?
At the very least, the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators don’t think so, as things got very physical in their Tuesday night exhibition match, with both teams combining for 152 penalty minutes in what ended up being a 5-0 win for the Habs.
The action wasn’t overly interesting in the first period. Only Oliver Kapanen scored for Montreal, while Jan Jenik and Florian Xhekaj got into a fight and Olle Lycksell got a holding call, combining for a measly 12 penalty minutes.
The second period was where things started to pick up. It was still normal for most of the second, with only Arber Xhekaj, Nick Cousins and Kapanen receiving infractions, but with the game now 3-0 Montreal after goals from Patrik Laine and Alexandre Carrier, the shenanigans began.
Two fights broke out with just over three minutes left in the second, with Jayden Struble and the older Xhekaj fighting for the Habs and Jenik and Zack MacEwen scrapping for the Sens. Along with game misconducts to Jenik, Struble and Hayden Hodgson, and roughing penalties to Carrier, Hodgson and MacEwen, the two teams combined for 69 penalty minutes.
The third period kept up the pace. After a Stephen Halliday tripping penalty resulted in a 4-0 goal from Lane Hutson early in the third, MacEwen and Arber Xhekaj renewed their rivalries to get matching double minors for roughing and misconducts, while Florian Xhekaj and Carter Yakemchuk also got into a fight.
A reckless slash from Cousins on Ivan Demidov resulted in another power play goal for Montreal courtesy of Kirby Dach, and Cousins was ejected from the game after that goal was scored. Dylan Cozens got a cross-checking minor a couple minutes later, and then to wrap up the festivities, Donovan Sebrango got a two-minute instigator penalty, a five-minute fighting penalty, and a 10-minute misconduct, giving the third period 71 penalty minutes.
Leading the way in penalty minutes for the Habs was Arber Xhekaj (21), Struble (15) and Florian Xhekaj (10), while the Sens had several more candidates in MacEwen (23), Jenik (20), Hodgson (17), Sebrango (17) and Cousins (14).
Montreal and Ottawa will meet again on Saturday for their final preseason game at 7 p.m. EST. The Senators have another game on Thursday at 8 p.m. EST against the St. Louis Blues prior to that, while the Canadiens have no action until then.